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To: eleebee who wrote (5397)	11/4/1997 2:08:00 PM
From: Pete	Respond to of 31646

Another Y2K press release with embedded chips mentioned. This problem gets more visibility every day! Tuesday November 4 10:07 AM EST U.S. Firms Ahead In Race Against Millennium Bomb CANNES, France (Reuters) - By the end of 1997 less than five percent of companies around the world will have built defenses to resist the millennium bomb threat to their computers and more than 30 percent will be exposed when clocks strike midnight on December 31, 1999, a conference was told this week. North American companies are ahead in the race to beat the millennium bomb, while Europe is about six-to-nine months behind, Nick Jones, analyst for U.S. high technology consultancy Gartner Group told the conference. Gartner organized the conference, Symposium ITxpo97. Jones said in his presentation time was running out for some companies who face spiraling costs as they seek computer programming staff to make sure they survive the turmoil of 2000. Computers are exposed to a problem that sounds almost too trivial to be true. In the 1970s and 1980s, computer programmers saved what was then valuable space by abbreviating years to two digits - like 97 or 85 - knowing that this would cause mayhem in 2000. Computers would be unable to make sense of a four-digit number and would crash or start churning out erroneous data. But because of the fast moving nature of the world of information technology, there was a widely held belief that this problem would cease to exist years before 2000 dawned. This assumption was false and companies around the world are scurrying to fix the problem. Some face bankruptcy with the possibility their business plans, customers and contacts will disappear into a cyberspace black hole. The projection for progress at the end of 1996 has many projects arriving at the detailed planning and modification stages. Given the urgent need for action, we believe that although 1996 will be looked upon as the year of awareness, it will give way to the panic of 1997," Jones said. By year end 1997, less than five percent of organizations will have achieved 100 percent year 2000 compliance in their technology portfolios," Jones said. By year-end 1999, less than 70 percent of organizations will be Year 2000 compliant in mission-critical, customer- focused external applications." Jones pointed to studies which show the impact of failing companies will be strong enough to induce mini-recessions in some economies. Gartner earns fees from advice to clients about the possibility of computer crashes from the millennium bomb, but other organizations, like the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, and other independent commentators have pointed to the possibility of massive disruption as 2000 dawns. Jones also pointed to the existence of about 3.3 billion micro-controllers - chips which are embedded in factory automation, smart cards, timers, microwaves, elevators, air conditioning, and office security systems. More than 50 million of these embedded system devices worldwide will exhibit Year 2000 date anomalies in 1999," Jones said. In other words, they are likely to fail. Jones called for urgent action. There doesn't have to be a bomb in your organization, but without action there will be," Jones said. Who ya gonna call?...TPRO TPRO TPRO!!!!