TECHNOLOGY-LATAM: Co-operative Attack against Millenium Bug

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Gustavo González

SANTIAGO, Dec 28 1999 (IPS) - South American technology experts claim the region is ready to handle potential computer system failures at midnight Friday, when the much anticipated year 2000 finally arrives – and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) played a key role in making their claims possible.

Multilateral and bilateral co-operation throughout South America has allowed the continent to confront this information-age challenge “in a calm and organised way,” said Chile’s Rodrigo Moraga, regional co-ordinator of the Y2K Forum.

The 10 South American nations will work together, and with the world, during the transition from Friday, Dec 31, to Saturday, Jan 1, to monitor the systems and take any emergency actions necessary to confront potential failures arising from the “2000 effect,” especially in basic services, such as electricity and water.

The “millenium bug” is the problem arising from the fact that most computer information systems designate years using just the last two digits, so that the year 2000 is represented as a double zero, which could be confused with the year 1900, thus potentially triggering systems failures.

The Y2K Forum (Year 2,000) was created in December 1998 at the behest of the United Nations, and includes eight regional forums, including South America.

Moraga was designated the co-ordinator of the national committees set up in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela.

The South American Y2K Forum, like those of other developing regions, had the technical and financial support of the UNDP, as well as the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDP).

The regional forum concentrated its efforts on five critical areas: energy, transportation, telecommunications, finances and health. Delegates focused primarily on energy sources, which they consider to be the most sensitive to the Y2K effect.

“The central effort of the ‘Governmental Projects 2000’ consisted of ensuring the continuity (with the arrival of the new year) of the basic services the community needs for its normal endeavours,” indicated Moraga.

Beyond the supposed chaos at the world’s airports or problems with nuclear devices or satellites, experts say the fundamental issue of the transition is to guarantee the normal functioning of electricity, gas and water supply channels, as well as telephone and banking services.

The regional co-ordinator called on the public to not get carried away by rumours and to trust in the measures implemented by authorities and private companies, but also to maintain a spirit of co-operation.

He recommended refraining from making phone calls between 23:00 Friday and 1:00 Saturday local time, and patience with transportation schedules, especially involving air travel.

“The UNDP made all of its regional infrastructure available, so it supported the co-operation that each country and each national co-ordinator required” for the task, Moraga told IPS.

The UN agency, along with the World Bank and the IDB, provided “resources to make assessments possible, such as the technical reports the region needed,” he added.

Moraga made special mention of the UNDP’s Latin American regional director, Elena Martínez, the World Bank’s Carlos Primo Braga, and the IDB’s Carlos Guedes for their efforts in assisting the process.

To date, according to the report Moraga submitted to the UNDP, the 10 countries of South America have spent 15 billion dollars on adjustment measures to prevent Y2K problems.

“The total will be finalised once the transition occurs. It is estimated that, of the 15 billion, some nine billion – more or less – are private funds, with the difference coming from the public sector,” explained Moraga.

The monitoring operations from Friday to Saturday will be co- ordinated based at the World Committee that unites the eight regional forums, as the brain of the International Year 2000 Co- operation Centre (IY2KCC), created in 1998.

Monitoring will begin in the area encompassing Samoa, Fiji, New Zealand and Australia, the first region to bring in the year 2000 according to the time zones, then moving around the world until it reaches the Americas in one of the final stages.

AT its Santiago headquarters, the South American Y2K Forum will hold telephone multi-conferences every eight hours with the World Committee and with other regional co-ordinators, receiving regular reports from each continent.

Conferences will also be held with each of the South American national co-ordinators in order to provide ongoing information to the public through press releases.

“This planning has given us the peace of mind to be able to say we are awaiting this transition like any other party, in an organised and peaceful way, content with a job well done. We hope it has the desired results. I will be happy if they tell us, ‘well, nothing happened,’ which would mean that it was worth the effort,” concluded Moraga.