IYCC Conference Call (1)
2000/1/1 5:00
Conference Call Between
Y2K National Coordinators
Time: 04:00 1 January 2000
Venue: Operation Room, B1F
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
The conference call began with the National Y2K coordinator from Korea reporting that all was well. Director of the International Y2K Cooperation Center Bruce McConnell, congratulated both Japan and Korea on their rollover into the year 2000, noting that he had seen the rollover on CNN and that it appeared that everything was running smoothly. Mr. Ishikawa noted that he too had seen Mr. McConnell on CNN. CNN was accepted to have the widest coverage of Y2K issues.
Representatives from Japan, Korea, The Netherlands, Iceland, Morocco, United Kingdom, Chile, United States, Mexico, the European Commission and the World Bank were present on the conference call.
The Y2K coordinator from the United States noted that the first reports in the media of a Y2K glitch in the United States were emerging, involving slot machines in Delaware. The Y2K coordinator pointed out that many issues will have to wait until Monday and the return to work.
Mr. McConnell inquired if any countries had any yellow or red statuses to report, to which the reply was unanimously negative.
Reporting on Y2K status in Japan, Mr. Ishikawa reported on mobile phone jamming in some areas, and the fact that over the date change period, outgoing international lines to the Philippines proved difficult to connect. In addition, it was reported that at a nuclear electric center in Onagawa, Miyagi Prefecture, the processing computer stopped sending reports to the central monitor for about ten minutes. The data continued to be recorded by this computer, but was not reported to the main computer for some reason. There are some other minor cases where non-critical systems were slightly affected in this way.
Mr. Taniguchi noted that throughout the Asia Pacific no significant reports have been forthcoming about serious Y2K problems and the Y2K coordinator for Korea, stated that all indicators look good in the Republic of Korea.
Mr. McConnell gave an outline of the global picture for those participating in the conference call. One hundred and nine countries are participating in the global status watch. Of the key countries, contact has not been made with Indonesia, and Mr. McConnell requested that Japan and Korea try and contact Indonesia and establish the situation in that country. Mr. McConnell emphasized the encouraging results from participating countries in the Global Status Watch.
Regarding Indonesia, Mr. Ishikawa noted that a Japanese team of specialists has been dispatched to the country, and no reports have been received from this team of any major problems. Mr. Ishikawa added that there have been no reports of serious problems in Indonesia from Japan's diplomatic missions there.
The Y2K coordinator from the United States again noted that electronic slot machines in Delaware have malfunctioned; pointing out that this was a good example of glitches associated with imbedded systems. He noted that it should not be assumed that imbedded systems problems have been entirely solved until the first day of business begins in all participating countries. Glitches can be expected at a later date.
There was a question to the United Kingdom regarding problems with ATMs, but the United Kingdom was unavailable for comment, having already left the call.
From Iceland, the Y2K coordinator stated that automatic machines issuing parking tickets have failed in some cases, but these are expected to be operational again on Monday.
The United States coordinator noted the value of the occurrence of such minor incidents and the importance of sharing them among countries participating in the Global Status Watch, to prevent the media from picking up on them and exaggerating their status. Information sharing will help to prevent media creating stories from minor incidents.
Mr. Bruce McConnell then closed the conference call.
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