ITAA's Year 2000 Outlook
August 28, 1998                        Volume 3, No. 32

Published by the Information Technology Association of
America, Arlington, VA

Bob Cohen, Editor bcohen@itaa.org

Read in over 70 countries around the world

ITAA's Year 2000 Outlook is published every Friday to
help all organizations deal more effectively with the
Year 2000 software conversion.  To create a
subscription to this free publication, please visit
ITAA on the web at https://www.itaa.org/transact/2ko
utlooksub.htm.  To cancel an existing subscription,
visit https://www.itaa.org/transact/2kremove.htm.

ITAA's Year 2000 Outlook is sponsored in part by CACI
International Inc., DMR Consulting Group Inc., and
Y2Kplus

SEC Schedules Temporary Halt to Rule Changes

The Securities and Exchange Commission says it will
refrain from issuing new rules that require
SEC-regulated entities undertake with major
reprogramming efforts.  The Commission has pledged "no
new rules" requiring this work between June 1, 1999 and
Marc h 31, 2000.  The Commission says its moratorium is
intended "to facilitate and encourage securities
industry participants to allocate significant time and
resources" in attending to Y2K problems.  The
rule-making ceasefire is not without its caveats.  "
…the Commission reserves the right to implement new
rules, where such rulemaking is necessary to protect
the public interest in response to emergency conditions
or special circumstances that may arise during the
moratorium," the SEC notes.  The move does not apply to
the National Association of Securities Dealers, the New
York Stock Exchange, the Financial Accounting Standards
Board or other groups, which may continue to issue rule
changes to their members during this period.

Pennsylvania PUC Sets Deadline; Utilities Say It Won't
Be Met

The Public Utility Commission (PUC) in Pennsylvania has
drawn a Y2K dateline in the sand, but some utilities in
the Keystone state say they may have to cross it.
Testifying before the Senate Consumer Protection and
Professional Licensure Committee this w eek, companies
told the lawmakers that their Y2K repairs may take them
beyond the PUC's March 31, 1999 deadline.  Violators
face fines or license revocations.

For instance, PECO Energy Co.  CIO Cassandra Matthews
said work at the Peach Bottom Nuclear Plant in York
County is not expected to be done until October.
Duquesne Light Co.  Vice President William J. DeLeo
said his firm will be ready by mid 1999.  Philade lphia
Suburban Water Co. said it's acquiring backup power for
treatment plants and water distribution.  Associated
Press reports Committee Chairman Sen.  Clarence Bell,
R-Delaware County, as saying, "On Jan. 1, 2000, any
electric utility not fully operati onal-all hell will
break loose."  Bell said, "There's a lot of hungry
lawyers ready to sue."

Media Angles Vary in Y2K Reporting

What's news about the Year 2000?  Is this the story of
the age or an aging story that has already been told?
That question even has some reporters perplexed as they
struggle to convince their editors that the computer
crack-up situation is real…or convin ce themselves that
they should be writing a technical story at all.

For television reporters, the 00 angle is a programming
snooze for their viewers.  One television journalist
says the Y2K story is too broad and not visual enough.
A television reporter in the financial press agrees
that the story lacks eye-appeal, but he thinks the Y2K
maybe gaining in glitz:

"It's getting more play than I would have thought for a
very, very technical story," he says, adding, "but
perhaps not enough for a situation that may affect
every person on planet."  This journalist, who has
produced upwards of 20 Y2K stories this year, says the
date dilemma is "finally" getting an adequate amount of
coverage in the financial press, in part because
"earnings are dependent on computer systems working."

But he also says that for journalists today only the
Monica Lewinsky scandal is a story that has a greater
number of interesting angles.  Even though code writing
is hardly the stuff of great videotape, this producer
says dimensions of the Y2K story run the gamut from
reports on system vulnerabilities to human interest
features.

So how to choose?  Perhaps it's a matter of how big is
BIG.  One reporter for a major East coast daily
newspaper calls Year 2000 "conceivably the story of the
century.  If everyone does their job and solves it, we
may say it was over-hyped.  Otherwise, we 're looking
at a really interesting couple of months."

This journalist is a former computer programmer who
says he became aware of the story in 1994.  He calls it
a "shame" that journalists have been slow to come up to
speed on the situation.  "If Bob Woodward had been
calling Congress and the Administration two years ago,"
he says, "we would have seen much more work [in the
last two years].  It's kind of embarrassing," he says.

But not all journalists see a field half-empty.  The
editor of an online trade publication says she has
noticed a real surge in Y2K interest since June.  With
USA Today and the New York Times telling the general
story, publications such as hers have been forced to
drill down for more industry specific and niche-focused
stories.  "If you look into specific areas, there's new
news," she says.

Of course evaluating what's news is not always easy,
she indicates.  "You don't know whom to trust," she
says, commenting on a seeming groundswell of people now
available to offer Y2K expert opinion.  She takes a
reality check by trying to gain as many op inions as
possible.

