Phase one involves testing individual applications or groups of applications on mainframe or on distributed platforms. Consultants were engaged to assist with the testing of distributed applications classified as highly critical. Each of these phases has been pursued in a worldwide effort coordinated in New York, London and Tokyo where project teams and segregated lab environments have been established. The remediation and testing has been largely completed for core databases. External testing itself is being performed in three steps.
Industrywide testing follows beta testing as the final external testing step.
The Company has also participated in the SIA Money Market Beta Test, the Mortgage-Backed Securities Clearing Corporation Test, the Participant Trust Company Mortgage Test and the Government Securities Clearing Corporation Test. In addition the Company is scheduled to participate in a wide range of overseas tests in 1999, specifically, Hong Kong and Tokyo tests planned for the first and second quarters. The Company plans to participate in European tests as they are announced. Industrywide testing is currently expected to be completed in the third quarter. The Company has taken a lead in the industry's efforts to deal with the year 2000 issue by actively participating and in some cases leading, industrywide testing efforts.