Tech Talk
What is the Year 2000 or Y2K Challenge?
With the year 2000 fast approaching, every company that relies on information technology has cause for concern. Almost every company performs time-related calculations such as those used in forecasts, projections, amortization schedules and annuities.
When the clock strikes midnight on December 31, 1999, computers without the "year 2000 fix" will see the next day's date as January 1,1900 or some other totally absurd date. It's guaranteed that all computers without the "fix" will come up with an inaccurate date.
Why did this happen?
Since the 1950s, programs and databases have been written with two-digit date fields preceded by a hard-coded "19". Programs were written this way because of the limitations of earlier technology and the historical Storing information. At the time, it was thought that these early systems would not survive so many companies chose the two-digit date codes to save space.
What's the rush?
Many organizations are puzzled about the urgency of the challenge. It may feel like there's a lot of time but the year 2000 challenge has already started kicking in for banks, insurance companies and others who have to look five years out or longer for things like mortgages, insurance policies and annuities.
How much will it Cost?
Over the next few years, Canadian businesses will spend two to six billion dollars solving the year 2000 challenge. What some companies may not realize is that failing to complete a year 2000 conversion effort in time can result in dramatic drops in revenue or even corporate bankruptcy. Further, the costs for correcting date processing problems will increase exponentially and the resources available to help companies in the year 2000 conversion process will decrease the longer a company waits to correct the situation. There is no "silver bullet' or single set of tools that will quickly fix the problem.
