The following are 9-12-2001 and 9-13-2001 postings excerpted from a thread on TB2K: http://www.timebomb2000.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&postid=48502#post48502

"On CNN today, they said that the WTC companies that had had a lot of survivors, even though they were in locations above the points of impact, were the ones that had taken Y2K very seriously and had prepared well for the potential of calamity. Their employees knew exactly what to do and proceeded directly to the exits without looking back.

[Edited by Dancr to add:] This is not to say "Told you so," but rather for those who put their reputations on the line in order to warn folks of our vulnerabilities, at least some comfort in possibly having helped to minimize the monumental suffering.

(from Dancr)

Last edited by Dancr on 09-13-2001 ______________________

Dancr, thanks for the post. I have forwarded the meat of the text to our Executive Committee. They blew me off pre-rollover, but appear more inclined to take this seriously now.

(from Brooks)

...Logged 09-13-2001

_______________________ Dancr and Brooks,

A friend just e-mailed me that she heard on the news today (September 13) that "some of the big finance organizations had back-up in place only because of their y2k preparation".

If I hear what the source was, I will plan to post it.

(from Paula Gordon)

Logged 9-13-2001 End of crossposts

-- Paula Gordon (pgordon@erols.com), September 13, 2001

Answers

For additional posting on touching on these matters, see http://www.timebomb2000.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=6740 .

-- Paula Gordon (pgordon@erols.com), September 15, 2001.

Another mention of the role played by Y2K preparedness and contingency planning efforts can be found at

http://www.timebomb2000.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=6878

For research and educational uses only

Y2K preparations helped after attacks

(from the September 15, 2001, Houston Chronicle)

WASHINGTON -- The billions spent by government and the financial industry to stave off Year 2000 computer programming problems made a difference when they turned to disaster plans after last week's terrorist attacks, experts said.

"It definitely helped," said Rob Strand, senior economist at the American Bankers Association. "The financial backbone of our economy will not be broken."

U.S. banks and securities firms spent $15 billion to repair computer systems to ensure they wouldn't mistake the year 2000 for 1900.

Bloomberg

End of quoted material

-- Paula Gordon (pgordon@erols.com), September 15, 2001.

Interesting article cited on TB2K on Y2K planning and the role they have played in the recovery in New York.

Fair use for educational and research purposes only

Y2K Plans Aided In Recovery

Y2k plans aided in recovery, but more planning needed

By LUCAS MEARIAN

(September 19, 2001) The $5 billion that Wall Street spent to address the Y2k problem is paying off in the aftermath of last week's terrorist attack on New York's financial district, IT managers said. But there have been other issues, from communications to personnel management, that in many cases were never considered in past disaster planning, experts said.

Gregor Bailar, CIO at the National Association of Securities Dealers Inc., Nasdaq's Washington-based parent company, said he was glad the Y2k planning gave his company the chance to rehearse a disaster before last week's devastation.

Nasdaq's Liberty Plaza offices weren't seriously damaged by the collapse of the World Trade Center only hundreds of feet away, but power and normal communications were cut off to the building, and around 200 Nasdaq employees were relocated to the company's headquarters in Connecticut and to an alternate office in New Jersey provided by WorldCom Inc.

"We've got staff that's been here pretty much since the disaster occurred," Bailar said yesterday. "And it's been critical to have [communications] with senior managers. My pager was smashed in the evacuation of the market site ... but I had communications with them through our crisis [telephone] line."

It's been an exhausting week for IT managers and workers who have been splicing back together or rerouting the spaghetti of data and voice lines that were cut or overloaded with traffic after the attacks on the World Trade Center, which took out a major Verizon switching station that served millions of customers. Cellular phone communications were also hampered by the overload of calls last week.

John McCarthy, former deputy director of the National Y2k Information Coordination Center in Washington, said that if not for Y2k planning, the financial services community wouldn't have been as well-prepared for last week's attack as it was.

Y2k brought the concepts of continuity management and risk planning out of the "trenches where IT folks were" and into the boardroom. With continuity management, companies take a close look at their staff, processes, technology and information and identify areas that would be vulnerable in various disaster scenarios.

The devastation from last Tuesday's terrorist attack created a new benchmark in disaster planning and has probably changed the direction of disaster-planning discussions in the coming weeks and months.

"If I'd gone into a company and said I want you to pay for a contingency plan for two planes crashing into your building ... they would have told me no thanks," said McCarthy, now a senior manager in risk management at McLean, Va.-based KPMG Consulting Inc.

Some companies found their resources were strained when they simply tried to determine how many and which of their employees had been lost to the destruction. Managing IT workers who weren't physically harmed in the attacks was also a trying task, IT managers said.

"It's been a tragic, emotional event with the country at war," said Bailar. "The pain and exhaustion that comes from that alone was quite different, but the coordination and precision involved in what we're doing almost distracts you from that. We know what we have to do, and we're doing it. I'm very proud of the team and the industry."

Cynthia Bonnette, assistant director of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s Bank Technology Group, said one lesson she learned from the attacks is that the reactions of employees need to be addressed more thoroughly in disaster planning.

Bonnette said one area that's not often taken into consideration is the panic factor, which creates "all types of confusion and problems with communications."

"That's where including personnel planning is important. If you can't reach key people, or certain phone systems aren't working, what would you do?... Also, if certain individuals are not around, who'd be the next person to go to?" she said. "A lot of the little details will perhaps come out of this experience."

http://www.computerworld.com/cwi/st...TO64008,00.html

-- Paula Gordon (pgordon@erols.com), September 23, 2001.