_______________ Asia may lack cash for Y2K bug ______________________
Link: news.com
While many problems already exist in Asia, the one that is starting to gain more attention is the Year 2000. While the bailout packages to help the Asian economies are underway, we have yet to hear how they plan to meet the issues in regards to year 2000 compliance. Although we are currently trying to bring support and stability to these foreign markets, the Y2K problem may undermine all our efforts to date.
The question on everyone's mind should be WHAT IS ASIA GOING TO DO ABOUT THE Y2K ?
Even if all the major banks in the U.S. are compliant, it won't matter if they can't conduct business abroad, due to foreign non-compliance.
This story appeared in Reuters on Dec. 10, 1997
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KUALA LUMPUR--Asia's currency crisis may have pushed aside another worry that the region will have to rush to resolve as the decade draws to a close--the millennium bug that threatens computer systems worldwide.
"There are some parallels at the moment with the economic problems of some countries and the Year 2000 [bug]," Digital Equipment's Year 2000 program manager David Tickner said. "There's every likelihood that the currency crisis will prevent budgets being spent on 2000," he said.
Asia has been racked with a fall in the value of its currencies since the summer, with devaluations hammering once-robust economies throughout the region. At least half a dozen Asian countries have seen their currencies plummet to historic lows as financial and property crises scuttled economic growth prospects, sending investors to the exits.
The millennium bug, or Y2K problem, is a worldwide computer programming fault that could cause computers to view the year 2000 as the year 1900, leading to systems crashes and business upheavals. Banks, insurance companies, and other financial service companies are
thought to be especially vulnerable as they make interest payments and other calculations based on dates.
To save space in coding, early computer programmers used just two digits to denote years. Rectifying the mistake now involves going over millions of lines of code.
Estimates on the cost of fixing the bug vary, but a study by Killen & Associates, released in the United States in August, said spending on systems integration, professional services, and outsourcing for solving the problem will reach $280 billion between 1997 and 2002.
The study projected that 52 percent of the money spent would be in North America, 28 percent in Europe, 17 percent in Asia, 2 percent in South and Latin America, and 1 percent in Africa and the Middle East. Australia is expected to see a $8.2 billion bill to fix the computer glitch, according to accountancy firm Coopers & Lybrand, while private companies like Singapore Telecommunications have said they will spend at least $31.3 million on the problem.
Asia has seen both the best and worst of preparedness in the battle against the bug. Some governments--Singapore, Malaysia--have taken an activist role in promoting awareness of the problem and goading the private sector into solutions.
Thailand's stock exchange in November urged all those involved in the country's securities industry to begin preparing their systems to cope with it.
Otherwise, it warned that investor confidence--already shot by the devalued baht and an economic slump--could be further endangered.
"Any calculations which rely on the date, such as interest payments, could be completely wrong and affect the confidence of investors," the stock exchange statement said.
Other countries like India may, out of natural circumstances, be ahead of the game. "The millennium bug in India is not going to be that big a problem," said Ajay Kumar Malpani, research analyst at Caspian Securities in Bombay. He said India would fare better "because of its wide software resources and its ability to provide manpower and skills [to the problem]."
In fact, India may be a source of solutions to the bug because of its robust software development industry. Software firms in the country could see $5 billion in business over the next five to seven years from the Y2K problem, according to the National Association of Software and Service Companies (Nasscom).
"The worst to be affected will be countries like Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore," Malpani said. "They have been late versus the United States in tackling the problem. These countries woke up very late to this problem."
Countries that have been slow to get on the computerization track may also be the least hurt by the problem, analysts say. India falls into that category, but so do the lesser developed economies of Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Burma.
"For some of the countries which have less developed Information Technology (IT) infrastructure, that means they probably just bought their first computer system and those are likely to be 2000-compliant," said Howard Hsu, IT analyst at U.S.-based International Data Corp's (IDC) office in Hong Kong.
Hsu said a survey IDC conducted this year which questioned corporations in six Asia-Pacific countries about the level of Year 2000 projects showed some disparities.
"India is very far ahead, with 44 percent of respondents already started with Year 2000 projects," he said. "In China, only about eight percent have already started their projects. You can see there's quite a big gap."
The other countries surveyed yielded the following results: Hong Kong (20 percent), Korea (17 percent), Malaysia (28 percent), and Singapore (33 percent).
"Whether they can make the deadline is hard to say," Hsu said. Added Maplani in Bombay, "It's a very manpower intensive job. Economies which cannot spare manpower will find it very difficult to do these things."
Countries like Malaysia, though small, have to import labor for various industries including construction. Australia-based Tickner said priorities for each country will depend on the industries key to its economy, and that each company will have to assess what systems are core to its existence.
"There is a generally accepted approach called triage: we will save some, stabilize some, and give up on others," he said.
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note* This region is in dire need of a viable solution that would be able to save them time, be coste effective, as well as being accurate.
biz.yahoo.com
>> PHOENIX, Ariz.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 8, 1997--ConSyGen Inc. (OTCBB:CSGI) announced today that it has signed a teaming agreement with Millennium IT Pte. Ltd. of Singapore.
Under this agreement, Millennium IT Pte. Ltd. will market ConSyGen's fully automated Year 2000 and software conversion services into Singapore and the rest of South East Asia and will install Conversion Centers in Singapore and Manila. Through these Conversion Centers, client code from Singapore, the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand can be made fully compliant for the year 2000 and beyond using ConSyGen's fully automated ConSyGen 2000 toolset.
Mr. Ross Lim, managing director of Millennium IT stated: ''There is an urgent need to introduce an automated Year 2000 service throughout South East Asia. The problem of identifying and correcting Year 2000 problems is just as great in Asia as anywhere else in the world and the reality of the problem is now becoming apparent within the region, particularly as time is running out. We have reviewed all of the available industry approaches and the ConSyGen 2000 automated approach demonstrates itself clearly as the most complete and effective solution, offering our clients the most error free and efficient way of eliminating the Year 2000 problem while meeting their timing deadlines.'' <<
I believe that ConSyGen's toolset is a perfect fit for the year 2000 conversion needs of this region. |
