Y2K preparations and remedies

It is not just the hardware or software users who have to be prepared to face the Year 2000 (Y2K) bug. The vendors are equally worried about the possibilities. The countdown to the new millennium has begun and everybody is sitting with their fingers crossed, hoping that things will go fine with no loss of data, when the clock strikes twelve on the midnight of December 31, 1999, and thereafter.

Organizations are constantly bothering their hardware and software engineers about the Y2K compliancy of their PCs and softwares. Instead of planning for a New Year bash, engineers are pruning themselves to face the much-challenged issue of the millennium. This bug is definitely a big issue for this century and will surely not be one in the next century, because, by then the compliancy aspect would definitely be taken care of.

Hardware and software users are getting their systems and softwares Y2K compliant. VXL Instruments Director M. Vittal Shetty says, "Management Information Systems (MIS) in consultation with the department heads have identified all the Y2K problem areas," adding, "Majority of these have been corrected systematically. The pending problems are expected to be fixed by December 12, 1999."

Apart from companies providing customers with Y2K solutions, some companies are also educating people on this issue. Cybercash, after realizing the importance of managing the risks associated with the Y2K, has put up information on its Web site on the status of its internal testing, their recommendations and their definition of Y2K compliance. This information has been put up for the purpose of assisting customers in their planning for the transition to the year 2000.

Sometime back, several companies sold their PCs that were not Y2K compliant at dirt-cheap prices to the ignorant lot who thought that they were getting PCs at a very good bargain. Little do they realise the repercussions of this deadly bargain. Software companies are also busy giving final touches to the Y2K compliancy tests of their past projects. As Hewlett Packard director HP - ISC division Craig Chatterton puts in "We have reviewed past projects for Y2k compliance and advised our customers and partners of any concern."

Many companies are taking precautionary measures to avoid any kind of ghastly happening on that day. The engineers are applying Y2K patches and also are taking backup of their data to prevent any loss of data. Many organizations have declared unofficial ban on leave for their engineers during the period October 1999 to March 2000, in anticipation of a crisis situation. In the case of VXL Instruments Ltd., as a precautionary measure, the engineers are not sanctioned leave from the December23, 1999 till the January 7, 2000.

Companies are also setting up alarm alerts on their servers or their systems so that the minute something goes wrong, the server would sound off an alarm that would alert their engineers. Emphasis is being laid on back-up measures during the last week and the first week of January, to avoid loss of data. National Association of Software Companies (Nasscom) President Dewang Mehta has also said that a 24-hour control room is being set up at New Delhi to monitor Y2K preparedness in the country. He also added that, the control room would provide round the clock information on Y2K related issues to general public and mediapersons from December 24. Linc Software also has come up with a software analysis tool that identifies Y2K problems. They also offer services such as stationing their engineers at the customers' premises on the night of 31st December till the next day, a dynamic resource allocation service with an analyst on demand who will report to the customer within a guaranteed period of 24 to 36 hours at any major location in India. Yet another service that Linc offers is to engage an analyst at the customers' site to monitor the data and support the customer till the critical dates are over.

With all these kinds of preparedness, we will have to wait and see if the New Year is going to be a bitter or a winning experience for everyone against the millennium bug.