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Technology Stocks : Year 2000 (Y2K) Embedded Systems & Infrastructure Problem -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: C.K. Houston who wrote (340)	5/1/1998 5:23:00 PM
From: John Mansfield	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 618

Increased focus on utilities, telecom: NRF ' Gaps in year 2000 testing -- or no audits at all -- create the potential for system failures. And that risk spurred a National Retail Federation (NRF) official to issue a warning earlier this week about possible power outages, dead phone lines and banks that can't process employee payroll. He made the comments during a session held at the NRF's Supply Chain & Operations Management Conference in Austin, Texas. Washington-based NRF bills itself as the world's largest retail trade association; Donald M. Gilbert, its senior vice president of information technology, is acting as the retail industry's year 2000 early-warning system. He and his staff are tracking year 2000 preparations among industries and agencies that support retailers, including the electrical, telecommunications and banking industries; local port authorities; and the U.S. Customs office. . . . Regarding the telecommunications industry, Gilbert told the panel that his research found that local exchange carriers aren't conducting "interoperability or interaction testing" with long-distance carriers, Internet service providers, competitive access providers or other telecommunications networks. . . . Gilbert said that electric utilities don't plan to conduct a nationwide test of the U.S. electric grid, and that raises the risk of failure, particularly for rural electric cooperatives. The NRF wants to find out where outages are likely to occur, so that members can plan ahead for potential problems. www2.computerworld.com

To: C.K. Houston who wrote (340)	5/2/1998 9:29:00 AM
From: John Mansfield	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 618

INTERNATIONAL YEAR 2000 - INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY VIRTUAL CONFERENCE Well, this is interesting! We might participate in this online conference! John _______________ 'The Office of Governmentwide Policy (OGP), Information Technology, General Services Administration (GSA), in cooperation with the Group of Seven (G7) Government On Line (GOL) program, is sponsoring an International Year 2000 (Y2K) - Information Technology Virtual Conference. The Conference will be located at the GSA International Year 2000 web site (www.itpolicy.gsa.gov/mks/yr2000/intconf.htm) with an anticipated availability date of mid-June, 1998. The Virtual Conference is a part of a continuing effort to promote awareness of critical Year 2000 issues and to emphasize the significance of sharing problems, progress, and solutions within the International community. The Conference will focus not only on internal Y2K issues that are common to individual Nations, but also those that may cross international boundaries. In addition, the conference also plans to have various countries contribute written updates or status reports on their respective Y2K compliance progress. The goal of this Virtual Conference is to emphasize the significance of international partnerships and to stimulate a global awareness of Year 2000 issues. In that regard, the OGP encourages interested parties to participate in this conference through the submission of Y2K issue papers and/or status reports. Issue papers should focus on Y2K topics that address various business sectors within the government and/or private industry. To assist in defining topics for these papers, specific sectors are provided but not necessarily limited to, those listed in the outline below. Please note that the purpose of this conference and the papers is not to advertise or promote specific Y2K products. The intent is to provide specific knowledge of a practical and/or technical nature that will highlight various Y2K issues and stimulate a question and answer dialogue between the authors and the International Internet community. Current plans call for participants to submit an outline of suggested topics and/or progress reports on or before April 24, 1998. Once received, suggested topics and progress reports will be reviewed and authors notified of their selection. Upon notification, authors will also be informed of the conference procedures, and will have approximately six weeks to submit a final paper and/or progress report to be posted on the Virtual Conference Web site. If you would like to participate as an author of a Y2K issue paper, status report, have other topics that should be considered, or have any other comments or questions, please send all correspondence to the Y2K Program Office, Office of Governmentwide Policy, attention Gary Winters at y2k.gol@gsa.gov. The format for the conference will be divided into four areas, Year 2000 Global Issues (Suggested Y2K Business Sectors are listed), Questions & Answers, International Y2K Updates, and other Y2K International Web Sites. YEAR 2000 INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY GLOBAL ISSUES & BUSINESS SECTORS The following is an outline of suggested sectors that may be common to internal government responsibilities and those that may cross international boundaries. I. Internal Government Responsibilities o Infrastructure Defense Public Utilities Emergency Services Telecommunications Law Enforcement Transportation Public Health o Emergency Communications o Government Services Service Continuity Citizen Services (pensions, benefits, etc) o Government and Private Sector Collaboration Consumer Protection Business Impact o Data Exchange Testing Implementation o Contingency Planning Business Continuity Risk Assessment Alternatives o Human Resources Resource Availability Retention Compensation o Natural Resources o Legal Issues Laws, Regulations, Rules Liability o Funding o Compliance II. External Government Responsibilities o International Standards o Data Exchange Testing Implementation o International Safety Concerns Nuclear Power Air Traffic Control Systems Defense o International Commerce Monetary Exchange Rates Banking Trade Business Partnerships o Economic Impact Business Management Tourism o Emergency Communications itpolicy.gsa.gov