ITAA's Year 2000 Outlook
September 11, 1998                    Volume 3, No. 33

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

Senate Subcommittee Flashes Yellow on Transportation
Links

Will Year 2000 problems grind the gears of many
organizations in the $500 billion U.S. transportation
industry?  The answer to that question is a qualified
"maybe."  Testimony at a hearing this week in
Washington, D.C. made the size and potential impact of
the issue sound both big and small simultaneously-with
a fair degree of "flying blind" thrown in for good
measure.

Sen.  Bob Bennett (R-UT) set the tone for the
proceedings of his Special Senate Committee on the Year
2000 Technology Problem hearing.  He pointed out that
the country has over 80,000 trucking companies, 6000
transit agencies, 500 railroads, 60 airlines an d
twelve or so U.S.-flag-maritime shippers.

"I am concerned," he said, "that the transportation
sector as a whole may not be able to transition through
the millennium without major disruptions.  That is not
to say that most of the individual companies that make
up the sector are not working hard to correct the
problem, rather the interdependencies of these
companies with their partners and suppliers both
foreign and domestic make the transportation sector
extremely complex, and, thus, make Year 2000 issues
difficult to address."

Flying through various hypothetical scenarios, Bennett
suggested that Y2K-related aircraft maintenance,
passenger ticketing and reservation system problems
could cause capacity reductions, flight delays,
cancellations and unhappy customers.  While some we ary
travelers might be tempted to point out that such
problems exist today sans Y2K, Bennett reeled off still
other more troublesome possibilities:

"Airport runway lighting systems, fire fighting
equipment, building and jet way security systems,
parking systems, or even the Texas pipeline that
supplies jet fuel to the eastern seaboard could cause
closure of some of our busiest airports if Year 2000 p
roblems are not aggressively addressed."

Federal Aviation Administrator (FAA) Jane Garvey
assured the lawmakers that the century rollover will
not roil aviation safety.  She called Y2K technology
problems one of her highest priorities and that agency
system modifications will be 99 percent compl ete in
time for the next Office of Management and Budget
quarterly report on government Y2K readiness.  She
added that the FAA's core air traffic control system is
scheduled to be replaced by the Year 2000, but the
agency has renovated the existing HOST s ystem as a
contingency step.

Another optimistic assessment was offered by Robin C.
Stevens, Y2K Compliance Chief of the New York State
Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA).  She
termed her organization the largest transit service
provider in the Western hemisphere and said tha t an
early start, comprehensive approach and management
involvement have helped the authority thoroughly
address the problem.  Joyce Wrenn, IT vice president of
Union Pacific Railroad said the company's goal is to
make January 1, 2000 "just another day."  She said
Union Pacific has allocated $50 million to the job of
Y2K repairs and the work is on plan with many
subprojects to be complete through implementation by
the end of 1998.

But other testimony suggested that January 1, 2000
maybe more of a day to remember.  For instance, Bennett
said an Air Transport Association survey shows 38
percent of airports do not have a Year 2000 plan.  The
Committee's own survey of 32 transportation companies
found 50 percent unwilling to respond.  Of those that
did, one-third were still performing Y2K assessments;
none had completed contingency plans.

Airport problems were underscored by Paige Miller, Port
of Seattle Commissioner.  Miller said that while the
Seattle-Tacoma International Airport is a recognized
leader in Y2K preparedness, the Port of Seattle has
also been working on the problem since 19 93.  A check
of mechanical devices launched in 1997 found
"practically everything at the airport was potentially
affected …" Miller said.  Suspect systems included
security controls, runway lighting, baggage conveyors,
fire alarms, back-up generators, 911 response, storm
water treatment, heating and parking.  "If those
systems fail we would obviously have a difficult time
maintaining even a minimal throughput of airplanes,
passengers, and cars," Miller noted.  The port
commissioner said roughly a third of systems are known
not to be compliant and the Y2K readiness of another
third is not known.

Miller estimated that the repair job could cost upwards
of $30 million-a third of the organization's annual
operating budget.  And she offered a somewhat chilling
assessment in her testimony: "I am not here to assure
you that we will complete our Y2K pro gram on time
despite our best efforts with our most capable
people…the problem is worldwide and industry-wide,
involving airlines, airports, and air traffic control
systems.  What we know about other airports is that for
the most part they have started pr ograms later than we
have, and are planning to spend fewer resources."

