Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : TAVA Technologies (TAVA-NASDAQ) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: JDN who wrote (5708)	11/9/1997 7:59:00 AM
From: Steve Rubakh	Respond to of 31646

By Eric Onstad AMSTERDAM, Nov 7 (Reuters) - Dutch airline KLM <KLM.AS> said on Friday it may ground some of its aircraft on January 1, 2000 if certain routes turn out to be unsafe due to millennium bugs. KLM also said it would host a conference next year as part of a campaign to share information with competitors and inform the public. "If we have the feeling by the year 2000 that we don't control the whole chain of transport...then we won't fly that route," spokesman Hugo Baas told Reuters. "Regarding safety, there's no risk we are taking. It could result in aircraft being grounded." But it was unlikely that the whole fleet would be left on the ground, Baas said. The firm has already modified one of its main computer systems and is making good progress with its millennium compliance programme. But due to the complex web of interlinking computer systems, such as air traffic control and radar systems, the carrier has to be sure that there are no weak links. Computer systems which have not been modified will fail at midnight on December 31, 1999 because software produced mainly in the 1970s and 1980s will not be able to handle the transition to the year 2000. Programmers used two-digit abbreviations for years instead of the full four digits. The year 2000 will throw old programmes into confusion, being read as 1900. KLM sees itself as a leader in the field of millennium compliance and has adopted an open-door policy. It seeks to share expertise it has already gleaned with competitors. "We are not talking about an airline problem, or an industry problem, all of society could be affected," said Baas. No date has been set for the millennium conference to be hosted by KLM, but it will probably take place in the second half of 1998. 1