Nasdaq ready for Y2K
The technology heavy market says it has successfully completed the last in a series of Year 2000 industrywide tests.
The Nasdaq said it has successfully completed the last in a series of Year 2000 industrywide tests. The final test, conducted on Saturday, capped a series of live tests that were completed over four weekends in March and April.
"The tests enabled
us to determine whether our vast array of sophisticated computer systems could process equities transactions in the year 2000," said Gregor Bailar, chief information officer of the National Association of Securities Dealers, the parent company of the Nasdaq Stock Market. "After extensive and rigorous testing, we have every reason to be extremely
confident there will be no serious disruptions in our services, and that investors will be protected."
More than 150 employees contributed to the testing of Nadsaq's major trading systems for equities-ACT, SelectNet, and SOES. The systems executed more than 170,000 simulated transactions for nine securities products for the period December 29, 30, and 31, 1999, and January 3, 2000, the market said.
Tests were conducted for equities, unit investment trusts, mutual funds, corporate bonds, municipal bonds, and money market funds.
Since NASD's Year 2000 program began in June 1996, more than 300 applications and 11 million lines of code in mainframe, midrange, and desktop systems have been scoured, according to the Nasdaq.
The total cost of the NASD Year 2000 Program is estimated at about $55 million.
The NASD and the Nasdaq Stock Market said they would continue to monitor the compliance of internal systems through 1999 and into the new century.