Pockets of Y2K Laxity

John A. Koskinen had good news to share at the National Press Club in Washington Thursday. The words of the chairman of President Clinton’s Council on Y2K Conversion should fend off the panic mongers for at least another month or so.

In terms of readiness for Y2K, the edgily anticipated year 2000 computer glitch, the nation’s airlines, the oil and gas industry, the federal government’s critical systems and the nation’s telecommunications and financial institutions are 93% to 99% complete in testing their critical facilities. Koskinen also noted welcome news from the North American Electrical Reliability Council. “For the first time,” he said, “the industry was prepared to say that not only were they confident that power would be reliably provided on Jan. 1, but they noted that if today or tomorrow were Jan. 1, power would reliably be provided.”

The message from Koskinen’s talk is simple: The nation’s skies will be safe for air travel that day. Lighting systems, in all but a few places, at worst might go offline for a day or so. Water supplies will be safe, and food supplies should be adequate.

All this should be comforting. But there remain some areas of concern, notably schools and universities, small businesses, state and local government operations and emergency telephone systems.

Of some 3,500 elementary and secondary schools surveyed, for example, fewer than one-third had their computer systems prepared for the turn of the century. Colleges and universities were only slightly better off. Most troubling of all, perhaps, was the state of 911 emergency call centers around the nation. Few more than a third reported that they were ready.

It’s that kind of unpreparedness or, worse yet, a “wait-and-see-what-happens” approach among small businesses and local governments that could nullify the many gains made in Y2K preparedness among the nation’s major industries, businesses and other key sectors. Few small businesses, for instance, are reporting to the government what progress, if any, they have made, and this could damage their prospects of federal help in any crisis.

Now that it seems clear that Americans can rely on most of the big ticket clicking right through the 00 date, the focus should turn to making sure that the rest of the elements that support our highly technical lifestyles are prepared to do their respective jobs. There are 147 days left, and counting.

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Who’s Y2K Ready?

Percentage of readiness among major national institutions.

K-12 schools

Colleges

911 call centers

Oil and gas industry

Canadian and U.S. airlines

Financial institutions

Source: President’s Council on Y2K Conversion, Air transport Assn., federal banking regulators.