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

To: John Mansfield who wrote (3657)	2/5/1999 6:13:00 AM
From: R. Bond	Respond to of 9818

Friday February 5 3:55 AM ET World Travel Industry Sails Over A Big Y2K Hurdle By Andrew Hay NEW YORK (Reuters) - Travel agencies did not grind to a halt, travelers were not forced to stand in long lines to check in at airports and Year 2000 technicians at major travel reservation companies kept their jobs. Feb. 4, 1999 -- a day once-dreaded by the global travel industry -- came and went much like any other. It was the first day customers could book tickets on big airline reservation systems for flights departing on Jan. 1, 2000. It was also a day when computers could have mistaken the date for Jan. 1, 1900, and created chaos. ''I'm glad it's over,'' said a very tired Ronnie Hauptman, Year 2000 director for Galileo International Inc. (NYSE:GLC - news), the world's second-largest travel reservation company. ''Our work paid off.'' Hauptman was among the staff at Galileo's Denver headquarters who spent most of the night watching screens for signs of Y2K problems. Analysts were watching to see whether Galileo and other computer reservation system (CRS) companies were able to protect their networks from suppliers and vendors that might send data that were not ready for the year 2000. Reports from CRS companies and airlines indicate they were successful in the Year 2000 compliance efforts, showing the Y2K bug can be crushed -- so long as enough time and money is spent on the problem. The Year 2000, or Y2K, problem stems from the once-common practice of using only two digits for recording the year in computer programs, like 99 for 1999. That shortcut has the potential to confuse computers and software that have not been prepared to read the date correctly, causing them to put out bad data or not work at all. The CRS companies and many major airlines have been working on year 2000 programs since the mid-1990s and spent billions of dollars correcting the dates in millions of lines of computer code. Most of them are close to completing the laborious task or have already done so. More than 100,000 travel agencies that book around 80 percent of all world travel depend on systems operated by the CRS companies. Galileo, Sabre Group Holdings Inc. (NYSE:TSG - news) and Spain's Amadeus Global Travel Distribution each have about a third of the world travel reservations market. Neither they nor major airlines reported any significant problems with the year 2000 rollover Thursday. American Airlines, whose parent company AMR Corp. (NYSE:AMR - news) is the majority owner of Sabre, said after some ''cross-checking and reconfirmation,'' no problems were found in its computer systems. Delta Air Lines, which together with Trans World Airlines and Northwest Airlines operate WorldSpan another CRS, said its computer systems were ''performing precisely as planned.'' Amadeus, in which Iberia IBLI.CN, Air France, Lufthansa and Continental Airlines own stakes, has been taking year 2000 bookings since early January without incident. Jean-Christophe Robert, Amadeus Y2K director, said the year 2000 reservation rollover was a big test but another hurdle lies ahead on Jan. 1, 2000. ''Jan. 1 will be the big one when potentially everything can be impacted,'' Robert said in a telephone interview from Nice, France CRS companies and airlines are months or years ahead of other industries like power and telecommunications in their preparations for the date change. Some companies in other sectors have said they will only have their key computer networks ready for the Year 2000 date change. Robert said Amadeus was able to make sure in advance that suppliers and vendors were ready for the Year 2000 date change. He said the company could not ensure the power and telecommunications companies it relies on are equally prepared come Dec. 31. ''We think it should not be that bad. We are on the optimistic side,'' he said. Analysts said that if the travel industry made it past Feb. 4 without big disruptions, it should clear Jan. 1, 2000, as well. The Feb. 4 rollover should also build confidence that computer networks that affect millions of people can work together to get past Jan. 1, 2000, Information Technology Association of America analyst Bob Cohen said. ''Feb.4 is one of those dates where the rubber begins to hit the road and, in a scenario where consumers are involved, we see whether there are disruptions,'' said Cohen, who focuses on the Year 2000 issue for the ITAA. ''It shows it can be done...and people are going to go about their lives until they have evidence otherwise.''