[TESTING] NRF on (the lack of) testing
'http://www2.computerworld.com/home/cwlaunch.nsf/launch?ReadForm&/home/online
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[snip]
(Year 2000 news, 04/30/98 12:13:06 PM)
Retailers focus on Y2K non-testers
Allan E. Alter
Gaps in year 2000 testing -- or no audits at all -- create the potential
for system failures. And that risk spurred a National Retail Federation
(NRF) official to issue a warning earlier this week about possible power
outages, dead phone lines and banks that can't process employee payroll. He
made the comments during a session held at the NRF's Supply Chain &
Operations Management Conference in Austin, Texas.
Washington-based NRF bills itself as the world's largest retail trade
association; Donald M. Gilbert, its senior vice president of information
technology, is acting as the retail industry's year 2000 early-warning
system. He and his staff are tracking year 2000 preparations among
industries and agencies that support retailers, including the electrical,
telecommunications and banking industries; local port authorities; and the
U.S. Customs office.
Although Gilbert wouldn't specify whom he and his staff have contacted, he
said NRF sources in these industries include the Federal Communications
Commission, the Electric Power Research Institute and AT&T Corp. He also
said concerns about the telecommunications industry's handling of year 2000
fixes were voiced by a Federal Reserve Board official in testimony on
Tuesday before the Senate Commerce Committee.
Regarding the telecommunications industry, Gilbert told the panel that his
research found that local exchange carriers aren't conducting
"interoperability or interaction testing" with long-distance carriers,
Internet service providers, competitive access providers or other
telecommunications networks.
Although lack of testing doesn't mean connections are certain to fail, it
does raise a red flag, Gilbert said. Rural areas may be hit with spot phone
and electrical outages, Gilbert said. Old switches used by thousands of
small rural telecommunications cooperatives and companies are one culprit.
Gilbert said that electric utilities don't plan to conduct a nationwide
test of the U.S. electric grid, and that raises the risk of failure,
particularly for rural electric cooperatives. The NRF wants to find out
where outages are likely to occur, so that members can plan ahead for
potential problems.
State-chartered banks are another industry segment that the NRF is watching
carefully. Although government regulators are auditing year 2000 efforts at
large banks, they aren't required to do this for state-chartered banks.
These banks haven't been as aggressive as their larger brethren in
attacking the millennium bug, Gilbert said. He is advising NRF members to
look at these banks closely, particularly if they handle payroll chores.
"I'm not saying a small state-chartered bank will fail" or that utilities
will go down, he said. But where there is a gap in testing or auditing,
"you have to make an assumption you might have an area of risk," he added.
[end snip]
--
Harlan
___
Subject:
- Testing Gap Worries
Date:
17 May 1998 12:07:53 EDT
From:
"Harlan Smith" <hwsmith.nowhere@cris.com>
Organization:
Paperless
Newsgroups:
comp.software.year-2000 |
