Year 2000 Complacency About to End - Rick Ackerman, San Francisco Examiner, 5/3/98, pg. D1
"...Now, some consultants believe that when the new millennium dawns, this seemingly innocuous oversight could trigger massive failures in America's power grid and water supply, disrupt manufacturing and distribution of goods, shut down stock markets all around the world, and bring chaos to our banking, transportation and communication systems.
One of those who is convinced this scenario is not just possible but likely is Larry McCarthy, CEO of San Jose-based Ascent Logic, a systems-engineering company that is working with some of the country's largest firms to prepare them for the worst.
For McCarthy, rewriting faulty code, an approach being taken by many companies, is destined to fail. A Ford or a General Motors might just as well attempt to eliminate ants from all of their lunch rooms, assembly plants and employee parking lots.
Instead, McCarthy is advising such corporate clients to decide which parts of their business they want to keep operational no matter what. For some vehicle manufacturers, to take one example, this might mean producing and distributing only trucks -- which yield the fattest profit margins -- when auto production lines have been hobbled or shut down..." |
