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Technology Stocks : Discuss Year 2000 Issues -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: John Mansfield who wrote (2293)	7/27/1998 1:43:00 PM
From: John Mansfield	Respond to of 9818

'Did Wall Street "Pass" the Test? 'Testing a massive system of this sort is an immensely complex and difficult task. Since no tools exist by which to conduct such a test, it was necessary to design and build them from scratch. A methodology also had to be devised for using the tools so they would measure the correct things and do so accurately. Before using such specialized tools, the tools themselves require thorough testing. Imagine, for example, that the task is to build a castle but there are no castle building tools available. Accordingly, the Testing Master designs and builds a hammer and a wrench. To ensure the tools will do the job, a special test is created to validate the tools. When this special test is successfully completed, there is certainly cause to celebrate. It means the hammer hammers and the wrench wrenches but in no way does it mean the castle has been completed. It certainly does not mean the queen can mail the invitations for the castle-warming party. Last week Wall Street successfully tested the wrench and the hammer. That's all. The castle doesn't go up until next spring. The first shovel of dirt hasn't even been dug up yet. The recent four-day event, called a "Beta Test," was the first of three stages of Wall Street's "Industry Wide Test." It involved a limited number of participants and a very small trading volume and was confined to a small geographic area. Its purpose was simply to validate the sample data, test scripts and the methodology that will be used in the "real" test, called the "Tier One Test," scheduled to take place over four weekends next March and April. The Tier One Test is the castle - of which not one brick has been laid. In no way did Wall Street's Beta Test measure the Y2K readiness of the computing systems that constitute the nation's financial trading and settlement system. It was not intended for this purpose. y2ktimebomb.com