As part of its bold plans to increase its customer base tenfold, to 1 billion clients by 2012, Citigroup Inc. last week launched a project aimed at delivering wireless banking applications to customers by year's end.
The project, led by the bank's e-Citi unit, is geared to help the bank's global customers pay bills, trade stocks and access their accounts using mobile phones, smart phones, personal digital assistants and digital television.
Thousands of London residents lost power for days earlier this month after the city's top utility distributed faulty smart cards designed to be year 2000-ready.
First, the bad news: three-quarters of US companies have already experienced year 2000-related failures, according to an ongoing survey of information technology executives at 161 companies and government agencies.
The good news for companies that plan to stockpile their inventories in case of year 2000-related supply-chain disruptions: Most manufacturers are ramping up their production lines to meet the demand.
The bad news: So many companies plan to order extra parts, fuel and supplies in November and December during the already-busy holiday period that the US transportation and distribution system is going to be stretched thin.
Don't be surprised if crackers make off with at least one electronic heist in the $US1 billion range by taking advantage of the year Y2K problem, according to a new report from Gartner Group.
The US nuclear power industry says that most of the nation's 103 plants are year 2000-ready and that any remaining issues to be resolved won't affect plant safety.
Its critics aren't so sure.
Full-service brokerages such as Merrill Lynch used to excuse themselves from the online trading frenzy by pointing to the network reliability and security problems that cyberbrokers like ETrade and Charles Schwab & Co have endured.
On the surface, the figures are startling -- 72 per cent of 152 large companies have already experienced some sort of Y2K-related glitch, according to newly released results in an ongoing survey by Cap Gemini America and Rubin Systems.
As the focus on the millennium--bug problem moves from the data center to the boardroom, a growing number of companies - including Sears and Prudential - are establishing year 2000 war rooms to monitor crisiAs the focus on the millennium--bug problem moves from the data center to the boardroom, a growing number of companies - including Sears and Prudential - are establishing year 2000 war rooms to monitor crisis--management activities.
In these command centers, senior management and millennium project teams will try to keep tabs on the progress of year 2000 tasks such as testing milestones and supplier--readiness through next year.s--management activities.