By SHANNA GHAZNAVI
The so-called computer apocalypse is coming in the year 2000.
While businesses scramble to prepare themselves for the Millennium Bug, or Y2k virus, computer consultants, programmers and system integrators are using the time left in this century to take advantage of widespread panic and making millions of dollars doing so.
Estimates for correcting the Year 2000 problem reach as high as $600 billion. After litigation fees and damages are factored into the cost, the bill adds up to a colossal $3.6 trillion, according to the Gartner Group, a research service.
The Gartner Group is making money on the Y2k market with a research service costing businesses $20,000 per year according to their website at www.wired.com.
The Year 2000 problem began in the 1960s when the first computers were programmed. The programmers, assuming their work would not last into the next century, only stored the last two digits of the year in the computer dating system in order to save space on limited memory cards.
More than 80 percent of the computers in the world will not be able to accommodate dates after 1999 if they are not reprogrammed. If the computers read the last two “0”‘s of 2000 to mean 1900, some experts predict that havoc will be wreaked in almost every computer system, controlling anything from bank accounts to heating and air conditioning, according to the Asia Times website at www.asiatimes.com.
Howard Rubin, a computer science professor at the Hunter College of the City University of New York, in an e-mail interview said, “The problem is real. The magnitude of the impact is not really known, and most journalists and consultants are focusing on near-worst scenarios.”
Rubin, who has conducted numerous studies on the impact the Millennium Bug will have on Fortune 1000 firms, also said, “Companies that have not assessed the impact on themselves are at risk.”
Computer experts recommend all businesses act now to begin to counteract the effects that the Millennium Bug will have, all of which cannot be predicted at present according to a business website at www.sojourn.com.
The nightmare most businesses face, of their computer systems shutting down for unknown lengths of time, turns out to be a monetary dream come true for those involved in the business of reprogramming.
Asiaweek magazine reported that the stock of software and computer companies has risen at the expectation of major income increases resulting from the Year 2000 problem.
“Fortunes will be made by companies specializing in fixing the Millennium Bug. It is likely to be a source of healthy returns if you pick the right program-repair companies to invest in,” according to a business website at www.cnet.com.
At Computer Associates International, a $4 billion company in New York, Y2k product sales have grown 800 percent. Growth in sales of products and manpower for solving the Year 2000 problem is common throughout the computer industry.
With some insurance companies, such as Lloyd’s of London, now refusing to cover damages caused by the Millennium Bug, solutions are being sold at a faster rate than ever before. The prices range from 20 cents to $5 per line of programming corrected, not including manual labor and the time required to implement conversion to a 2000 system according to a business website at www.cgn.com.
On the average, Fortune 500 companies will spend $100 million each to reprogram computers to recognize the change from the 20th century to the 21st according to a business website at detnews.com.
According to Jose Manuel Tesoro, a business writer for Asiaweek, “the Year 2000 crisis could end up being the Year 2000 moneymaking opportunity.”
