United States Government Publishing Office publisher pbl distributor dst United States Government Accountability Office Accounting and Information Management Division author aut Government Organization text government publication eng GAOREPORTS Legislative Agency Publications gao legislative 2010-08-12 U.S. Government Printing Office 1998-06-16 monographic deposited born digital 23 p. GA 1.13:T-AIMD-98-212 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-T-AIMD-98-212 P0b002ee180398099 f:ai98212t DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-28 GAOREPORTS-T-AIMD-98-212 machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-T-AIMD-98-212 T-AIMD-98-212 Risk management Telecommunication industry Systems conversions Computer software verification and validation Strategic information systems planning Accountability Interagency relations Information systems Information resources management Systems compatibility GSA Year 2000 Program FTS 2000 Federal Telecommunications System 2000 Testimony AIMD Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed: (1) the nation's telecommunications infrastructure; (2) the risks facing the nation if critical components of that infrastructure are not year 2000 compliant by the turn of the century; (3) federal government actions relating to national, international, and governmental telecommunications infrastructure; and (4) present issues that must be addressed.<p/>GAO noted that: (1) major disruption in the service provided by the public telecommunications network can affect millions of users and cause massive financial losses; (2) the consequences of not resolving year 2000 problems in the telecommunications infrastructure are broad-based and potentially disastrous; (3) telecommunications problems can affect virtually all network components--switches, routers, private branch exchanges, and Internet servers--all of which must be assessed and tested; (4) compounding the risk is the global nature of today's telecommunications, which rely on seamless connections among widely scattered and widely diverse networks; (5) in light of the potential risks involved, the federal government has recently begun to address the year 2000 readiness of the telecommunications sector; (6) the government is undertaking telecommunications initiatives from three perspectives: national, international, and governmental; (7) key federal initiatives are in their early stages on a national, international, and governmental level, and critical issues remain to be addressed; (8) given the inarguably critical nature of the telecommunications services to the functioning of the nation, coordinated oversight is essential; (9) in order to gain confidence that the telecommunications infrastructure will be ready for the next century, accountability must be established; this includes a broad strategy as well as specific milestones and defined accountability; and (10) several major issues must be addressed: (a) obtaining information on the readiness status of various segments of the telecommunications industry for the next century; (b) establishing a mechanism for obtaining such readiness information on a regular basis; (c) setting milestones for achieving year 2000 compliance; (d) disseminating readiness status information to the public and Congress; and (e) developing--in conjunction with the private sector--contingency plans to ensure business continuity, albeit at reduced levels, in the event that not all telecommunications systems are fully operational on January 1, 2000. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-T-AIMD-98-212/html/GAOREPORTS-T-AIMD-98-212.htm https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-T-AIMD-98-212/pdf/GAOREPORTS-T-AIMD-98-212.pdf GAO/T-AIMD-98-212 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-T-AIMD-98-212 Testimony GAO/T-AIMD-98-212; Year 2000 Computing Crisis: Telecommunications Readiness Critical, Yet Overall Status Largely Unknown; Risk management Telecommunication industry Systems conversions Computer software verification and validation Strategic information systems planning Accountability Interagency relations Information systems Information resources management Systems compatibility GSA Year 2000 Program FTS 2000 Federal Telecommunications System 2000