August 24, 1998

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August 24, 1998

Technology Notebook

Local company offers Y2000 disaster review

Process finds key systems that must be fixed

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John Niehaus

If you've been ordered to fix your company's Year 2000 problem, you have 495 days to finish it. Or else.

But before you run off and bury your head in more computer code, let me tell you some companies are starting to offer some set-price fixes that at least can prevent a major IT disaster.

According to the Aug. 17 edition of Computerworld, Oracle Corp. is offering to set up Year 2000-compliant financial applications for medium-size businesses within 60 days. The cost: $300,000, and that doesn't include the cost for converting legacy-coded data.

And Dayton-based EasiRun USA Inc. also is offering a fixed-price bid for Year 2000 conversions based on an inventory of a company's applications. In fact, EasiRun's plan calls for a risk analysis of all of a company's computer applications to determine which ones are critical and which applications could slide past the deadline.

Wayne Spalding, director of marketing and sales for EasiRun, gave this example: A company recently starts its Year 2000 fix, but discovers it won't have the time to finish before 2000. Identifying the critical systems shows the company can't operate properly if the payroll system is down but could operate if the payroll check printing application wasn't working. "Someone could write those checks by hand instead," Spalding said.

To help save time fixing date fields, the company also uses the "sliding window" technique rather than full date expansion. The sliding window technique allows the computer program to interpret date fields above a designated pivot year. For example, if the pivot year was 50, the computer would determine that any two-digit date code below 50 would be for the 2000s and any two digits 50 or over would be for the 1900s.

And the "slide" in the technique advances the pivot year every year, making the fix permanent. But the technique will not work on some fixed-date fields such as birthdays, personnel dates and other essential "set-in-stone" dates.

Spalding said the company's still charging 30 to 40 cents per line of code examined, but that figure isn't likely to stay. By the start of next year, the company probably will double its prices to 70 to 80 cents per line of code, only because of the sheer demand for its services, he said.

EPA to fund tech transfer by women, minority firms

A new program to encourage the commercialization of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency technology is focusing on releasing that technology primarily to minority- and women-owned businesses in Ohio and the Midwest.

Called the Environmental Technology Commercialization Center, the two-year pilot program was created from two grants totaling nearly $3 million from the EPA. The program will provide funds primarily to smaller minority- and women-owned businesses to develop a comprehensive technology transfer commercialization network and to educate and train companies that work with the EPA about issues affecting the commercialization process.

U.S. Rep. Louis Stokes (D-Ohio) helped spearhead the program, which is a subsidiary of the Battelle Memorial Institute in the Cleveland area. The Wright Technology Network, a local not-for-profit agency created to serve as a bridge between private industry and the U.S. Air Force's Air Force Research Laboratory Directorates, will help local companies interested in the program, said Michael Taylor, a technology specialist with WTN.

"The EPA represents a significant research and technology base to our nation," Stokes said. "(The program) will greatly increase the access of small and medium firms in Ohio and elsewhere to the EPA's cutting-edge capabilities and unique technologies."

The ETCC also is offering a series of briefings, called TechDialogs, in Cincinnati, Columbus, Cleveland, Toledo and Dayton to show businesses how to access ETCC's offerings. The Dayton TechDialog seminar will be held from 7:30 a.m. to 10 a.m. Sept. 24 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel.

Wright State to host first flight celebration event

The first event leading up to Dayton's 2003 Celebration of Flight festivities will start at Wright State University in early October with the first National Aerospace Conference.

Themed "The Meaning of Flight in the 20th Century," the two-and-a-half day conference, to be held Oct. 1 through Oct. 3, will look at how flight has changed the world. Specifically, the conference will be broken into three main themes: flight and public policy; flight, science and technology; and flight, society and culture.

More than 80 presenters will address the conference, including Hans Mark, the director of defense research and engineering for the U.S. Department of Defense, and Neal Loving, the first African-American and first double amputee to be qualified as a racing pilot by the National Aeronautic Association and the Professional Racing Pilots Association. Loving lost both of his legs in a glider crash.

Other participants include Ohio Gov. George Voinovich; WSU President Dr. Kim Goldenberg; Dayton Daily News Publisher and 2003 Committee Chairman Brad Tillson; and Wilkinson Wright, a grandnephew of Orville and Wilbur Wright. The conference is being sponsored by WSU and the 2003 Committee.

For more information or to register for the conference, contact Wright State University's Office of Conferences and Events by phone at (937) 775-5512 or by e-mail at tmileo@wright.edu.

Niehaus covers technology, manufacturing, transportation and sports business for the Business News. Contact him with story tips at (937) 222-6900 or via e-mail at busnews@explorers.com.