AT&T to Institute Quiet Period Ahead of Y2K

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AT&T to Institute Quiet Period Ahead of Y2K

Updated 12:52 PM ET November 15, 1999

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - AT&T Corp., the No. 1 U.S. long-distance company, said on Monday it will not introduce any new software or hardware or support systems during the last days of 1999 and into the new year.

"To maintain a state of readiness and further protect against potential Y2K-related service disruptions, AT&T is instituting a special 'quiet period' from Dec. 1, 1999 through Jan. 15, 2000," the company said in its quarterly earnings report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The huge telecommunications group also said it will limit provisioning and scheduled maintenance during that period.

The so-called "Y2K bug" could prevent some computers from distinguishing the year 2000 from 1900 because of old shortcuts that recorded the year with only two digits. Unless fixed, this could disrupt everything from airlines to hospitals to communications systems.

AT&T, based in New York City, said it has spent about $675 million since 1997 preparing its systems for the century date change and will likely expend another $64 million during the rest of 1999.

Plans are also being drawn up to place personnel at key locations to monitor operations and increase in work and call volumes and engineer more network capacity as the new year draws near, AT&T said.

The company will also stage supplemental power, fuel, water, heating, air conditioning and ventilation sources to support critical business operations and personnel requirements.

As of the end of September, "AT&T's network services and AT&T-developed applications and their external interfaces are year 2000 compliant," the company said.

AT&T shares were up 5/16 to 46 on the New York Stock Exchange.

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Ray

-- Ray (ray@totacc.com), November 15, 1999

Answers

I like this line!

The company will also stage supplemental power, fuel, water, heating, air conditioning and ventilation sources to support critical business operations and personnel requirements.

We should all stage supplemental power, fuel, water, heating, etc., etc. "I am not hoarding sir, I am staging supplemental food."

-- flb (fben4077@yahoo.com), November 15, 1999.


The so-called "Y2K bug"...

I'm sick of hearing the above-mentioned nomenclature. Follow along any lurking media twinkies; Y=year. 2=two. K=1,000. Put them together and it spells "Year 2,000". Also, Y2K isn't a bug. It is the result of decades of programming that began with limited space and resources. Over time, space became abundant and resources seemingly unlimited, however, it was too late to change most new code to a four digit year within the older code.

Come-on fish hacks, do a little work of your own and place your very own stamp of a "job well done" on something for once in your career.

(Rant mode off)

-- Uncle Bob (UNCLB0B@Tminus46&counting.down), November 15, 1999.


Add this to the Federal government's "freeze" and we see that a bunch of big organizations are not going to make any changes for a month and a half...which means they aren't going to be buying much new hardware, software, etc. It will be an interesting couple of months...even if nothing else happens (BITR scenario)... It will not be a non-event.

-- Mad Monk (madmonk@hawaiian.net), November 15, 1999.

"The so-called "Y2K bug" could prevent some computers from distinguishing the year 2000 from 1900 because of old shortcuts that recorded the year with only two digits."

Do journalist receive training to put this in every Y2K article they right?

-- the Virginian (1@1.com), November 15, 1999.


AT&T to Institute Quiet Period Ahead of Y2K

Y2K to Institute Quiet Period After AT&T

-- Linda (lwmb@psln.com), November 15, 1999.



Uh....'scuse me!

Didn't Mr. Koskinen tell us that the 3 largest telecommunications companies are already 100% compliant? If that was the truth, what in the world is AT&T going to spend $64 million on in just 7 weeks???

I'm just curious!

-- Arewyn (isitth@latealready.com), November 16, 1999.


The $64 million is for nap pads and blankies for the "quiet period" and for Pringles and Coke for the staff who have voluntarily chosen to spend New Year's Eve at work.

-- Linda (lwmb@psln.com), November 16, 1999.

The point of the "quiet period" is so that noncompliant software isn't introduced into already tested systems. Most large IT departments are limiting (or eliminating) new software installations in December and January.

-- me (not@real.com), November 18, 1999.

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