Wednesday September 8, 10:05 am Eastern Time

Company Press Release

SOURCE: KDJG

Y2K Prof: Power Industry Misrepresents New Year's Party as Y2K Test

NEW YORK, Sep. 8 /PRNewswire/ -- ``Don't believe anyone who says tonight's so-called Power Companies Y2K Test is actually testing anything!'' So says Professor Dick Lefkon, who has taught New York University's Y2K-Methods courses since 1996.

``Rather than performing any real Year 2000 testing at all, what they're actually doing is rehearsing the same New Year's Eve Party that nearly every other major enterprise is already or soon will be will be holding -- called a Manual Contingency Plan.''

Professor Lefkon -- one of the five most widely respected Year 2000 experts -- says that's an admirable activity but has nothing to do with the special ``9/9/99'' date, during which Industry coordinator NERC's instruction booklet admits Y2K ``malfunctions (will be) highly unlikely.''

``That's a shame and somewhat misleading,'' he says, ``because the recent long list of power firms not yet willing or able'' to announce full Y2K compliance includes Baltimore G&E, Detroit Edison, Duquesne Light, Florida Power, Indiannapolis P&L, Minnesota Power, Rochester G&E, and Wisconsin P&L, among others. Last year the U. S. Congress (Horn Report) criticized enterprises which don't test everything, since an uncertified ``non-critical'' computerized system can malfunction January First and disable the computer it shares with a very critical one.

``These listed power companies,'' Lefkon continues, ``say they're 'essentially completed,' or have finished fixing some systems they feel are important, or -- laughable -- have 'not found anything that would prevent' delivering power.'' That category -- ``not found anything'' -- is a Lefkon favorite because it generally indicates passivity, not actively and aggressively finding all automated systems and date-testing them thoroughly.

It's why for four years he's publicly predicted 7% of all firms will cease operation next January due to Y2K.

``Y2K is just like Termite Infestation,'' he explains. If you aren't willing to spend time, money and effort to investigate, you won't find anything you dislike. And 'de-nial' ain't just a river in Egypt.`` Prof. Lefkon attributes some denial to last April Ninth's well-publicized Power Industry Y2K test. ''In the instruction booklet for that one, companies were explicitly asked to focus on exercising automated systems they were sure would pass the test.`` He feels the resulting happy press coverage misled the American public into a false sense of security, and that tonight's activity will, too, being not a Year 2000 test but a New Year's Party rehearsal. He urges consumers to contact directly their power companies and get genuine information with hard facts about steps they're taking to find, fix and date-test their automated systems.

``Tonight's Power Industry event misleads consumers, but I'm not saying it's totally without merit. Any industry or big enterprise that's actually successfully tested all surviving automated systems, should schedule its own New Year's Eve Party and pre-rehearse that Manual Contingency Plan repeatedly, not just once four months in advance,'' notes the Professor.

``A hospital, for instance, should begin by having people go around slapping 'this does not work' tags on various infusion pumps, heating systems, etc. My teams have prepared such completely scripted Y2K Manual Contingency Plans for healthcare, banking, government, manufacturing and sales. It never takes us more than a week to produce the plan, refine it, and identify those who must attend that critically important New Year's Eve party.''

Three free guides are available to editors and major Y2K heads, distilled from Lefkon's groundbreaking Y2K book, courses and articles:

Panic in Year Zero: Surviving January 1, 5 pages; manual contingency planning, protecting your supply chain, securing financial records. CEO's Year 2000 Checklist, 2 pages; 41 auditor and/or courtroom questions. Finding and Fixing Embedded Systems for Y2K; preview of Lefkon's state-of-the-art National IS Security Conference 10/28/99 speech!

NYU Professor Dick Lefkon ran the first enterprise-wide Y2K conversion in 1984. His small and large Y2K clients exceed a trillion dollars daily business. The U.S. Brokerage Industry brought him in twice to help formulate its now-renowned Y2K ``Streetwide Testing'' program. And three well-known government agencies will be depending on Y2K Dis-automation Contingency survival plans developed by Lefkon teams.

Contact: Bill Brand for KDJG, 212-734-4412, Fax 212-734-4431, or profy2k@hotmail.com.

SOURCE: KDJG

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-- Homer Beanfang (Bats@inbellfry.com), September 08, 1999