http://www.computerworld.com/home/news.nsf/all/9911162icc

Online News, 11/16/99 04:46 PM Industry groups will help White House get Y2K picture By Patrick Thibodeau

WASHINGTON -- Companies operating the nation's key infrastructures -- finance, utilities and transportation -- will play an unprecedented role over the New Year's weekend in helping the White House collect and assess Y2K incident reports.

These companies have formed extensive, voluntary networks through their respective industry trade associations to share information about Y2K incidents and system information problems, according to trade association and government officials.

Their purpose is twofold. The industry networks will keep the White House posted on the status of their respective industries. But Y2K information will also be shared among participating companies, giving information system managers a heads-up to potential Y2K-related system problems and even fixes.

For instance, U.S. government and private sector officials will be eagerly watching how U.S. oil firms operating in New Zealand -- one of the first industrialized regions in the world to see the New Year at 7 a.m. EST Dec. 31 -- will be affected by Y2K.

Firms operating in this region will share technical data about their systems -- along with reports of any Y2K disruptions outside their company's gates, such as power failures -- with oil industry experts stationed at a desk at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).

"For our members, what goes on in Australia and New Zealand is just as relevant as anything that happens to their assets here in the U.S.," said Kendra Martin, the CIO and Y2K project director at the American Petroleum Institute in Washington, which is spearheading the oil industry's data collection effort.

This data will be shared with other companies, but it will also be analyzed for trends pointing to Y2K anomalies, said Martin, who will be among those working 12-hour shifts on the DOEdesk through the holiday weekend.

The oil industry and other trade groups will send this information, along with an assessment as to whether it will affect consumers, to the White House's new $50 million Y2K Information Coordination Center (ICC) located in an office building in downtown Washington. In a room filled with computer and television monitors, White House Y2K czar John Koskinen, along with some 200 federal workers, will assemble this data into as complete picture as they can of Y2K's impact worldwide. This information will be shared with the participating trade groups.

"One of the reasons they (the trade groups) were enthusiastic about doing this is, of course, everyone wants to know what's happening everywhere else," said Koskinen.

Koskinen is also counting on the trade groups to tell federal officials which problems and outages are normal "background noise" for a holiday period, and which are Y2K-related.

For participating companies, the best incentive for passing along Y2K information is to learn if systems similar to their own are having problems. The goal is "that we might be able to share what others can benefit by," said Gary Gardner, CIO of the American Gas Association in Washington.

Other industry groups participating include the Air Transport Association, the North American Electric Reliability Council, the Securities Industry Association and the Network Reliability and Interoperability Council.

In many respects, what the trade groups and companies will be doing over the New Year is a continuation of their ongoing Y2K information sharing efforts. Many companies have already been sharing Y2K "best practices," testing data and vendor information among one another, said Cathy Hotka, vice president of information technology for the National Retail Federation (NRF) in Washington.

The NRF members, which include major retailers such as Sears Roebuck and Co. in Hoffman Estates, Ill., and Starbucks Coffee Co. in Seattle, are planning several conference calls on Dec. 31 and New Year's Day, a major shopping day, to discuss not only Y2K incidents at their stores but also what they are seeing in the cities.

Hotka said she getting ready to spend most of her time over the New Year working at the ICC.

Conference calls with major software vendors are also planned. If one of these vendors "has noticed that one of their products is not working as they expected, this might be a good time for them to say so," said Hotka.

-- Uncle Bob (UNCLB0B@Tminus45&counting.down), November 16, 1999

Answers

Sure looks like those folks are going to a mess of trouble for something that they say isn't going to amount to anything.

-- Lumber Jack (johnsellis@webtv.net), November 16, 1999.

>"Companies operating the nation's key infrastructures -- finance, utilities and transportation -- will play an unprecedented role over the New Year's weekend in helping the White House collect and assess Y2K incident reports."

Which does not require the WH "Command Center" to have flat screens for computers, large high density flat screens on the walls, "video conferencing" and endless ultra elite t.v's to tune into the media which isn't even allowed to report anything REAL by "command centers" own dictation.

I hate these people. I hate them.

-- Paula (chowbabe@pacbell.net), November 16, 1999.

Ditto

-- dittodittoditto (karlacalif@aol.com), November 17, 1999.

Spin, baby, spin.

I get dizzy just thinking about it.

-- cgbg jr (cgbgjr@webtv.net), November 17, 1999.

Kosky: "Report, sector five grid."

S(ector) F(ive) G(rid): "(bzzzzt crackle) ..ector five grid, reporting. Everything's fine... (sound of lots more BZZZZZTing and CRACKLing in the background)"

Kosky: "Have you heard from sector four?"

SFG: "Only one last transmission. They reported core meltdown imminent (sizzle, crack)"

Kosky: "Your situation?"

SFG: "(more sizzling and cracking in the background)... Sensors have ceased to function, all screens inoperable... (bzzzzzttt!) (Expletive deleted) SCRAM sequence has begun... Wait... What was that?....."

Kosky: "So everything's working as usual? Good!"

SFG: "(LOTS more sizzling and cracking) Possum Hollow (bzzzzzt) Reactor #2 has just tripped... (loud explosion in the background) ARRRRRRGH!"

Kosky: "Thank you. Report in if anything unusual happens."

SFG: (high-pitched squeal, like that one in 'Fail-Safe' when the ambassador's phone melted down...)

Kosky, to the approved media representatives: "All's well. Nothing to report here..."

-- I'm Here, I'm There (I'm Everywhere@so.beware), November 17, 1999.

Here's my image...

Koskinen: Any reports of incidents?

Drone: Er... all the phones are dead and the screens are blank.

Koskinen: I'll take that as a "no". "Will someone turn the lights off please?" "Thank you! Mmmf, mmf, mmmmmmmmmmmf."

-- Colin MacDonald (roborogerborg@yahoo.com), November 17, 1999.

This is one of the key mistakes made by english speaking governments (US, Australia, UK, Canada). I don't know if it is being used in non- english speaking countries.

They fail to understand what these industry groups are. They are the MARKETING arms of the industries. Their function is to SPIN governments and the public. They have almost no insight and influence with the industries.

The last meeting I went to of ours was spent trying to establish a position that would sell, on why the government ought to adopt legislation to protect us from liability. They have NO insight into what is going on inside the member companies, and we sure as hell aren't going to tell them. That would tell our competitors.

This approach is going to be a primary cause of the governments' failures to prevent some of the disruptions we are going to see. Too bad. If they had sent representatives to meet with the boards of directors of the 1000 largest industries in these countries two years ago when they started this approach, we'd be in much better shape.

-- ng (cantprovideemail@none.com), November 17, 1999.