FDU Enters Y2K Without a Glitch

“While many of us were home celebrating the holidays with our families, dedicated individuals were here shutting down, testing and restarting systems,” said Executive Vice President Carl Viola. “The planning and execution of the University’s Y2K plan was exemplary,” he added, noting that neither campus experienced any significant Y2K-related problems. 

The Y2K Readiness Project was a University-wide effort that began nearly two years ago and included contributions from representatives of numerous University departments. Because of the importance of the computing function in the effort, the project was coordinated by Ed Chapel, the associate vice president for information resources and technology, and led by the Office of Information Resources and Technology (OIRT) staff, with a critical role also played by University facilities. 

“Perhaps 85 percent of our infrastructure was Y2K noncompliant,” Chapel said. “So we had to start early and make this a top priority.” 

Chapel said that the project involved the testing of more than 7,000 systems, adding that a system isn’t just a computer, but anything that uses a computer chip equipped with date logic to transact business or operate a device or software application. These included computers of course, as well as data electronic systems, voice mail, computer servers and other operating systems. 

The Office of Information Resources and Technology took a complete inventory of University systems, organized the data and then identified what upgrades or replacements were necessary. Also, a Web site was created with links to vendors to enable University users to determine what problems could occur and how to solve them.
 “In order to be Y2K compliant, it was necessary to replace or repair roughly 80 percent of the University’s systems, including nearly all desktop computers and many of the computer servers,” Chapel said. 
FDU facilities proved another challenge, said Chapel. Newer buildings, such as the Martin F. Stadler, Patrick J. Zenner, Hoffmann-La Roche Inc. Academic Building and Dickinson Hall have computers that run the heating and electrical systems. “Facilities members had to do a risk assessment and inventory of all the buildings and provide a contingency plan in case a building went off-line.” In fact, contingency plans were provided for every critical University function. 

Chapel thanked all those who contributed to the effort, in particular the OIRT staff. “I am extremely proud of these people and truly grateful for the level of professionalism and commitment they have demonstrated during this very difficult time. They have worked extremely long hours — often through the night so that operations were not interrupted during regular business hours — sacrificed weekends, vacation and University shutdown days to achieve the readiness goal.”

By way of special recognition of the extraordinary effort of the OIRT staff, the University sponsored a special Y2K party, and the president presented them with certificates of appreciation.

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