NEWS RELEASE

Contact: Alan Shulman, DCI Media Relations
(508) 470-3870

Release Date: November 11, 1996

Year 2000 Computer Problems,
Future of Client/Server vs. Internet
Key Issues at DCI's Database & Client/Server World

Losses Could Reach $1 Trillion From Inability of Computers to Cross Century Boundary

Andover, MA -- Time is extremely tight for those who manage enterprise computer systems. What's making them panic is the fact that many of today's computer and software systems will not work on January 1, 2000. Losses to the business community from the inability to handle the move into the next century are forecast to run as high as $1 trillion, with a single Fortune 500 company having to spend up to $100 million to correct the problems.

Considered one of the most pressing, but least understood strategic issues in the computer industry, it will be front and center at DCI's Database & Client/Server World, December 10-12 at Chicago's Navy Pier.

In addition, leading industry experts will participate in presentations on up-to-the-minute trends and technologies in database and data warehousing, Internet/Intranet and client/server solutions, development tools and document management. The conference will draw more than 25,000 attendees and will feature exhibits of the latest products and solutions from over 200 vendors.

Leading industry experts, headed by DCI's Year 2000 Issues and Answers Conference Chairman Ken Orr and Keynote Speaker Peter de Jager, will discuss the problems facing businesses over the next three years.

"If companies are not already working on the Year 2000 problem, then they are playing a nasty game of Russian roulette," de Jager said. "Thousands of companies have already admitted the problem is real, complex and time consuming, and have started on the long road to a solution. For those that haven't, they are placing their own survival at risk," he added.

DCI's 2000 Issues and Answers Forum will be among many complex technical and strategic technology topics covered in six separate conferences and some 120 educational sessions and companion seminars at DCI's Database & Client/Server World, the world's premier event for executives and IT professionals. The three-day program will feature a provocative debate among leading industry advocates and opponents on whether the Internet way of computing with thin clients and new Network Computers will eclipse the established and highly vested client/server architectures prevailing in most corporations. Among the well-known industry luminaries participating in this debate are:

• Mitchell Kertzman, President and CEO of Sybase, Inc.

• Eric Hahn, VP of Enterprise Technologies, Netscape Communications

• Mark Benioff, Sr. VP, Web/Workgroup Systems Div., Oracle Corp.

• Steve Mills, GM, Software Solutions Division, IBM Corporation

• David Vaskevitch, GM Database & Transaction Products, Microsoft

• Rich Finkelstein, President, Performance Computing

• Stewart Alsop, Partner, New Enterprise Associates

• George Schussel, Founder and CEO, DCI
  

Leading Edge Technologies

"Our tradition of strong program content combined with a far-reaching showcase of leading edge technologies sets DCI's Database & Client/Server World apart," noted conference chairman, Dr. George Schussel, a leading expert on client/server computing and the Internet. Conference programs running concurrently with DCI's Database & Client/Server World include:

• Internet Client/Server Conference

• Client/Server Technologies & Tools Conference

• Data Warehousing Conference

• Client/Server Application Packages Conference

• Doc World, The Document Management Workflow & C.O.L.D. Technologies Conference

Separately, Pulitzer Prize nominee and best-selling book author James Martin, chairman of James Martin & Company, will explore the role of "The Cybercorp Revolution" in a featured address and companion seminar for senior management executives. Martin believes that as corporations move into the 21st century, sweeping sets of changes will put increasing pressures on corporations to re-engineer.

World's Largest On-Site Developer Contest

Other expo features include the world’s largest on-site application development competition, co-sponsored by DCI and Droege Computing Services, where software developers compete with their peers against the clock to build a database solution for a charitable organization.

Other elements of the expo program include both Data Warehousing and Intranet Developers Forums, Software Testing Theater, Product Comparison Forum to check out the latest client/server application packages, as well as a Cyber Cafe for Internauts to traverse the World Wide Web in a relaxed, social environment.

The conference and exposition are detailed in our online brochure.

Based in Andover, Massachusetts, DCI is the largest American promoter of information technology conferences, educational events, trade shows and expositions. With a staff of 145 IT marketing and event planning professionals, DCI is a recognized world leader in high-technology education, trade shows and management consulting.