Excerpts from U.S. News & World Report June 8, 1998
go to the link below for full story.
usnews.com
The Y2k problem is serious, and companies must hire the right people to solve it very soon. Companies like INFE are well positioned to help other agencies with their y2k problems, such as Social Security agency, FAA, Treasury Department and many others. Please read the excerpts below that support this.....
In the private sector,
entire industries are bracing for
the worst: A recent International Air Transport
Association survey of 44 major airlines shows that
only 67 percent expect their systems to be fully
Y2K compliant by Oct. 1, 1999. Any slippage would
put them right up against the new millennium, with
entire systems--from scheduling to maintenance--in
jeopardy. "Failure to act decisively could have
catastrophic consequences," IATA Director General
Pierre Jeanniot has warned.
Among large companies that reported their Y2K
progress to the Securities and Exchange
Commission, a study shows that only 42 percent
have finished inventories of their critical computer
systems. And that's just the first step. Companies
next must assess the size of their Y2K problem,
decide whether to hire outside technicians, and
then begin the slow process of repair. It turns out
that progress is even slower in small and midsize
companies. A National Association of Securities
Dealers survey found that 61 percent of small
businesses have not yet come up with a Y2K plan.
Late starters are in big trouble because the
calendar is immutable and testing can take as long
as fixing the software. Moreover, many computers
must be tested in tandem with whatever computers
they are linked to. It won't matter if Social Security
computers are glitchless on Jan. 1, 2000, if the
Treasury Department's computers aren't: The Social
Security checks still won't get printed.
Many industries, such as the airlines, will actually
encounter Y2K problems a year early--on Jan. 1,
1999--because they make reservations or plan
business activities a year in advance. And some
government and financial institutions will hit the
Y2K wall at midyear when their fiscal year 2000
begins. For 44 state governments, that means July
1, 1999, and for the federal government and most
other companies, it's Oct. 1, 1999.
Firms only now starting to tackle the Y2K problem
should be thinking about triage, says Larry
McArthur, president of the Ascent Logic Corp.,
which does Y2K risk assessments for companies.
He notes that the questions should be: Which of
our systems are essential to protection of human
life and safety? Or to keep a company from going
bankrupt? "Enterprises need to look at this from a
survival standpoint," McArthur says.
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