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Al-Ahram Weekly 21 - 27 October 1999 Issue No. 452 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 21 - 27 October 1999 Issue No. 452
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Features Profile Travel Living Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters The bomb is ticking
By Shaimaa LabibAlthough only two months remain before the 'millennium bomb', or what is known as the Year 2000 issue, many personnel in Egyptian companies still feel the need to discuss the plans needed to efficiently counter unanticipated Y2K problems.
Recognising the importance of this problem, the Egyptian High Tech Association (EHITA), in collaboration with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), recently organised a two-day seminar to review the plans of Egyptian private companies to cope with Y2K.
The origins of the Y2K problem date back to the invention of the computer some 50 years ago. In the early days of the computer revolution, software writers of programmes for mainframes and personal computers needed to save space in the computer's memory, since there was less memory capacity than there is now. In order to do this, they gave all dates in the 20th century two digits rather than four. In most software programmes, the dates run from 00 through 99 instead of 1900 to 1999.
Therefore, when the programme is asked to perform a date sensitive function involving the year 2000 or beyond, some computers will read the date as 00. They will take that to mean 1900 and will get confused, producing inaccurate results or even shutting down.
"Year 2000 compliance means that neither performance nor functionality is [adversely] affected by dates prior to, during or after the year 2000," said Sami El-Dessouki, petroleum, chemical and consumer manager at ABB Industrial Systems, a leading Egyptian chemical company.
Business organisations should start now to implement corrective measures to ensure that their computer applications are Y2K compliant, according to El-Dessouki. "Each company has to establish a working group of experts from all areas and functions of business to perform a detailed study of current computer applications to test for Y2K compliance and, accordingly, suggest replacements for, or upgrades to, these applications," he added.
Sherif Selim, communication software supervisor at Lucent Technologies, a leading US business communications company, suggested tax exemptions for the components needed to ensure applications compliance to the Y2K problem. "Companies working on ensuring their applications compliance to the Y2K will need to purchase technical equipment from the international market to modify or replace their current applications. It would be useful for these companies if the government considered exempting this equipment from taxes," Selim said.
However, this procedure will be difficult to implement, according to Ihab Elwy, chairman of the Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics (CAPMAS). "Companies' high-level management personnel tend to exaggerate their demands when it comes to purchasing components or equipment needed in their companies from international markets," Elwy said.
Participants agreed that it is essential for each business to develop a valid contingency plan to ensure normal operations if any event disrupts regular working procedures, in this case unanticipated Y2K problems.
"A company's contingency plan should take into account reasonable corrective actions to reduce risk (and it should contain) updated emergency response plans in case of possible system disruptions," according to Amr El-Gamily, Information Technology (IT) and business development consultant in Savola Sime Egypt, an Egyptian food company. "However, the contingency plan should not be limited to internal systems but should also involve business partners to benefit from their contingency plans. And it should cover software providers (which can provide) reliable Y2K compliant applications," he added.
Possible alternatives to be included in the contingency plan are the use of manual work or precautionary shutdowns, El-Gamily said.
Unfortunately, computer problems related to the year 2000 may not be limited to financial companies, but could also involve hospitals and medical centers. The year 2000 compliance issue holds serious implications for patient care as well as for scientific research activities in hospitals, according to Nabil Azmy, a professor in the Faculty of Medicine at Assiut University.
"Medical devices that operate for a fixed period of time and scientific laboratory equipment may experience serious problems if they are not Y2K compliant," Azmy said.
The Assiut University Hospital has taken corrective actions to ensure Y2K compliance. "These include replacement or renovation of the current systems to ensure their compliance, and in some cases retirement of non-compliant systems," Azmy said.
