THE Year 2000 problem, which is set to cause stoppages or malfunctions in computer systems that use two digit year dates, is already affecting some companies and is expected to cost between $300 billion and $600 billion (£188-£377 billion) to cure worldwide, according to Mr Raul Pupo, president, PKS Information Systems. PKS is setting up its European headquarters in Limerick.
"If you have a mainframe system, you have a problem, and Year 2000 compliance difficulties are also prevalent in mid range computers and client server systems," Mr Pupo said.
The scenario of software wildly malfunctioning, machines seizing ups and business generally grinding to a halt arises from one simple fact - the use of two digits instead of four to indicate the year, ie. "96" instead of "1996". This was done in the early days of programming in order to save disk space, so no provision was made for "2000".
"The US has the biggest problem because it has the most mainframes," said Mr Pupo. He said it was important to deal with the problem now, because nearer 2900 there would not be sufficient resources to do so.
