La Plaza Telecommunity will be Y2K Compliant

La Plaza Telecommunity was awarded a $22,600 grant from the Los Alamos National Laboratory Foundation. The grant will upgrade La Plaza's system equipment with Y2K compliant hardware and software, and will allow La Plaza to significantly improve its ability to serve the residents of Taos County.

The technology problems for Year 2000 (Y2K) stem from the 1960's, when to save space, computer programmers used only a two-digit field to represent the year (e.g. 85=1985). Software so created may be unable to properly address dates after 1999 (they may read 00 as 1900, not 2000), and could cause substantial disruption of Information Technology systems that are "date sensitive." Although many of La Plaza's systems had been analyzed, and most are Y2K compliant, the new equipment will ensure that customers do not experience La Plaza-related service interruptions on January 1, 2000.

The LANL Foundation grant will also help La Plaza increase information technology services for Taos County schools, libraries, health care providers, banks, businesses, private citizens and La Plaza's free public access sites. This grant comes at a critical time for La Plaza and all its users. It will ensure that La Plaza enters the 21st century ahead of the curve with the ability to offer top quality services to our customers.

All of us at La Plaza express our gratitude for the generous funding from the LANL Foundation.

Judith Pepper
Executive Director
La Plaza Telecommunity
jpepper@laplaza.org