October 29, 1999 Reno Gazette-Journal By Brendan Riley (AP)

The Silicon Valley company hired for about $5 million to fix any Nevada Y2K bugs has gone bankrupt--raising questions about the state's alternatives in case the fix doesn't work.

Marlene Lockard, chief of the Nevada Department of Information Techology, said Thursday that she has confidence in the Y2K debugging system the state developed with the help of MatriDigm Corp. of San Jose.

But Scott Scherer, Gov. Kenny Guinn's legal counsel, said a review of the MatriDigm contract is warranted to make sure the state is protected in the event of an infestation of Y2K bugs.

MatriDigm, which had numerous Y2K-related contracts, had been working on a deal with a 31-percent owner, Zitel Corp., to give Zitel full ownership. The deal fell through in late September. On Oct.12, MatriDigm filed a Chapter 7 bankruptcy petition in federal court in San Jose and promptly closed its doors. An answering machine at MatriDigm cut off repeated calls made Thursday in efforts to reach a spokesman.

Lockard, contacted by phone as she boarded a plane in Indianapolis for Nevada, said the bankruptcy adction isn't a problem.

"Nothing happens because all of our codes have been renovated and they have been since a year ago," she said.

But Scherer said the MatriDigm contract still must be reviewed to ensure Nevada isn't at risk should the Y2K fix not work as expected on Jan.1. . . . .

MY COMMENT: "Nothing happens because all of our codes have been renovated. . ." Ms. Lockard, I wouldn't want to stake my life on it!

-- Claire (Stateistoast@aol.com), October 30, 1999

Answers

Seems logical. Make millions of dollars doing Y2k remediation. Cash all the checks. File for bankruptcy. Get out of dodge. Rollover comes and things break. Matridigm is long gone with suitcases full of money.

Sounds like a perfect business plan for anyone doing Y2k remediation consultancy.

-- hamster (hamster@mycage.com), October 30, 1999.

"Nothing happens because all of our codes have been renovated..." Yes indeed, it's ye olde Hoffy Argument: if a system has been put into production, supposedly fixed for Y2K, and no problems happen in 1999, then one can conclude that it will not have problems in 2000.

NOT! Ms. Lockard could use a healthy dose of common sense before making such a ridiculous statement.

-- King of Spain (madrid@aol.cum), October 30, 1999.

Kinda like an AIDS patient surviving a case of the snivels. A real case of TDT (terminal dial tone), here.

-- Michael (mikeymac@uswest.net), October 31, 1999.

Our friend cpr thinks that this is proof that "Y2k is OVER"!!

-- Night Owl (desperately hoping for@bump in the.road), October 31, 1999.