Computers Hum Past Special Date, 9/9/99

Updated 3:48 PM ET September 9, 1999

By Jim Wolf

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Automated systems around the world whirred and purred Thursday past a potential computer glitch tied to the ninth day of the ninth month of a 99th year.

As widely predicted, the "nines problem" shaped up as little more than a fire drill for the much more troublesome technology challenge known as Y2K in 113 days when 2000 dawns.

No significant date-related computer problems were immediately reported anywhere, despite intense monitoring of systems worldwide.

With its four nines, 9/9/99 resembled an old programming convention used to tell some mainframe computers to stop processing data or to carry out special operations such as sorting or grand-totaling.

"We have no reports of any confirmed incidents as a result of the nines," said Bruce McConnell of the International Y2K Cooperation Center, a clearinghouse funded by the World Bank that seized the day for a dry run of its reporting network.

NO MAJOR FALLOUT REPORTED

McConnell, the center's director, said the worst fallout he had heard of early Thursday afternoon -- and unconfirmed at that -- involved "a spreadsheet that went down at a college some place."

The State Department, rehearsing its own plan to keep tabs on Y2K events worldwide, pronounced the "nines" blip-free as far as 167 U.S. embassies and consulates were aware.

"While we haven't seen any problems -- nor did we expect them -- it really was an opportune time to test our reporting systems, our analytic capabilities and our ability to communicate the information that we get from these posts," Bonnie Cohen, under secretary for management, told reporters. The department took television crews and reporters on a rare tour of its windowless, 7th-floor operations center to show off its preparations for round-the-clock monitoring of how the world is faring as computer clocks tick over to 2000.

In the operations center, a special 9/9/99 monitoring group sat hunched over 10 computer terminals. Displayed on their screens were color-coded, country-by-country reporting on the local status of power, telecommunications, transport, financial sector, health services and other infrastructure.

"The fact that 9/9/99 was a nonevent is no reason to be complacent," McConnell said in a telephone interview. "Governments must continue to work hard to assure a successful Y2k rollover."

FOCUS TURNS TO 2000

Unlike the nines problem, Jan. 1 is widely expected to usher in problems in automated systems that have not been updated. Previously, many used programs that may not be able to distinguish 2000 from 1900 and could shut down or malfunction.

During a full-scale test overnight, the North American electric power grid sailed through a 2000-related exercise without a hitch, according to an initial report Thursday by system overseers.

The North American Electric Reliability Council (NERC), an industry group charged with ensuring the power grid works, said 400 to 500 utilities and around 1,000 substations and power plants recorded no problems.

Earlier Thursday, first reports from New Zealand and then Australia when Sept. 9 dawned, pointed to a nonevent. The rest of Asia and Europe seemed to follow suit.

Banks and financial services, perhaps the most computerized businesses in the world, reported that systems were running smoothly.

"The only thing I can tell you is that this was basically a non-event," said Bill Mundt of the Global 2000 Coordinating Group on the telephone from Zurich, Switzerland. Global 2000 Coordinating Group represents about 700 banks and financial institutions from around the world.

Experts remained concerned about the potential fallout from other problematic dates, including Jan. 1, 2000, Feb. 29, 2000, and Oct. 10, 2000.

Feb. 29, 2000, might not be included on some computer programs because of confusion over the formula that makes it a once-in-400-years type of leap year. Oct. 10 -- 10/10/2000 -- will be the first eight-digit date in the new century.

In another wrinkle, experts said any glitches related to the "nines" would not necessarily be apparent immediately. Ian Hugo, of a London-based Y2K group Taskforce 2000, said data that should be processed for later use might not be available when needed in affected systems.

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I know, I know, your getting sick and tired of reading this garbage but there are a few new twists here.

Ray

-- Ray (ray@totacc.com), September 09, 1999

Answers

In almost 40 years of programming in at least 15 languages, I have never seen a situation where a date was stored internally in a computer in a fashion such as 9999. It would be stored in other ways, some of which could be 9/9/99 or 090999, or as the Julian date. None of these would resemble to the computer a field of 9s used frequently as an end of file marker. I have always believed that the concern about the 9/9/99 date was completely misguided, and totally unrelated to the general Y2k problem.

-- Dan Hunt (dhunt@hostscorp.com), September 09, 1999.

I sort of think it was started as a 'scare' thing by grad students picking on the undergrads.

-- Paul Davis (davisp1953@yahoo.com), September 11, 1999.