Some Y2K Solutions
by L. Carol Christopher
Are you all squared away for the new millennium? Completely confident that your systems will chug into 2000 without a hiccup? If not, you need to check out NAA's new report, "Year 2000 Computer Issues at Newspapers," based on a survey of newspapers and suppliers.
The report indicates that the Year 2000 problem is "significant" for at least two major suppliers: Atex Media Solutions (http://www.atex.com) and System Integrators Inc. (http://www.sii.com). It says Y2K is likely to affect classified, retail, editorial and pagination systems from both companies, as well as SII's archive system. Both the report and the suppliers indicate that lack of customer awareness is the first-and biggest-obstacle to gaining compliance.
To overcome this, Atex has dedicated a World Wide Web site to the issue, is calling customers, sending mail and holding seminars, says Allen Miller, senior vice president for marketing. Atex will make its systems compliant through standard upgrades, but some older systems may need to be replaced. Some of the compliancy upgrades are already in beta and will be released before the end of 1997. Additional upgrades will continue through 1998, says Miller.
Al Marshall, SII's director of sales and marketing, says that SII has been working on the problem since 1996. "At first, our customers complained, without realizing that this was a problem they face on all their applications. That changed from concern that there was a problem to relief that a fix would be available."
The fix was released in early September. "It's a relatively straightforward upgrade. SII can install its Y2K Solution software in one to two weekends--at a small percentage of the cost of replacing an entire system to overcome Y2K problems," says Brian Tickner, SII's Year 2000 project manager. The software is free to customers who hold service contracts with SII. Customers at more than 70 sites have already signed up SII to install the software.
Atex and SII are not the only systems with a Y2K problem. Customized systems, as well as those that have been in operation for 10 years or more, present the greatest risk of noncompliancy.
If you're not looking forward to tackling the problem on your own, Data Dimensions Inc. (http://www.data-dimensions.com) has offered Year-2000 compliancy assistance via Millennium Consulting Services since 1991. Their range of services includes a bimonthly publication, The Millennium Journals, available via subscription, fax-back or their Web site.
DDI has also entered into an agreement with The Seattle Times (which has identified 195 products in its own shop that must be made Year 2000 compliant) to provide compliancy information about newspaper vendors and their products. Interactive Vendor Review, which was demonstrated at NEXPO'97, is a fee-based, password-protected service that permits newspapers to share information.
L. Carol Christopher is president of Christopher Communications in Berkeley, Calif. E-mail, cchristo@weber.ucsd.edu; phone, (510) 444-7841.