Thread- Y2K & Asia Questions:
Some time ago I did a web search on Y2K issues. I have collected some some of the links in this post as a reference. By now I expect my list of links is rather dated. Asian companies and governments have been almost assuredly been hampered in their Y2K preparations by the economic problems of the past couple of years, but the except from my first link (article by David Legard) suggests the effect has not been large.
While all informed commentary would be welcome, I would particularly like to stimulate people with first hand knowledge of preparations in Asia to meet the millennium bug to offer their assessment of the situation. In the interests of rendering any discussion readily accessible, I ask respondents to identify their posts with "RE: Y2K" in the first few words of the post.
From the first link listed below:
Gartner says Asia will face big
Y2K hit
By David Legard
A total of 40% of companies worldwide will experience a
mission-critical information technology failure because
of the year 2000 problem. But the rate of those affected
in Asia will be higher, according to Jim Duggan,
research director at Gartner Group Inc.
Among Asian countries, only Taiwan, South Korea and
Singapore feature in Gartner's Level 2 readiness list
(see below), and none made it to Level 1, Duggan said.
Level 2 readiness indicates a predicted Y2K-related
mission-critical failure among 33% of a country's
companies, while Level 1 finds that 15% of a nation's
companies are expected to suffer a Y2K-related
mission-critical failure.
Asian countries in Level 3 (50% failure) include India,
Malaysia, North Korea, and, importantly, Japan, Duggan
said at a meeting entitled The Y2K Bug: Threat to
Business Community, held in Singapore today.
"Because of the size and importance of its economy,
Japan's lack of Y2K readiness could cause major
problems to ripple out," he said.
Also important is the presence of China in Level 4,
where 66% of companies are expected to suffer a
mission-critical failure. China's extensive and growing
trade links could cause year 2000 problems for its
neighbors, Duggan said. The remaining Asian countries
in Level 4 include Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Pakistan,
the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.
Non-Asian countries whose lack of year 2000 readiness
could have regional impacts include Germany (Level 3)
and Russia (Level 4), Duggan said.
Duggan said there is also considerable variation in year
2000 readiness in different industry sectors. The private
sector is generally better prepared than government;
large businesses better prepared than small business;
and the financial sector better prepared than
engineering, transport, services or construction
industries.
Singapore is an exception, with a well-prepared
government sector but a woefully unprepared small and
medium-size enterprise (SME) sector, according to Toh
See Kiat, chairman of local company CommerceNet
Singapore Ltd.
"We know that of around 92,000 SMEs in Singapore.
Less than 100 have applied for a government grant to
help with their Y2K problems," he said at the conference.
"The problems are ignorance and fears that consultancy
could be expensive and that consultants are playing up
the Y2K problem for their own benefit."
But the economic problems in Asia have not hit year
2000 projects, according to Duggan.
"Y2K budgets have generally come through undamaged,
while longer-term advances such as E-commerce
infrastructure have been delayed," he said. "Not enough
is still being done about Y2K, but no less is being done
than before."
One hopeful sign is that year 2000-prepared banks and
large multinationals are beginning to put pressure on
their smaller business partners to become year
2000-compliant, even to the extent of removing them
from preferred supplier lists if they don't comply, Duggan
said.
Overall, Gartner believes that the year 2000 problem
won't cause the global business meltdown that some
analysts have predicted, but that it will cause a negative
impact on the world economy that will be felt for three to
five years.
Y2K corporate failure rate predictions by country
Level 1 (15%): Australia, Belgium, Bermuda, Canada,
Denmark, Holland, Ireland, Israel, Switzerland, Sweden,
U.K., U.S.
Level 2 (33%) Brazil, Chile, Finland, France, Hungary,
Italy, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, Portugal,
Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Taiwan.
Level 3 (50%): Argentina, Armenia, Austria, Bulgaria,
Colombia, Czech Republic, Egypt, Germany,
Guatemala, India, Japan, Jordan, Kenya, Kuwait,
Malaysia, North Korea, Poland, Puerto Rico, Saudi
Arabia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Turkey, United Arab
Emirates, Venezuela, Yugoslavia
Level 4 (66%): Afghanistan, Bahrain, Bangladesh,
Cambodia, Chad, China, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Egypt,
El Salvador, Ethiopia, Fiji, Indonesia, Kenya, Laos,
Lithuania, Morocco, Mozambique, Nepal, Nigeria,
Pakistan, Philippines, Romania, Russia, Somalia,
Sudan, Thailand, Uruguay, Vietnam, Zaire, Zimbabwe.
computerworld.com
garynorth.com
y2ktimebomb.com
spybuster.com
joc.com
theaustralian.com.au
garynorth.com
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Finally, and unrelated to the rest of this post, is a sad link to a mounting health problem in Vietnam:
scmp.com |
