Alabama Reports Lowest Y2K Readiness in U.S

greenspun.com : LUSENET : TimeBomb 2000 (Y2000) : One Thread

Alabama Reports Lowest Y2K Readiness in U.S

Updated 5:02 PM ET November 10, 1999

By Lisa Baertlein

MIAMI (Reuters) - Alabama's Y2K debugging efforts sharply lag the rest of the United States, with just 52 percent of its "mission critical" systems ready for the new year, according to an ongoing survey of the states.

Alabama's Y2K officials this week reported that just over half of the state's 328 key computer systems have been fixed to eliminate potential problems caused by the so-called millennium bug, which could prevent some computers from distinguishing 2000 from 1900 because of an old programming shortcut.

That placed Alabama well behind Oklahoma, which was next-worst at 75 percent compliant, according to the survey conducted by the National Association of State Information Resource Executives.

Rounding out the bottom five were Puerto Rico at 76 percent, New Mexico at 81 percent, and Wyoming at 85 percent.

The survey said seven states are 100 percent ready: Hawaii, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Nebraska, New York and North Dakota. Seven others -- Florida, Kentucky, New Jersey, South Dakota, Texas, Virginia and Washington -- said they were at 99 percent.

The group's survey is an ongoing project, and state officials update their own figures on the group's Web site, at http://www.nasire.org/hotissues/y2k/survey/.

Arkansas, the District of Columbia and Guam did not respond to the survey.

Alabama's lagging Y2K compliance was cited as one reason several institutional investors deciding against buying into a recent $74 million University of Alabama bond deal, municipal bond market participants said.

But one Birmingham trader said subsequent bond deals have proceeded without a hitch.

Raymond Murphy, a credit analyst at Moody's Investors Service, said Alabama's bondholders do not appear to be at risk from Y2K problems because the state's Treasury functions, which would process the debt service payments to bondholders after Jan. 1, are 100 percent Y2K compliant.

"Those payments would flow," Murphy said.

Alabama Y2K officials did not return numerous calls seeking comment. Jody Larson, New Mexico's Y2K coordinator, said in an interview that more than 90 percent of the state's mission critical systems should be fixed by Dec. 1.

Business disruptions "would be very few and very short in duration," she said.

==================================== End

Ray

-- Ray (ray@totacc.com), November 10, 1999

Answers

Sorry, Alabamians. But there IS a silver lining -- isn't that where Phoole lives?

-- Phiddle-de-dee (Phix@on.Phailure), November 10, 1999.

If I see anything in the local rag, I'll try to report from the front lines.

-- Flint (flintc@mindspring.com), November 10, 1999.

Ray: I wonder if the poor rating is due to maybe Alabama telling the truth and the rest stretching it!

-- Neil G.Lewis (pnglewis1@yahoo.com), November 10, 1999.

Gaaaa! 52 of the CRITICALS%? WHAT? WHAT?

Oh, I agree that no one else is really any better prepared, I just think Alabama are being honest. Idiots. It's way too late, just ramp it to 100% and paste a smile on your face.

-- Colin MacDonald (roborogerborg@yahoo.com), November 11, 1999.


Colin, it may have been posted a bit before you started posting--Durham, NC, has a three-day supply of fuel for the 911 system; one day each for the firefighters and paramedics. I'm not convinced that this is an exeptional situation. Their day-to-day ops are dodgy, especially the water department, and there were serious problems with the new "Y2K-compliant" modems used in the vote-counting system. Votes had to be tallied by hand, in both the primary and general elections--one month apart. That's right--and they were still trying to figure out the problem several days after the second election. They know what the problem is now but, far as I know, it's still not fixed. The 2nd election was 2 November. Par for the course, does not bode well for any Y2K glitches.

-- Old Git (anon@spamproblems.com), November 11, 1999.


Moderation questions? read the FAQ