To All,
Here is the latest Las Vegas Sun article on Y2K/ MatriDigm and it can be found at:
lasvegassun.com
Las Vegas SUN archives
It's the year 2000, do you know where you computer is?
RENO, Nev. (AP) - Investors are watching intently as the state of Nevada tests a way to prevent a worldwide computer meltdown expected a nanosecond past 12 a.m., Jan. 1, 2000.
The state government is running a pilot program that could fix computer systems so they don't foul up in 2000. MatriDigm Corp. is the privately held company that could hold the solution to the problem.
A lot of money is riding on the success or failure of MatriDigm's test in Nevada. Investment analysts said MatriDigm faces competition from other companies, but no one is as close to a solution.
The company is about 33 percent owned by California-based Zitel Corp., a publicly traded company that has seen its stock soar on reports from Nevada. Shares, trading in the $36.50 range at midweek, have fluctuated from as high at $75 and as low as $5 in the past year.
Although MatriDigm is testing other sites, the Nevada state government is the only entity to publicly acknowledge the work.
As a result, investment analysts from companies like AG Edwards & Sons in San Francisco and Chase Manhattan Bank in New York are watching very carefully and calling state officials constantly.
"We have been inundated from all over the globe. Even the London Times called," said Marlene Lockard, Nevada's director of information services.
At issue are the many computer systems that are programmed to recognize the last two digits in a year and could crash as they read 00 in 2000 and revert to 1900.
The company that develops an automated answer to the 2000 problem could help fix 240 billion lines of code in Cobol alone, one of the basic computer languages for systems around the world.
There are billions of lines for codes in other computer languages. With estimated charges of about $1.50 per line of code, that translates into billions of dollars of revenue for the winner of the year 2000 race.
Lockard said the state has negotiated terms on a possible contract with MatriDigm if the systems work. A smaller test succeeded in December and the state is awaiting additional results.
If no computer system works, the only other choice is to go through code line by line. Experts estimate one programmer can go through 100,000 lines of code in one year. That means it would take 100 programmers two years to fix the state's computer system.
And that's what makes MatriDigm's system so enticing. It's supposed to automatically find the code that needs fixing, change it and test it, all while understanding the context of the overall program.
"Think of us as the Fotomat for the year 2000," said Kenneth Titow, president and chief operating officer for MatriDigm. "You drop off your code into the factory, it finds the dates, fixes the dates, tests the dates and puts it in the same package as we got."
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This page last modified Thursday, February 20, 1997 14:53:39
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