Sept. 9 Will Test Y2K Contingency

By Anick Jesdanun
AP Internet Writer

Wednesday, September 1, 1999; 1:28 p.m. EDT

Government agencies, banks, electric utilities and other companies around the United States will be watching closely for Y2K-like computer trouble next week when the date 9-9-99 arrives.

The fear is that some computers may translate Sept. 9, 1999, as a ``9999'' stop-program command.

Few Y2K planners expect major disruptions such as widespread electrical outages next Thursday. But no one is ruling out the possibility of glitches.

Y2K planners and some industries are taking advantage of the situation to test their readiness and backup systems for New Year's Day, when the real Year 2000 bug may hit.

``It's good to run through any complicated exercise like that so people aren't seeing this kind of deployment for the first time in December,'' said Gerry Cauley, Year 2000 program manager for the North American Electric Reliability Council.

Up to now, most of the attention has been on Jan. 1, when computer programs recognizing only the last two digits of a year might read ``00'' as 1900. But several other problems could occur before then, Sept. 9 among them.

The electric industry will conduct a major drill, beginning Wednesday night, to make sure its thousands of workers understand procedures for Dec. 31.

Some banks will spend Thursday testing techniques to spot and report Y2K trouble, while President Clinton's Y2K advisory council will collect status reports. An international Y2K group will monitor other nations.

Just in case problems do occur, the Coast Guard will add supervisors to keep navigation reliable, and the Transportation Department is assembling a team normally mobilized only during natural disasters.

Airlines decided against setting up a command center, concluding that failure is unlikely, and will simply keep watch, said Thomas Browne, executive director for the Aviation Millennium Project in Washington.

The September date was picked partly out of confidence that nothing will go wrong. A smaller drill took place on April 9 -- a date that was problematic because it was the 99th day of the 99th year. That day passed with no reported troubles in electric and other industries.

One reason for the confidence this time is that 9999 is not a widely used end-of-file or end-of-program marker. Also, dates are more likely to appear in computers as 090999. And a 9999 problem is relatively easy to spot and fix within the millions of lines of programming code.

Problems are likely to be limited to billing and other business information programs that run on older mainframe computers, sparing home users and systems that operate power grids and other infrastructure.

Using two digits for the year, on the other hand, is a more common technique. So the new year could disrupt financial transactions, airline schedules and power grids. Another potential problem is Feb. 29, 2000; some computers might not recognize that it is a leap year.

Still, studies have prompted confidence among Y2K planners.

``For the most part, the fears are unfounded,'' said Bruce McConnell, director of the International Y2K Cooperation Center, a clearinghouse established by the United Nations and the World Bank. ``I'm not saying there won't be problems, but the kind of problems will really be a blip.''

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-- Ray (ray@totacc.com), September 01, 1999

Answers

Here's a Washington Post link:

Link

Ray

-- Ray (ray@totacc.com), September 01, 1999.

Right on time.... Everything is being set up for another smashing success. Just like the GPS rollover.

-- (cannot-say@this.time), September 01, 1999.

It sure does appear they're (Professional SPIN Team) is going to use this to reassure the sheeple that ALL is well!!

Rua

-- Ray (ray@tottacc.com), September 01, 1999.

Look at all the preparetions in place for a "non-event".As the saying goes, look at what they are doing-not what they are saying.

-- maggie (aaa@aaa.com), September 02, 1999.

STRAW MAN
Chuck

-- Chuck, a night driver (rienzoo@en.com), September 02, 1999.

From: Y2K, ` la Carte by Dancr near Monterey, California

Repost from July 1, 1999 at Blackouts Expected: I have to wonder if any testing is actually going on during these supposed test dates. I had power go out at my house for an hour on April 9th. I called to find out what that was about and was told that it ws a burned out transformer near my house. No mention of testing or faulty programming. That they are choosing these known failure dates to do their "testing" seems awfully fishy to me.

-- Dancr (addy.available@my.webpage.neener.autospammers--regrets.greenspun), September 02, 1999.

Thanks for the post, Ray. Right on, Chuck.

-- Lane Core Jr. (elcore@sgi.net), September 02, 1999.