It’s been a quarter of a century since the much-hyped Y2K crisis, which came in with a long, sustained roar and went out with a whimper. In the years leading up to the new millennium, IT organizations spent billions patching systems and replacing hardware and software that had infamously been designed to support only a 2-digit year, a problem dubbed "Y2K." While the world pondered dire predictions of massive global infrastructure failures, everything from elevators to air traffic control systems were being prepared for total paralysis. For many IT professionals, the unprecedented size and scope of addressing Y2K problems was the biggest project of their careers……..and then it was over. On Dec. 31, 1999 — as the world held its collective breath — nothing happened. January 1, 2000 came in just like any other day, with no major failures to report anywhere. In the aftermath, some said the preparation was overkill. Others maintained that only the hard work of IT professionals, many of whom didn’t sleep at all that night, kept the information systems of the world on track. There was a lot of good news that first day of the new millennium, but there was also some bad news. All that preparation had set the government and private companies back around $300 billion. Michael Israel, Chief Operating Officer at IT services provider AMC Computer Corp. put it succinctly: “Y2K was a quiet and anticlimactic event.”
