Coaxing computers to comply with 2000

Businesses such as Network Engineering Solutions in Clearwater are hustling to bring companies and their technology into the next century.

By KRIS HUNDLEY

© St. Petersburg Times, published May 2, 1999

A bug that costs billions Y2K may lead to why not sue For economy, Y2K bug is contagious As Y2K work wanes, companies search for new niches Buy a bug Preparedness progress report Their Y2K motto: Be prepared Calm, not calamity, in local forecast for Y2K Firms say they're prepared for Y2K

Jose Remon is under a desk again, wrestling a 4-year-old computer into the 21st century.

Remon, director of engineering for Network Engineering Solutions Inc. in Clearwater, has been spending a lot of time like this lately, making sure computers at small businesses in the Tampa Bay area are ready for the year 2000. And Remon doesn't expect a respite from the back sides of computers until well after Dec. 31.

"Time is the issue," said Remon, 32, as he deftly loosened the screws on a computer housing and slid out the circuitry. "And time is running out."

Remon's company specializes in providing computer support for small to medium-size businesses. It is the sector many experts think will encounter the most severe problems when computer hardware and software fails to accommodate the four digits in the year 2000. Strapped for capital, many companies with fewer than 50 employees prefer to ignore the problem or trust that recent software or hardware upgrades protect them from any glitches.

A Senate committee report found that more than 80 percent of all small businesses are exposed to Y2K problems, but only half plan to do something about it. And fewer than one-quarter of all small businesses have taken action.

In the Tampa Bay area, any number of smaller companies fit that profile. Angie Federspiel, manager of Signs Now on S Dale Mabry in Tampa, said she doesn't think any Y2K work has been done on her store's computers, which are used to design and cut signs.

Gary Clausen, one of the owners of Clausen Brothers Moving Co. in St. Petersburg, said Y2K is not an issue for his family's business. "We're not new-fashioned," Clausen said. "We don't have computers, though we do have a security system that might be affected."

Congress recently authorized the Small Business Administration to set up a $500-million loan guarantee program to help small companies prepare for Y2K.

Remon's customers aren't waiting for government-guaranteed loans: They are making lists of their computer-related hardware and software, contacting manufacturers for information on compliance and fixing or replacing equipment that cannot make a glitch-free transition to the new millennium.

On a Friday morning in March, Remon was doing the hands-on work of ensuring that Universal Management Associates Co., a physician practice management and billing company in Tampa, will roll over to the next century without a hiccup. That is critical for UMAC, a 3-year-old company that processes $50-million a year in medical bills for local physicians.

UMAC, which has 60 employees, has two computer systems: One with 34 terminals is used exclusively for medical billing and depends on specialized, proprietary software. The other, a Windows NT network with 17 computers, handles personnel and accounting with off-the-shelf software like Microsoft Office Suite. The company is also online, through dedicated data lines, with a half-dozen doctors' offices in the area.

By the time Remon begins his work, UMAC's controller, Roland Bulnes, already has prepared an inventory of all the company's hardware and software, including every software version and application. Every piece of equipment has been tested by Remon, whose company has an annual service contract with UMAC. Now Remon is dealing with the handful of older computers, dating from 1995 to 1997, that flunked the tests.

At one computer, tucked into what was once a closet in UMAC's cramped office in a converted residence, Remon slips in a disk that tests for compatibility with the year 2000, as well as with Feb. 29, 2000. The leap year is another stumbling block for some computers. A red line of text pops up on the screen: "Real-time progression to year 2000 fails."

Remon unscrews the back of the computer's CPU (central processing unit), slips out the motherboard and installs a new BIOS (Basic Input/Output System) card, a circuit board about the size of a cigarette pack that retails for $75. The BIOS card controls basic functions for a computer, including relaying the time from a chip embedded in the motherboard to the software. If the chip incorrectly records the date as 1900 instead of 2000 -- and the BIOS card relays that date -- even the latest version of accounts payable software will not recognize an invoice from 1999 and scheduling software will not accept appointment dates for 2000. The Y2K-compliant BIOS card translates the chip's date into the correct date so Y2K-ready software will work flawlessly.

With the new BIOS card in place, Remon runs his test again. This time a green line appears on the screen: "This system correctly supports the year 2000."

"That means we'll sleep a little better at the turn of the century," said Remon, who jots down the computer's status on a sheet of yellow legal paper. UMAC employees put a white label on Y2K-ready equipment, noting how it was made compatible.

In two hours at UMAC, Remon installs two BIOS cards and uses a $49 software patch to bring into compliance the company's oldest PC, used primarily for word processing. The patch is a low-cost option for computers for which BIOS cards aren't available or replacement isn't a priority. Remon also updates each computer's software using a custom-made CD-ROM, on which he has downloaded from the Internet free software patches for the most commonly used software, including Windows 95 and 98 and Microsoft Office 97.

"A lot of people are assuming that, because their software is new, it's ready to go," Remon said. "But that's not the case. The manufacturers are constantly putting upgrades and revisions out on their Web sites. But you can't wait until the last minute to download them."

Remon, one of four technicians at Network Engineering, estimates that he spends about one-third of his 60-hour work week on Y2K issues for clients.

"And every single week that percentage is probably going to be more," he said.

Remon expects that UMAC's direct cost for Y2K compliance will be relatively low, because the company has been aggressively updating its computer system in the past two years, including a $12,000 Y2K-ready Compaq server bought last year.

Other clients of Network Engineering are being prodded by Y2K to replace major elements of older, slower computer systems. At Carlisle, Fields & Co., an independent insurance agency in Clearwater, Remon has upgraded most of the company's 30 computers, as well as the main server. Cost for the hardware was about $11,000, company president Pat Carlisle said.

"Our revenues are close to $2-million per year, so that's not that big a percentage," Carlisle said. "But you don't want to spend it unless you have to."

Of bigger concern is a peripheral Y2K problem, one that cropped up as Carlisle checked on the countless electronic systems, from security to cellular phones, that make a business function.

"We've been advised by our phone vendor that we'll lose voice mail Dec. 31 if we don't spend $3,000 to upgrade," Carlisle said. "I can't believe it because we just bought this system two years ago. You'd think everyone knew about Y2K two years ago."