In 2005, the government passed the Energy Policy Act, to extend daylight savings time by four weeks, which means that daylight savings time will start three weeks earlier (second Sunday in March) and will end one week later (first Sunday in November). I spoke to Evolving Solutions' Director of Professional Services and Solutions Sales, Chris Taylor, to learn the 10 steps that businesses need to know to prepare their systems for daylight savings time.

1. Identify what platforms you're using in-house.
2. Look at the OSs on what you have.
3. Check with each of your vendors to find out what changes you will need to make to be in compliance.
4. Depending on your vendor and OS, upgrade to a new level.
5. Depending on your vendor and OS, apply suggested patches.
6. Look at the Java code on the box.
7. Apply upgrades or patches as needed.
8. Look at your individual applications.
a) What code are they using? Is it OS time or embedded Java?
9. Consult with each application vendor to receive upgrades or patches.
10. Look at your storage environment
a) Storage Controllers
b) SAN boxes