If you're not yet prepared with the right technology, the approach of the year 2000 might feel a lot like the coming of the Apocalypse.

"The choice is yours," Peter Coffee recently wrote in PC Week (Dec. 23/30, 1996). "Either deal with the situation...or give up any plans to remain in business over the next few years."

Before the millennium turns, the computing industry will need to do software regression testing on an unimaginable scale. According to Peter de Jager of the Year 2000 Information Center, it is not unusual for a company to have over 100,000,000 lines of code. And once all that code has been dissected and all the necessary changes have been made to ensure year 2000 compliance, you will need to regression test everything.

You will need SMART.

System Maintenance and Automated Regression Testing was developed by Advanced Transition Technologies to do regression testing of application systems after large-scale adjustments are made. SMART shines in testing mainframe and mid-range based applications from PCs -- and it will help you ensure that on Monday, January 3, 2000, your people will be suffering from nothing worse than the residual effects of holiday celebration.

Year 2000 compliance is a project of enormous magnitude. The Gartner Group, the well-respected Stamford Connecticut information technology research firm, reported that a medium-sized company will spend between $3.7 and $4.2 million dollars on the project (as reported by Andrew Pegalis in Business Insurance, Dec. 23/30, 1996). And de Jager estimates that the average company beginning conversion now will have to employ a dedicated staff of 30 to 50 people for the next three years to solve the problem in time.

You definitely need to get it right the first time.

Most experts agree that testing is a vital aspect of the conversion. According to Olga Grkavak, Senior Vice President of the Information Technology Association of America, testing is 50 percent of the conversion. If you fail to adequately test your applications following the changes, you could be discovering errors far into the next century. Don't forget, your date function appears in more than one place in those 100,000,000 lines of code. With SMART, you can be sure you've caught them all. And remember: When the clock strikes 12 on December 31, 1999, your mainframe must be prepared. With SMART, it will be.

Year 2000 conversion is a project like no other -- this time there can be no postponements. This time it cannot be late. It must work the first time. The new millenium is coming. Are you ready?