Agencies expect few 9-9-99 computer glitches

Tomorrow's date, 9-9-99, is unlikely to cause major problems in agency computer systems, according to Jack Gribben, spokesman for the President's Council on Year 2000 Conversion.

Experts have said Sept. 9 may pose problems to some older computer systems because the code '9999' has been used in the past to tell computers to abort a program.

Unlike the Year 2000 problem, however, the use of 9999 was never an industry practice, Gribben said. While for years it has been standard to use only two spaces to enter dates-the practice that may cause computers to interpret the year 2000 incorrectly- not all computer programmers used 9999 as a stop command.

In addition, most computers use dates entered in a six-digit format, so Sept. 9 would be read as 090999, rather than 9999.

Agencies' Y2K teams have been on the lookout for the 9999 coding while working on Y2K conversion. So far, Gribben said, no potential problems with Sept. 9 have been reported.

"It's certainly an interesting date that we will be monitoring to see if there are systems that will have difficulties, but our sense is that this is not a date that is likely to cause significant problems," Gribben said.

At least one agency has experienced the 9999 bug's bite. The Air Force Communications Agency, which ran the service's first base-wide Y2K test on May 12, reported a Sept. 9-related glitch in a security monitoring system. But the glitch did not interfere with the overall system's functioning.

A Defense Department spokesman said no 9999 major problems were discovered during the department's Y2K testing, but that its agencies have been instructed to report any Sept. 9 irregularities to the DoD Y2K oversight office.

Many private sector corporations are viewing tomorrow's potential problem as an opportunity to prepare for the millennium changeover. However, the government does not yet have in place its information coordination center for monitoring Y2K problems, Gribben said, so 9999 monitoring will be less formal.

The Y2K Council will keep an eye on what's happening at the agencies, and will use the date as a chance "to run through the kinds of questions we should ask at the end of the year," Gribben said.

According to Gribben, the government is also in good shape for potential date-related troubles at the beginning of fiscal year 2000 on Oct. 1.