ITAA's Year 2000 Outlook
July 16, 1999                          Volume 4, No. 27

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

Bob Cohen, Editor bcohen@itaa.org

Read in over 80 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.

In this Issue:
· Report Finds U.S. Cities Lagging
· US To Report on International Readiness as Y2K Nears
· Credit Unions Pass Y2K Muster
· Business to Business
· ITAA Y2K Information Center
· Sponsor Advertising


Report Finds U.S.  Cities Lagging

Many of America's biggest cities may have Y2K problems,
according to a General Accounting Office (GAO) report.
Of 21 cities polled by GAO in early July, a mere 43
percent of critical systems had been converted.  While
Dallas and Boston proved exemplars o f Y2K readiness,
major cities like Los Angeles, Chicago and Washington,
D.C. found themselves at the back of the GAO pack.
Other cities reporting a December 31 complete date are
Phoenix, San Antonio, Detroit, San Francisco,
Baltimore, Columbus, Ohio, and El Paso.  Cities
expecting to be done by September 30 are New York,
Houston, Philadelphia, San Diego, San Jose, California,
Indianapolis and Jacksonville.

In testimony before the Washington D.C.  City Council
earlier this month, Suzanne Peck, the city's Chief
Technology Officer, acknowledged a late start but said
the nation's capitol is keeping to its fast-track
schedule:

"On my first day in the city-June 3, 1998-with 18
months until the millennium-the Y2K program in the
District had not begun….Although we began late, we are
tracking precisely, in terms of time schedules, to the
find and fix plans and to the contingency pl ans that
we put into place…These plans have us finishing all of
our assessments for our 336 systems, our 62,000 pieces
of embedded chip equipment, and our 13,000 PCs exactly
on schedule in May. We are currently precisely tracking
to our original schedule of remediating these 336
systems…"

Peck said the city's Y2K readiness statistics are
misleading because they do not include a substantial
amount of work in progress.  She added that the
District will participate in a joint Y2K readiness
exercise with seven regional jurisdictions on Septemb
er 1.

In a related event, the City of Seattle reported this
week that 70 percent of its critical computer systems
and applications are ready for the Year 2000 date
change.  Mayor Paul Schell announced fall plans for a
Y2K Citizen Awareness Campaign, including co mmunity
forums, brochures explaining the City's Y2K efforts,
preparation tips, information at libraries and
neighborhood service centers, and a special website.

US To Report on International Readiness as Y2K Nears

John Koskinen, President Clinton's chief advisor on
Year 2000 conversion, announced this week that the U.S.
would soon rate international Y2K preparedness on a
country-by-country basis.  The statement echoes an
earlier State Department notification.

In a public announcement issued in January, the State
department warned all American citizens travelling or
living abroad at the end of 1999 and early 2000 to make
themselves aware of local and potential Y2K failures,
and to plan accordingly.  The State d epartment warned
Americans against assuming that transportation,
financial and medical facilities will not be affected
outside the U.S.  The department will update its
consular information sheets to include alerts about Y2K
related issues this September a nd October.

Koskinen said that while most industrialized countries
are now well on their way to compliance of
mission-critical systems, the risk of infrastructure
failures remains in many parts of Asia, Africa and
Latin America.

Koskinen added that a planned temporary inter-agency
U.S. ``Information Coordinating Center'' would be put
to the test on Sept. 9 when the 9-9-99 date could
possibly be misread by some systems.  He said the
coordinating center would be fully operational t o
monitor the new year rollover.  It will function at
least through Feb. 29, a Leap Year day that might pose
problems for computers, even though he expected the
size of the millennium bug's impact to be clear by
mid-January.

Credit Unions Pass Y2K Muster

The National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) reports
that over 98 percent of the nation's 10,807 credit
unions will have completed Y2K system testing by July
31.  NCUA Chairman Norman D'Amours says his agency's
examiners have completed two separate on- site reviews
of credit unions and expressed confidence that these
institutions will be ready.

Business to Business

Inacom Corp., Omaha, NE, has won a five-year, $42
million Y2K contract with Blue Cross/Blue Shield of
Massachusetts.

Internet Solutions, Memphis, TN, will be releasing free
Y2K compliance testing software to test PC's.

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/year2000/legis.htm
Calendar
http://www.itaa.org/y2kcal.htm

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

Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR)
http://www.itaa.org/year2000/adr.htm

Statement of Intention to Use ADR
http://www.itaa.org/year2000/soi.htm,

Y2K Mediators Seminar
http://www.technologymediation.com/Y2K_seminar.htm


Copyright ITAA 1999.  All rights reserved.  The
Information Technology Association of America, 1616 N.
Fort Myer Drive, Suite 1300