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This article indicates that the Internet is not immune. It reports on a Gartner Group study. But the degree of vulnerability is an unknown. Again, we're flying blind into . . . what?
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Because of the number and diversity of Internet-involved hardware and software, systems businesses will still need to check everywhere -- from routers to client workstations and server machines, to embedded software, Web-server and systems software, and Internet-specific applications and tools -- to protect themselves from a possible lockup or other problems as the Y2K approaches.
For example, routers and switches often have proprietary hardware with ROM or downloaded software that could include unexpected Y2K errors in the code. Or a messaging system could transmit two-digit dates to systems physically or logically connected to it, such as system management utilities, which could respond incorrectly to the use of "00." The Gartner report noted that these as well as other non-Internet Y2K problems could produce devastating effects for businesses, tipping the expense scale into the billions of dollars and eventually bankrupting as many as 10 percent of companies worldwide.
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