The year 2000 problem threatens to unleash a barrage of litigation to determine who will bear the burgeoning costs of remediation efforts and year-2000 induced business interruptions. And, every member of the production and distribution chain, including VARs, will be ensnared in these lawsuits as plaintiffs' attorneys seek to recover from the deepest pocket. In the first year 2000 lawsuit, for example, the plaintiff, Produce Palace International, a grocer, sued the manufacturer and the distributor of its purchasing and inventory control system after the system crashed 105 times while processing credit cards with expiration dates in the next millennium. Fortunately, there are measures that VARs can undertake to minimize their legal exposure. The Future Is Now VARs and integrators are prime target for Y2K litigation.
Careless language creates unintended express warranties.
Review existing contracts and maintenance agreements. The year 2000 computer glitch can be traced to the early days of computing, when memory and data storage were very expensive. To conserve these limited resources, computer programmers decided to use just two digits in date fields to identify calendar years. This error may cause systems to process incorrect data or simply shut down. VARs Are Vulnerable VARs, consultants and systems integrators are especially vulnerable to breach of warranty suits arising from year 2000 system failures because they often warrant the performance of components they do not control, as well as the systems they recommend.