[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 99 (Wednesday, July 22, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Page S8805]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS

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                       FAA MAKES PROGRESS ON Y2K

 Mr. MOYNIHAN. Mr. President, I would like to bring to the 
Senate's attention the latest development regarding the Year 2000 (Y2K) 
problem. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has determined that 
a critical mainframe computer system used to monitor air traffic will 
continue to function smoothly into the millennium. The FAA, uncertain 
as to how long testing would take, only recently began an intensive 
investigation of its mainframe computers. The testing involved the time 
consuming task of examining more than 40 million lines of software. 
Although the technicians determined the date problem could be repaired 
in time, the process underscores the urgent nature of the Y2K issue. 
The uncertainties of Y2K mean repair work can be as simple as that of 
the FAA, or more complicated than is possibly imaginable. It is 
imperative that the public and private sectors follow the example of 
the FAA and begin testing their computer systems immediately. I 
continue to hope that it is not too late to properly prepare for the 
year 2000.
  I ask that the July 22, 1998 Washington Post article on the FAA be 
printed in the Record.
  The article follows:

          Air Traffic Control Computer System Cleared for 2000


                       IBM Warning Prompted Tests

                       (By Rajiv Chandrasekaran)

       Atlantic City, N.J.--Federal Aviation Administration 
     technicians have concluded that a critical mainframe computer 
     system used in the nation's largest air traffic control 
     centers will function properly in the year 2000, despite 
     warnings from the system's manufacturer that the agency 
     should replace the equipment.
       The determination, reached over the past few weeks by 
     programmers at the FAA's technical center here, has elicited 
     cheers from agency officials who had been castigated by 
     congressional investigators earlier this year for not 
     planning a quick replacement of the systems.
       ``The examination has revealed that the [system] will 
     transition the millennium in a routine manner,'' FAA 
     Administrator Jan F. Garvey said in an interview yesterday.
       The mainframe computers at issue, made by International 
     Business Machines Corp., are used at the FAA's 20 air route 
     traffic control centers to track high-altitude aircraft 
     between airports. The computers, IBM's Model 3083 mainframes, 
     receive data from radar systems and integrate that 
     information into a picture for air traffic controllers.
       Last October, IBM sent a letter to the FAA warning that 
     ``the appropriate skills and tools do not exist to conduct a 
     complete Year 2000 test assessment'' of the 3083 computers, 
     once the mainstay of large corporate data centers. The 
     machines have been mothballed by most users, step IBM urged 
     the FAA to take.
       Although the FAA plans to replace the mainframes as part of 
     a broader modernization effort, agency officials were unsure 
     they could complete the process by 2000. As a result, they 
     embarked on an aggressive testing program to figure out how 
     the computer system would be affected.
       Most mainframes use a two-digit dating system that assumes 
     that 1 and 9 are the first two digits of the year. Without 
     specialized reprogramming, it was feared that the IBM 3083s 
     would recognize ``00'' not as 2000 but as 1900, a glitch that 
     could cause them to malfunction. The federal government and 
     private companies are racing to fix other computers to avoid 
     the year 2000 problem.
       To conduct the testing, the FAA hired two retired IBM 
     programmers and assigned a handful of other agency employees 
     to the project, which involved checking more than 40 million 
     lines of ``microcode''--software that controls the 
     mainframe's most basic functions. Among the initial areas of 
     concern was whether a date problem would affect the operation 
     of the mainframe's cooling pumps. If the computer does not 
     regularly switch from one cooling pump to another, it can 
     overheat and shut down, causing controllers' radar screens to 
     go blank.
       The technicians, however, found that the microcode doesn't 
     consider the last two digits of the year when processing 
     dates. Instead, it stores the year as a two-digit number 
     between one and 32, assuming that 1975 was year one. As a 
     result, they determined, the system would fail in 2007, but 
     not in 2000.
       ``Nothing we have found will cause an operational 
     aberration over the new year. It will continue to function as 
     it's supposed to,'' said one FAA technician working on the 
     project. FAA officials recently allowed a reporter to tour 
     the facility here and talk to employees on the condition that 
     they not be named.
       ``We're dealing with minutes and seconds in air traffic 
     control,'' said another technician. ``The systems don't 
     really care about days and years.''
       The programmers did find four software modules that need to 
     be repaired to handle the leap year in 2000, but they said 
     the task would be relatively straightforward.
       While the technicians came to their conclusions a few weeks 
     ago, Garvey only recently was briefed on the findings. The 
     results, sources said, have not yet been shared widely within 
     the Transportation Department or with lawmakers.
       Agency officials acknowledge their determination will be 
     met with skepticism on Capitol Hill and in the aviation 
     industry. To bolster their case, the technicians said they 
     have compiled reams of computer printouts that back up their 
     conclusions.
       The findings highlight one of he uncertainties of year 2000 
     repair work. While some projects can be more costly and time 
     consuming than originally expected, others can be 
     unexpectedly simple.
       ``It's a welcome surprise,'' Garvey said. ``And we don't 
     get many of them in government.''

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