Companies Face Grave Y2K Risks

By David McGuire, Newsbytes

July 26, 1999

Global corporations have made great strides toward making their systems and operations Y2K-compliant, but those companies are at dire risk from Y2K-related infrastructure failures in the countries they inhabit, witnesses told the Senate Special Committee on the Year 2000 Technology Problem today.

"Breakdowns in any part of the trade support structure could slow or halt shipments of key components needed to keep factories working, hospitals functioning, food in continuous supply and people employed," Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore., warned at the hearing.

While the Y2K news from global corporations is good, according to representatives from industry giants such as Ford Motor Company and Phillip Morris Companies Inc., the news from the countries in which they operate is troubling.

Phillip Morris, which has nearly completed its own Y2K remediation efforts, has identified approximately 600 of its foreign vendors and business partners as being at "high risk" for Y2K failures, said Kevin Click, the firm's director of corporate audit at today's hearing.

The food and tobacco giant is working now to minimize its exposure to the foreign risks.

The Department of State, which has been tracking the Y2K progress of developing countries, did nothing to lighten the tone of the hearing.

Of the 161 countries assessed by the Department, roughly half are reported to be at "medium to high risk of having Y2K related failures in their telecommunications, energy, and/or transportation sectors," Department of State witness Jacquelyn Williams-Bridgers said in her written testimony.

Although industrialized countries were at a comparatively low risk of Y2K-related infrastructure failures, nearly a third of those countries were reported by the State Department to be at a "medium risk" for Y2K transportation failures. Roughly one-fourth of those countries were reported to be at medium risk for failures in the telecommunications, energy or water sectors.

Article

-- Gayla (privacy@please.com), July 24, 1999

Answers

Gayla, this y2k business is funny you know, for lack of a better word.

'Cause I travel abroad a lot, and always ask middle and top managers about Y2K progress. And, of course, I get back a wide range of answers, but there is one constant reply:

"We will have problems, but we will be pretty much O.Kay. It is the US that will have serious y2k problems". Why? "Because I.T. in the US is big time everywhere, and their sheer size (bbbillions of lines of code, dozen million computer systems, bbbbillions of embedded chips) makes it very hard for Americans to finish on time what they started late"

Take care

-- George (jvilches@sminter.com.ar), July 25, 1999.

..."nearly completed its own Y2K remediation efforts, has identified approximately 600 of its foreign vendors and business partners as being at "high risk" for Y2K failures..."

*Sigh*

It is the "quiet" story of global trading supply chains, that may well cause the "snap crackle and pop" for domestic economic problems... etc.

Diane

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), July 25, 1999.