Asian component manufacturers at risk from millennium bug

Scott McNealy, chairman of Sun Microsystems, has warned that Asian IT component manufacturers are likely to hit badly by the millennium bug. McNealy claims that the majority of such suppliers - including Taiwanese motherboard makers - are using equipment that may be as much as three years out of date. The head of Sun said yesterday that many just-in-time delivery schedules could be thrown into chaos if the big bad bug bites. Consequently, McNealy advises companies to bring their buying plans forward to this year to avoid such dangers. But then he’s hardly likely to tell anyone to do the opposite, is he. ®