Even if airplanes cannot take off or land at the
nation's airports, at least one major air travel
reservation system appears good to go.  One third of
air travel worldwide is booked by the SABRE Computer
Reservations System (CRS).  SABRE Senior Vice Presid
ent Deborah Freedman provided some of the hearing's
better news, indicating that the core SABRE CRS system
is Y2K ready, as are other real-time systems used for
passenger check-in, plan routing, bag processing and
related purposes.  But she also issued wo rds of
caution.  Freedman said industry interoperability
testing will be the final hurdle in the Y2K race.
"…interfaces range from weather feeds to pricing data,
as well as the transfer of passenger and cargo
information between carriers.  Timely industr y
component testing will in large part determine the
industry's overall success," she said.  Freedman added
that less than 50 percent of companies contacted by
SABRE have indicated a readiness to test.  "The true
determination of the state of the industry will become
more apparent over the next six months as corporations
succeed or fail in demonstrating their readiness to
those who must interoperate with them."  Those who
fail, she said, are less likely to find companies
willing to continue strategic busi ness relationships.

Federal Government Polls "D" for Effort

The House Subcommittee on Government Management,
Information and Technology has once again graded the
federal agencies on their Year 2000 preparedness and
once again found them wanting overall.  The
Subcommittee awarded the government a "D" for its Y2K
ef forts, with 13 of 24 agencies-representing 70
percent of all mission critical systems in
government--earning a D+ or lower mark.  Agencies
receiving failing marks are Health and Human Services,
Energy, State, Justice, Education and the Agency for
Interna tional Development.

In a statement, Subcommittee Chairman Stephen Horn
(R-CA) also took issue with a $1 billion discrepancy in
the total costs reported by the Office of Management
and Budget and the General Accounting Office.  "The 24
departments and agencies listed on this report card
each submitted a cost estimate," Horn said, "and the
total of those estimates is now $6.3 billion…almost $1
billion more than the estimate released by the Office
of Management and Budget last week."

Horn said recent field hearings in New York, Dallas,
New Orleans and other metropolitan areas suggest that
towns, cities and states are not faring much better
than the federal government at Y2K repairs.

Grocer Sees Green in Y2K Settlement

The nation's first Y2K lawsuit has reached a partial
conclusion.  As first reported by BNA, Produce Palace
of Warren, Mich. reached a $250,000 settlement
agreement with software vendor Tec America Inc.  (an
action remains against All American Cash Register Inc.)
The grocer filed suit against the companies after
customer credit card with post Y2K expiration dates
crashed its computer system.  Earlier, Produce Palace
rejected a mediated settlement for the same amount.  A
"security cost" motion filed by Tec America could have
forced Produce Palace to pay the software makers legal
fees if the case went to trial and a jury awarded
damages in an amount less than the settlement offer.

Closer to Home

ITAA has announced two more firms have received
ITAA*2000 certification: Norwest Corporation of
Minneapolis, Minnesota and PSDI of Bedford,
Massachusetts.  ITAA*2000 is the industry's century
date change certification program.  The program
examines process es and methods used by companies to
perform their Year 2000 software conversions.  Both
participated in a rigorous evaluation of their
approaches to date conversion, with extensive analysis
in eleven discrete process areas deemed necessary to a
successful Year 2000 conversion.

Business to Business

SEEBOARD, an energy company in Newbury, England, says
it will use Micro Focus Revolve/2000 and SmartFind/2000
to conduct an analysis of its enterprise software
applications.

Strategia Corporation has announced agreements worth
over $2 million to perform Y2K services for Kent
County, Michigan.

Remedy Corporation, Mountain View, CA, has announced
the availability of Remedy Year 2000 Compliance
Manager.

Alydaar Software Corporation, Charlotte, NC, has been
awarded a Year 2000 contract by 3M in Europe.  This
represents the second independent contract by 3M to
Alydaar Software Corporation.  The company has also
been awarded a Y2K remediation contract by Pi c 'N Pay
Stores.

NeoMedia Technologies, Inc., Ft.  Myers, FL, has been
contracted by Merchant's Association of Florida to
perform their Year 2000 renovation project.  The
agreement calls for over one-half million lines of code
to be completed within six months.

AXYN Corporation, Denver, CO, has announced its
Canadian subsidiary, AXYN Canada Corporation, has
signed a letter of intent to acquire Burlington Systems
Integration, Inc. of Toronto, Canada.

Computer Associates International, Inc., Islandia, NY,
and Intesa, Caracas, Venezuela, announced an agreement
to jointly deliver advanced Year 2000 solutions to
Petroleos de Venezuela.

Data Dimensions, Bellevue, WA, has been retained by the
Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT)
to provide project management services for WSDOT's
embedded chip Year 2000 Project effort.

Greenwich Mean Time-UTA, L.C., Arlington, VA, has
announced the marketing of a new product, Check 2000 PC
Deluxe.  Check PC Deluxe empowers users to examine each
of their PC's and determine where Y2K problems are
located.  Greenwich Mean Time-UTA, L.C. wa s also named
winner of three out of seven awards at the recent
Breakaway Xchange conference in New Orleans.

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


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Information Technology Association of America, 1616 N.
Fort Myer Drive, Suite 1300, Arlington, VA 22209.
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