IBM Broadens Arsenal of Tools for Year 2000 Challenge
Range of Automated Tools Shortens the Time it Takes to Change Date Fields
SOMERS, N.Y (April 07, 1998) – IBM today announced new tools and solutions to help customers ready their computer systems for the Year 2000, no matter where they are in the process of preparing for the new millennium. The offerings include innovative technology developed by IBM, as well as solutions IBM has found in working with customers.
IBM is expanding itsVisualAge 2000 portfolio of Year 2000 tools with unique Millennium Language Extensions and the new Application Testing Collection. In addition, customers will benefit from IBM’s collaboration with Allstate and Bellcore, which resulted in two new tools being brought to market — Millennium Date Compression Tool (MDCT), and C and C++ Maintenance and Test Toolsuite.
“While there is no silver bullet for dealing with the Year 2000 challenge, there is a growing market of application development tools for addressing it,” said Emilie McCabe, vice president, IBM Application Development and Object Technology Marketing. “IBM’s tools range from strategic to tactical, and help customers at each step of the conversion process across many languages and systems.”
The Year 2000 Challenge and IBM Tools
The Year 2000 challenge arises when computer systems read or calculate the date 2000 or beyond as “00,” “01,” etc, since date fields in many applications are represented byonly the last two digits. This creates a number of potential errors for date-dependent systems.
The process for making systems Year 2000-ready involves three phases — finding date fields, fixing them and testing the fixed application. As the millennium draws closer, companies are opting for solutions that save time by automating some or all of the steps in the process, or by changing date fields at runtime – while the application is actually running. IBM’s Year 2000 tools range from source code to runtime-level techniques, giving customers a choice of ways to prepare their applications for the Year 2000.
Today’s announcement includes both IBM and customer-developed tools and technologies for the various phases in the Year 2000 conversion process.
For the Find and Fix stages, IBM is delivering the following offerings:
Unique Millennium Language Extensions (MLE) usesinnovative technology for automating “date century windowing” that significantly reduces the need to manually change applications. Once a 100-year “window” is defined, the two-digit year values are automatically interpreted correctly – e.g., “05” is read as 2005 instead of 1905. The process requires fewer developers for Year 2000 conversionsbecause conversions using MLE are faster and more accurate.
Millennium Date Compression Tool (MDCT) changes customer data while applications are running. The tool was developed by Allstate for its own systems, and is being marketed jointly by Allstate and IBM. Because of the remediation technique used by the tool, customers will want to assess carefully whether it is appropriate for their total system environment. Further to assist customers in successfully implementing this solution, IBM requires that customers secure appropriate consulting and installation services before licensing the tool.
In a related announcement earlier this year, NatWest Group has agreed to supply IBM with software tools and related technology to assist customers with Year 2000 transitions and re-engineering of large scale existing systems. As a result, a wider range of customers will be able to benefit from the tools developed by NatWest to improve the management and maintenance of its legacy systems.
For the Test stage, IBM is delivering the following two tools, which help companies ensure that no errors were introduced during conversion of the code:
C and C++ Maintenance and Test Toolsuite V1.0 is a state-of-the-art testing and debugging environment for C and C++ applications. Developed with Bellcore, the suite offers complete, end-to-end testing tools, including a graphical Find tool for finding date-related functions in C and C++ applications. The Toolsuite visually guides developers through the testing process, allowing them to easily see the changed date fields.
Source: IBM