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Officials at Keesler Air Force Base in Mississippi Wednesday reported only minor glitches in a two-day base-wide test of computer systems for Y2K problems.

Col. Mike Bovich, vice commander of the Air Force Communications Agency, which ran the service's first base-wide Y2K test, said all systems appeared to perform their primary functions smoothly through a simulated rollover into the year 2000. The base also tested computer systems' response to three other dates that pose potential problems.

"We are able to sit here and say that we rolled through all these dates, and in the year 2000, the Air Force should be able to function just fine," Bovich said.

The base had tested individual systems before this week, but had never tested a full simulation of the century change for the entire base infrastructure, including voice and data networks and the logistics, finance, security, medical, contracting, training and personnel applications that run on those networks. The base also tested elevators, escalators, stoplights, and heating and air conditioning systems. Base personnel were instructed to conduct business as usual throughout the test.

For the simulation, the base first switched the date on all systems to September 9, 1999, because "9999" is a stop code for some computer programs. After completing tests for that date, the base switched to Sept. 30, 1999 for the rollover into Oct. 1, 1999, which is the start of fiscal year 2000. Then the base rolled into Jan 1, 2000. On the second day of testing, computers were set to Feb. 29, 2000, since some computer programs may have problems with the leap day next year.

Though system logs must still be reviewed thoroughly, Bovich said the simulation gives the Air Force confidence that it will beat the Y2K bug.

Base personnel reported several glitches, however, including:

• The graphical interface of a security monitoring system that normally shows pictures of rooms when alarms go off in them began acting erratically in the Sept. 9, 1999 phase, and stopped working altogether in the Jan. 1, 2000 phase. The security system itself, however, continued functioning.
• Telephone systems, including 911, worked fine. But the billing system for the phone network assigned the wrong dates to phone calls.
• Though elevators didn't malfunction, the system that tracks where elevators are at any given time started using the wrong dates in tracking files.

Bovich said the Air Force Communications Agency will provide other bases and Defense Department components with a report on the results of the Y2K test, since many of the systems tested at Keesler are used elsewhere in the Air Force and the other military services. He added that Air Force components are required to have contingency plans for working around glitches like the ones at Keesler.

"We cannot afford to not be able to do our jobs," Bovich said. "This test raises our level of confidence. I expect Dec. 31 to end up being a big non-event, though we'll be at the ready to take on problems that arise."