Reality may be too strong for some readers.  Seth
Ackerman, a media analyst with Fairness and Accuracy in
Reporting (FAIR), says media treatment of the Year 2000
story is comparable to the falling stock market story.
Noting that FAIR does not track Y2K a s an issue, he
says he is still interested personally in how the story
is playing out.  Ackerman says that like the stock
market coverage, Y2K reporting tends to reassure the
public.  He suggests the media will shy away from
stories that scare readers or viewers, whether doing so
is a good idea or not.

While journalists many say the story has many angles,
they are also reluctant to reinvent any wheels.  A
reporter for a major daily newspaper in the Southwest
United States says he was tempted to do a major,
multi-part series, similar to that which appear ed in
the Washington Post recently.  On reflection, however,
he decided not to spend a month putting together
essentially the same story.  Rather, he says, he will
take Y2K stories as they come.  Those at the top of his
agenda include the status of Y2K ov erseas and the
"fortressing" of companies against the Y2K
non-compliant.

Closer to Home

Global Summit Gains Speakers

Momentum builds for the Global Year 2000 Summit, a
gathering of international policy-makers and
industrialists aimed at identifying cooperative
approaches to the Year 2000 software crisis.  The
Summit will take place on October 15 and 16, 1998, in
London.  This "by invitation-only" event will mark the
first time major multilateral governmental
organizations and multinational business organizations
will sit down to exchange views and experiences on the
Year 2000.

A pair of outstanding keynote speakers will set the
tone for Summit discussion.  Frances Cairncross, Senior
Editor, The Economist and author of The Death of
Distance, will describe the "Global Year 2000
Landscape" on Friday morning.  At lunch, Roger W. Fe
rguson, Jr., Chairman of the Joint Year 2000 Council
and U.S.  Federal Reserve System Governor, will provide
his own unique perspectives on this critical and timely
issue.

The Summit will feature extremely high caliber speakers
in sessions focused on national strategies to the Y2K
situation, public and private sector status reports,
contingency planning and crisis management, and
alternative dispute resolution.  Confirmed s peakers
include:

Ø M.J.L.M.  Rens, CIO and Executive Vice President, KLM

Ø Ron Balls, Chairman, Year 2000 Task Force,
International Telecommunications Union and Year 2000
Networks Compliance Manager, British Telecom

Ø Tim Shepheard-Walwyn, UBS AG and Chairman, Global
2000 Coordinating Group

Ø Fuad Udemans, Strategic Services Executive, South
Africa's National Year 2000 Decision Support Center

The Global Year 2000 Summit is being organized by the
World Bank, the Joint Year 2000 Coordinating Committee
(Bank for International Settlements), the International
Chamber of Commerce, the International
Telecommunications Users Group, the World Informati on
Technology and Services Alliance, Global 2000
Coordinating Committee, and the Organization for
Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD).

The Summit will take place at the Stakis Metropole
Hotel in London.  For more information on attending the
Summit, please contact Ms. Zoe Hemming at + 44 171 395
6717 or at zoe.hemming@cssa.co.uk.

ITAA*2000 Certification Announced

M&I Data Services of Milwaukee, Wisconsin has received
ITAA*2000 certification.  ITAA*2000 is the industry's
century date change certification program.  The program
examines processes and methods used by companies to
perform their Year 2000 software conve rsions.  M&I
Data Services participated in a rigorous evaluation of
its approach to date conversion, with extensive
analysis in eleven discrete process areas deemed
necessary to a successful Year 2000 conversion.

Outlook Declares Its Own Moratorium Year 2000 Outlook
goes on a date with Hurricane Danielle and will return
September 11.

Business to Business

Viasoft, Inc., Phoenix, AZ, has entered into a
partnership agreement with CompuCom Systems.  Under the
agreement, CompuCom will be a systems integrator for
the OnMark 2000 Y2K desktop solution.

NeoMedia Technologies, Inc., Fort Myers, FL, has
announced the availability of the WISP Toolkit Release
4.3, an updated version of their Wang-to-UNIX/NT
migration suite.

The Titan Corporation, San Diego, CA, with Cap Gemini
America as a subcontractor, has been awarded a Y2K
contract by the State of Wyoming.

Novell Inc., Provo, UT, has entered into a partnership
agreement with Greenwich Mean Time.

ITAA Y2K Information Center

Solution Providers Directory
http://www.itaa.org/script/2000vend.cfm

ITAA*2000 Certification Program
http://www.itaa.org/2000cert.htm

Outlook Archive
http://www.itaa.org/script/get2klet.cfm

Legislative and Litigation Table
http://www.itaa.org/Y2Klaw.htm

Calendar
http://www.itaa.org/y2kcal.htm

Vendor/User Status Questionnaires
http://www.itaa.org/questmain1.htm


For more information, please send email to
info@y2kplus.com, visit our web site at
http://www.y2kplus.com or call Dave Ehlke at
781-863-8111.

Copyright ITAA 1998.  All rights reserved.  The
Information Technology Association of America, 1616 N.
Fort Myer Drive, Suite 1300, Arlington, VA 22209.
Internet: http:\\www.itaa.org