Companies still ignoring Year 2000, warns IT group
15 Jan 2000
More than three-quarters of British businesses have made no provision for the 'Millennium bug', according to a survey carried out by the UK Computer Services and Software Association. Most senior managers are aware of the problem, it says, but with less than two years before the year counter rolls over, 36 per cent have yet to make a contingency plan to deal with the problem. Meanwhile, another survey, conducted by PA Consulting, highlights some of the hair-raising problems that could hit the process industries.
The survey also revealed a wide range of misconceptions about the millennium problem, says the CSSA. A third of companies questioned thought they would have no problem recruiting staff skilled in Year 2000 issues; but there are currently some 50000 unfilled IT vacancies in the UK. And 55 per cent of respondents thought that, as their businesses depended wholly on mid-range computers, they were immune to the problem; however, experts believe that no platform from mainframe to PC is immune.
The PA Consulting survey shows that the process industry is not immune from millennium problems. Embedded software the programs built into control devices such as PLCs are of particular concern, it says, as they are harder to find, isolate and test than PCs and their software. Sometimes, such software cannot be modified, it warns.
The problems could be severe. One unnamed multinational chemical company replying to the survey said: 'We would be amazed if there is not a major chemical disaster somewhere caused by Year 2000 problems with embedded software.' And a water company again anonymous said that 'failure of one or two small programmable controllers could poison the water supply to a major international airport in our area.'
