The Bermuda Government has updated ten of its critical computer systems and expects to finish updating the remaining 16 by April next year in the battle against the Millennium bug.

Finance Minister Grant Gibbons said yesterday Government had identified about 60 different computer systems in use of which 26 were considered critical to operations.

He said work had started on non-critical systems and would continue further into 1999.

"We do expect to get it done on time,'' he told an information session on the Year 2000 computer problem held by the Chamber of Commerce yesterday at the Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute.

Another speaker at the session called for a group to be formed of Government and private sector interests that would help coordinate Bermuda's efforts in dealing with the problem. The Year 2000 problem affects how computers tell time when the year changes from 1999 to 2000.

Others spoke about the need for business executives to get involved in dealing with the problem. The Year 2000 computer glitch refers to the inability of some computers and software programs to correctly read dates properly at the end of 1999.

The Year 2000 bug can cripple computer systems that store dates in the "year'' field, causing them to read "00'' as 1900 and not 2000.

Marcia Williams of PriceWaterhouseCoopers said businesses needed to involve senior management in the process. She said businesses needed to appoint a senior executive with a broad mandate to oversee all aspects of ensuring the company was protected against computer failure in 2000.

BUSINESS BUC