San Jose, California, September 25, 1997 -- In an effort to help solve the Year 2000 computer crisis facing the world, Fujitsu Software Corporation today announced that it is providing software and instructors to Senior Staff 2000. Senior Staff 2000, a databank of retired programmers familiar with the COBOL programming language used by many mainframe computers, is being tapped to fix the Year 2000 problem. There is a desperate need for programmers with COBOL expertise to rewrite software for mainframe computers that will malfunction in less than three years because they cannot recognize the year 2000.

Despite the fact that the technology industry lies at the center of a crisis affecting countless businesses and government agencies worldwide, Fujitsu Software Corporation is one of the first and only technology companies donating resources to train the retired programmers.

"The Year 2000 issue will affect all of us since most of our banking, credit card, and other financial information has been developed in COBOL over the past 20 to 30 years without concern for a four-digit year," said Todd Yancey, General Manager of Fujitsu Software Corporation Developer Tools Group. "Many people thought COBOL was an outdated technology that would disappear before the year 2000. Now there is this resurgence of demand for COBOL expertise, and we are dedicated to helping solve this problem."

Retired programmers are being called upon to resolve this issue because they have both the time and the expertise required to fix the problem. Conversely, younger programmers are trained in more currently popular programming languages such as Sun Microsystems’ Java and C++, and do not see a long-term benefit to learning COBOL.

The Year 2000 Problem

The Year 2000 problem stems back to the 1950s when computer mainframe memory was low and programmers used two digits to indicate dates. For example, 1997 is represented by "97." This practice has continued even though computers today have much greater memory capacity than they did in the 1950s. At the turn of the century, these computers will not know how to function when "99" becomes "00." The computers will interpret "00" to mean "1900" and enormous amounts of data will be lost, causing computer errors and system failures.

"Many small companies and government agencies have little or no budget to solve the Year 2000 problem. If they are not helped, the global economy could crumble," said William Ulrich, president of Tactical Strategy Group Inc. and co-author of "The Year 2000 Software Crisis."

According to Gartner Group, there are 600,000 programmers needed to solve this issue and only 200,000 available in the conventional workforce. In order to solve the problem in time, companies are beginning to seek retired persons from their own company or from services like Senior Staff 2000. Gartner also estimates that it could cost up to $600 billion to resolve the issue worldwide. This would require programmers to update millions of code lines within three years.

Fujitsu Aids Senior Staff 2000

Senior Staff 2000 is a San Jose, California job information service that has developed a data bank of retired programmers, familiar with the COBOL programming language used by many mainframes, to help solve the Year 2000 problem for companies. Currently there are approximately 5,000 names in the Senior Staff 2000 database.

Many retired programmers are eager to get back to work to alleviate the boredom that has come with retirement and or to supplement their income. Fujitsu is providing free COBOL compilers and instruction to give these retired programmers a refresher course on COBOL as part of a three-week course being offered by University of California Santa Cruz, Extension at a considerable discount to Senior Staff 2000 members.