Business Software Facing Extinction In The New Millennium? Computer Associates Introduces Discovery 2000 Challenge

Business Wire, Jan 13, 1997

ISLANDIA, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--January 13, 1997--

Software Leader Offers No-Cost, No-Obligation Analysis Of Year 2000 Date Change On Computer Programs

Computer Associates International, Inc. is looking for a few tough COBOL programs riddled with date fields that are facing extinction in the new millennium.

The business software giant today announced the CA Discovery 2000 Challenge, an unprecedented opportunity for organizations to receive a free, no-obligation assessment of the impact the Year 2000 date change will have on their business software.

"You normally don't hear the words free and Year 2000 compliance in the same sentence," said Kevin Coyne, CA vice president and business unit executive. "The CA Discovery 2000 Challenge represents a unique opportunity for organizations to discover the effect the Year 2000 will have on their toughest, most complex application."

Under CA's program, any organization may submit a COBOL business application of up to 10,000 lines of code. CA's Discovery 2000 Challenge Team will process the program automatically using CA-Impact/2000 to locate the date fields, and return the test results on diskette. The results can be viewed graphically under Windows using the CA-Impact/2000 Workbench Viewer that is included at no charge. The viewer uses color and detailed graphics to show the logic, organization and location of all "century-challenged" fields.

"The impact of inaccurate Year 2000 date processing can't be overestimated," said Coyne. "The Year 2000 problem has the potential to cripple even the most sophisticated IS environments. By participating in this program, many businesses will better recognize the seriousness of this issue, and obtain a greater understanding of how automation can speed detection and correction of affected programs."

According to CA Discovery 2000 Challenge guidelines, each organization can submit one sample program for analysis. This includes any COBOL program that compiles and runs using an IBM mainframe COBOL compiler, or any PC-based program that uses a CA-Realia COBOL compiler.

Coyne emphasized that this program is available to any business or organization in the world, whether or not they use CA software.

"The CA Discovery 2000 Challenge is designed to provide businesses with an easy, no-cost, and no-obligation entry into the often daunting world of Year 2000 compliance," said Coyne. "Our hope is that, armed with the results of the analysis, businesses will have a better understanding of the issues so they can take appropriate action."

CA Discovery 2000 is a unique combination of software and services to help reduce the costs associated with Year 2000 processing. Included is CA-Impact/2000, a powerful impact analysis tool that helps organizations determine the impact and cost of converting applications for the Year 2000. CA-Impact/2000 analyzes all of an organization's COBOL, CA-Easytrieve, CA-ADS and CA-IDEAL programs and generates detailed reports that identify the affected business applications and the estimated cost of bringing them into compliance based upon user-provided parameters. It executes on both mainframe and desktop platforms.

Consulting services bundled with CA-Impact/2000 provide organizations with a phased approach to their conversion plan, enabling projects to be more manageable, productive and cost-effective. Fee-based consulting services--from impact assessment through re-integration of production systems--also are available.

Businesses wishing to participate in the CA Discovery 2000 Challenge should call 1-888-42000YR (1-888-420-0097). For even faster turnaround, the source program can be sent directly across the Internet to challenge@CAI.COM in uncompressed or standard zip format. In addition to the impact analysis, businesses will receive an analysis file created from the sample program, as well the CA-Impact/2000 Workbench Viewer.

Computer Associates International, Inc. (NYSE: CA), with headquarters in Islandia, N.Y., is the world leader in mission-critical business software. The company develops, licenses and supports more than 500 integrated products that include enterprise computing and information management, application development, manufacturing and financial applications. CA has 9,000 people in 130 offices in 40 countries and had revenue of more than $3.5 billion in fiscal year 1996. CA can be reached by visiting http://www.cai.com on the World Wide Web, emailing info@cai.com or calling 1-516-342-5224. -0- All referenced product names are trademarks of their respective companies.

CONTACT: Computer Associates, Islandia

Bob Gordon, (516) 342-2391 or

bobg@cai.com