Computerworld.com to Provide Continuous Coverage of Breaking Y2K News for the Tech Community On New Year's Eve

Business Wire, Dec 13, 1999

FRAMINGHAM, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 13, 1999--

While revelers worldwide prepare to toast the millennium, thousands of information technology (IT) professionals will be working to keep the world's computer systems running smoothly. To keep the global IT community informed about breaking Y2K news on December 31 and New Year's Day, Computerworld newspaper today announced "Computerworld's Y2K Watch: New Year's Eve," a unique effort involving dozens of technology journalists worldwide to provide a continuous stream of coverage for www.computerworld.com.

Making its debut on Monday, December 27, with continuous updates throughout the week, Computerworld's Y2K Watch will provide a top news and information resource that leverages Computerworld's longstanding expertise on the year 2000 computer bug. The computerworld.com website, which receives more than two million hits per month, will feature continuously updated editorial content, audio interviews and forums with technology experts in the Y2K trenches.

Special coverage on www.computerworld.com is scheduled to include:

- Reports from the IT community and selected data centers from

coast to coast.

- News updates from energy suppliers in the Netherlands, West

Africa, the North Sea and Newfoundland.

- Continuous coverage from correspondents in locations such as

Germany, Russia, Hungary, Denmark, Belgium, Japan, Hong Kong, New

Zealand and India (list in formation).

This once-in-a-millennium project is spearheaded by Computerworld Editor-in-Chief Maryfran Johnson, who on New Year's Eve will be stationed in the data center of Global Marine, Inc., an offshore drilling company based in Houston with operations worldwide. Using reports from IT executives and correspondents around the globe, Johnson will work with Editorial Director Patricia Keefe, who will be directing coverage from Computerworld's Framingham, MA, headquarters, to provide leading-edge coverage of Y2K news.

Computerworld's Y2K Watch: New Year's Eve (www.computerworld.com) will include stories and reports from more than 50 international Computerworld publications, which cover IT issues from Antarctica to Taiwan. In addition, the site will contain the wealth of Y2K reportage that Computerworld has produced within the last few years. Computerworld was the first media outlet to call national attention to the potential problems of the "Y2K Bug," in a story published in 1993, and the first publication to identify and describe the Y2K date problem in 1984.

Computerworld is based in Framingham, MA, with U.S. offices in Washington, D.C. and Silicon Valley.

The flagship publication of International Data Group, Computerworld, Inc. is an information services company for the IT Leader community, providing print and online publications, books, conferences and research services. Computerworld has won dozens of journalism and design awards in recent years from organizations such as The American Society for Business Press Editors (ASBPE), Folio: Magazine and the Computer Press Association as the best computer newspaper. With a circulation of 250,000, Computerworld is read by more senior-level managers than any other IT Newsweekly, according to IntelliQuest CIMS v.6.0.

Headquartered in Boston, International Data Group (IDG) informs more people worldwide about information technology than any other company in the world. With annual revenues of $2.35 billion, IDG is the leading global provider of IT media, research, conferences and expositions. IDG publishes more than 290 computer newspapers and magazines, and 700 book titles in 75 countries, led by the Computerworld, InfoWorld, Macworld, Network World, PC World, Channel World and "...For Dummies" global product lines. IDG offers online users the largest network of technology-specific sites around the world through IDG.net (www.idg.net), which comprises more than 225 targeted Web sites in 52 countries. IDG is also a leading producer of 168 computer-related expositions in 35 countries, and research arm International Data Corporation (IDC) provides computer industry research and analysis through 49 offices in 41 countries worldwide. Company information is available at www.idg.com.