Net ready for Y2K, officials say

Service providers could crash, though

08/18/99

By Jim Landers / The Dallas Morning News

Y2K Watch

WASHINGTON - The Internet, designed to withstand a nuclear attack, will survive the Year 2000 computer problem, federal and industry officials said Tuesday.

But individual users should check with their Internet service providers to find out whether they may crash while the Internet itself goes on.

"The Internet is a matrix of 200,000 independent [computer] networks," said Don Heath, president of the Internet Society. "The sky is not even thinking about falling."

Mr. Heath said the Society's Internet Engineering Task Force, which sets technical standards for the Internet, has tested the Year 2000 readiness of all the technical software that has been used on the Internet.

"None of the affected protocols has anything to do with operations of the Internet," he said.

But Internet service providers have found Year 2000 glitches that could disrupt service unless they are repaired. America Online, with almost 18 million subscribers, has said in filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it expects to spend $20 million addressing the Year 2000 problem.

"AOL has always been very focused on minimizing any potential impact Y2K has on service," said company spokesman Andrew Weinstein. "Our task force has been testing all our systems, and we are on schedule."

To save memory, most computers were programmed to record dates with only two digits to represent the year. Unless they are repaired, on Jan. 1 these computers will not be able to recognize whether it is 2000 or 1900 and may fail or malfunction.

The glitch is costing computer owners around the world hundreds of billions of dollars to fix.

Officials said consumers should either call or check the Web site of their service to learn whether it will be ready for the new year. There are anywhere from 5,000 to 10,000 Internet service providers now in business, officials estimate.

"There are more than 5,000 ISPs in the United States alone," said Jason Zigmont of the Internet Service Provider's Forum, a trade association. "Malfunctions and outages happen every day, and may happen on January 1, 2000."

John Koskinen, chairman of the White House Council on the Year 2000 Conversion, held a private meeting of about 100 Internet companies and government officials on July 30 to discuss the Year 2000 problem.

While saying their Year 2000 problems were minor, the firms agreed to develop contingency plans for the core network operations of the Internet.

Among these are the 13 computer sites known as "root zone servers" that translate Web site names into the numbers that are used to communicate among Internet users.

Most of the 13 root servers are in the United States and operated by commercial firms, while others are in Sweden, Japan and Britain.

Barbara Dooley, president of the Commercial Internet eXchange Association, said all 13 root servers have completed Year 2000 testing and are ready.

"Internet architecture was engineered to be robust and redundant and to survive both natural and human-caused disruptions," she said.