As a result, the upcoming change of century is a sweeping and urgent challenge. Some are moving quickly to study the Y2K problem and rewire systems even as others still pooh-pooh its magnitude.
Experts say that judgments about the severity of the problem are relative to who is asked.
The federal government, whose data stores are huge, critical and most at risk, is rushing to figure out and fix its worst vulnerabilities. A spate of recent gao reports and congressional testimony point to problems that range from disruptions in financial markets and air traffic control to losses of electric power and highway traffic signals. But we must find them all and test them. Mass. One industry firm that still uses a mainframe will solve the problem simply. To pay for the fixes, industry firms are planning to fold costs into planned system upgrades.