What time is it Down Under? Daylight Saving Time comes to much of Australia on October 5

A quick quick Tweet as the Register’s James Sherwood reports that the Daylight savings shift to cause phone havoc Down Under (that’s Australia…):

“Unsuspecting Aussies could be in for a spot of time travel this weekend, because Australian network operator Telstra has warned that some Down Under phones won’t support the country’s upcoming daylight savings time adjustment.”

Well, if you read this blog and visit our sites, you’re likely prepared for this change.

As noted here, on October 5th, much of Australia — Eastern (New South Wales, Victoria, Australian Capital Territory and Tasmania) and Central (South Australia) time zones — will begin daylight saving time. The Australia Eastern & Central 2008 Daylight Saving Changes page and the official Australian Government Time web site provide more information to prepare and educate end users and businesses on the changes in Australia. 

Daylight Saving Time is observed in New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania, and the Australian Capital Territory and has been synchronised across these states. Western Australia began a three year trial of daylight saving on 3 December 2006. Queensland and the Northern Territory do not observe daylight saving.

Across the south-eastern states and the ACT, daylight saving for future summers begins at 2am Eastern Standard Time on the first Sunday in October and ends at 2am Eastern Standard Time (3am summer time) on the first Sunday in April.

So, what do you need to do?  Nothing, most likely if you have installed the cumulative update for Windows OS in December 2007 from late last year (or the latest cumulative update from August 2008) – these updates include the revisions for…

Central Australia Standard Time
Australia Eastern Standard Time
Tasmania Standard Time
Adjusts DST start times and end times for these time zones so that they start and end on the same day. This was changed after the prior cumulative time zone update was created (August 2007).

Such changes can have a significant impact on business performance if not dealt with proactively.  As we note on the Australian site above, impacts can range from the incorrect time displayed on a clock to calendaring problems. For IT Pros and SysAdmins, we recommend that you review the Australia 2008 Daylight Saving Planning Guide, which provides detailed guidance on preparing Microsoft solutions in complex environments for changes in daylight saving.  You can click on the links below to download the document in your preferred format:

• Australia Daylight Saving Planning Guide (Word)
• Australia Daylight Saving Planning Guide (XPS)
• Australia Daylight Saving Planning Guide (PDF)

And for more on Windows Mobile phones and updates, please visit the Updating Windows Mobile phones for Daylight Saving Time site.

Tags: Microsoft, Daylight Saving Time, Daylight Savings Time, RSS, DST, Australia; 4,370,000 (up from 3.6M a month ago); 2,360,000 (up from 900K a year ago, down 100K since last month)

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