Year 2000 work pays for Wang's own fix

By Chris Barton

Wang New Zealand pulled in about $3 million last year from Year 2000 remedial work - just enough to cover the cost of fixes to its own information systems.

The company began its Y2K programme two years ago and found it had to replace almost everything - old proprietary Wang software and a suite of internally developed software used to run the business.

Every desktop and every server has been replaced and there is also new financials and distribution software from Peoplesoft, as well as new logistics and service management software from Vantive.

A new Artemis project management suite is also going in, well before the June 30 deadline the company has set to declare itself fully Y2K compliant.

Meanwhile, Wang seems set for another 30 per cent growth year.

Chief executive Doug Wilson said the Blue Star company was on track for $115 million in revenue for the financial year ending April 30 - and ahead of its $105 million target.

He said the company continued to trade profitably but could not reveal details because the figures are not broken out in the accounts of Blue Star's parent, US Office Products.