"Small and medium size businesses non-compliance with year 2000 issues presents one of the largest potential threats to our nation`s smooth entry into the next millennium," said 3Com Chairman and CEO Eric Benhamou in a keynote address today to the Upside Summit `98 in Washington, D.C. "Appreciation of the Y2K problem within this constituency is way too low."
The so-called year 2000 problem, or Y2K, arises because many older computer systems record dates using only the last two digits of the year. If left uncorrected, such systems could treat the year 2000 as the year 1900, generating errors or system crashes.
"Since all organisations are now inextricably linked through global data networks, our economic resistance to the millennium bug is only as strong as the weakest link in the supply chain," said Benhamou. "While Fortune 500 organisations and the US government have devoted dollars and resources in pursuit of Y2K compliance, smaller enterprises often have no CIO to ask the right questions."
According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, the approximately 23 million U.S. small businesses create two of every three new jobs, represent over 99 percent of all employers, and are responsible for more than half of the nation`s technological innovation.
"Large corporations and the government must integrate and disseminate best practices to smaller businesses - we can`t leave them behind or we will all suffer," Benhamou said.
Also, today Reps. David Dreier and Anna Eshoo led a bipartisan group of Members of Congress in introducing narrowly focused legislation to encourage private-sector companies to share information relating to possible computer problems caused by the transition to the year 2000.
"I am very supportive of Reps. Dreier`s and Eshoo`s bill to encourage companies to share Y2K-related information," said Benhamou.
3Com Offers Y2K Assistance
3Com, a leader in providing innovative networking solutions to small businesses, is communicating its own Y2K progress, providing a warranty or guarantee of compliance for specific 3Com network products, and will help customers with year 2000 issues as they effect an entire network solution.
In addition, 3Com urges businesses to protect their networks from failure due to Y2K issues by identifying elements within their network that provide a date function, asking the vendors of any equipment that is date sensitive to provide Y2K compliance certification, and upgrading any equipment that is not compliant. Businesses should also perform integration tests for certain mission critical applications.
A 3Com Web site, http://www.3Com.com/products/yr2000.html, provides information on the year 2000 status of 3Com products as well as answers to frequently asked Y2K questions. In addition, 3Com recent annual report on Form-10-K provides information on the Y2K risks confronting 3Com and other companies.
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