Novell Warns European Small Businesses Over Y2K Complacency September 17, 1999: 9:21 a.m. ET LONDON, ENGLAND (NB) -- By Sylvia Dennis, Newsbytes. Novell Inc.'s [NASDAQ:NOVL] UK and European divisions has warned that European businesses have a false sense of security over the Y2K issue. With only 100 days to go before the end of the year, the networking firm says that is a potentially dangerous situation, especially since more than a quarter of European small businesses are still not Y2K compliant as far as their IT systems are concerned. Citing the 1999 European Small Business Directors Report on technology issues facing European small businesses - sponsored by itself and Compaq - Novell says that the Y2K situation needs addressing immediately. Novell says that there are nearly 15 million companies across Europe with under 99 employees (source: IDC). The research for the Compaq/Novell report was conducted by Banner and found that over a quarter of the 1,035 small business directors interviewed admitted their companies are not currently Y2K ready. The report found that 72 percent believe that the millennium bug will only cause minor disruption to their business processes. Across Europe, French (43 percent,) Polish (37 percent) and Norwegian (36 percent) firms lag behind in resolving this issue. Mike Hall, vice president of Novell's marketing for the EMEA region, said that, with a doubt the Year 2000 issue is a major problem. "Simply completing a Year 2000 remediation program falls short in winning the battle of the Year 2000 bug. Small businesses need to ensure their suppliers, partners and customers are also planning or implementing a strategy to survive the millennium bug," he said. Hall said that small to medium-sized businesses need to work with their channel partners to limit the risk inherent in Year 2000 compliancy. "They need help to understand the Year 2000 problems facing them, advice on the amount of work required to resolve them and also assistance to identify where the most significant risks are," he said. The complete report is available to download from the Novell EMEA small business Web site http://www.novell.com/emea/smallbiz . Reported by Newsbytes.com, http://www.newsbytes.com . 08:14 CST (19990917/Press Contact: Wendy Berry, Novell +44-1344-724310 /WIRES TELECOM, BUSINESS, Y2K/Y2KPOW/PHOTO) http://www.cnnfn.com/news/technology/newsbytes/136422.html --