Is this the beginning of the end?
The Year 2000 problem might cause more
worries for America Online than the
company had expected.
AOL's engineers have not yet determined
how many systems are infected with the
Y2K bug and only a handful of AOL's
suppliers and partners have responded to
requests for information, according
to new financial disclosure documents
filed this week.
"The Company is in the process of asking
its vendors, joint venture partners, and
content partners about their progress ...
but has received very few complete
responses," said a document filed with
the Securities and Exchange Commission
on Wednesday.
Further, AOL (AOL) reports that it began
testing its hardware components -- such
as computers, routers, and telephone
equipment -- for Y2K glitches only last
month, long after experts say the process
should have begun.
"If they finish the assessment and find
out by some miracle everything was fine
all along, they've escaped. But if it turns
out they do have compliance problems,
there's no time left at this point," said Ed
Yourdon, author of two dozen books on
software engineering and a Y2K
consultant.
Y2K problems are particularly troubling for
companies that rely on computers as
much as AOL, the world's largest online
service. Manual workarounds are not a
realistic option for an services running
proprietary software.
Last month, the venerable Prodigy online
service announced it was shutting down
because of Y2K glitches. Prodigy
Communications said it decided to retire
its Prodigy Classic service after 11 years
because the clunky 1980s-vintage
hardware and software was full of
"spaghetti code."
"The implementation of these Internet
functions and technologies predate
current standards and aren't readily
upgradable," said spokesman Dan Levine.
"It's not that we couldn't do it, but it's
based on standards that are pretty
cost-prohibitive."
Prodigy has encouraged its 208,000
Classic customers to switch to the
company's Internet service.
Will AOL experience similar headaches?
Don't bet on it, the company says.
"We are in the midst of testing. We've
encountered very few, if any, major
problems," said spokesman Rich D'Amato.
"We're pretty comfortable and confident
that we've put into place the kinds of
systems and task force that's necessary."
He declined, however, to reveal what
percentage of systems AOL has that
might be affected by Y2K, and how many
of those have been fixed.
According to SEC documents, AOL has
made scant progress in the last year.
In February 1998, AOL said it had created
a task force that was "currently in the
process of completing its identification of
applications" with problems.
Wednesday's filing reports uses very
similar language. "This Task Force is
undertaking its assessment of the
Company's compliance," it says.
AOL says it expects to spend a total of
$8 million on Y2K fixes and will have a
contingency plan in place by July 1999.
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