Gateway is also a member of PCY2000, an alliance of leading computer manufacturers whose members have adopted a common specification for the year 2000 compliance of PC computer hardware. Gateway is one of the founding members of the alliance, and all of Gateway's year 2000-compliant PCs adhere to the specifications adopted by the alliance. For more information on the PCY2000 Alliance, please visit PCY2000 alliance web site at www.pc2000.org.




Warranty Support

To back-up our testing, and to provide further security for our clients, Gateway provides warranty protection. For all Gateway computers defined as Year 2000 Compliant and using a Gateway supplied BIOS, Gateway warrants that such systems will accurately process date data (including, but not limited to calculating, comparing and sequencing dates and calculating leap year) before, during, and after the calendar year 2000 A.D. when used in accordance with its product documentation and provided all other products used in combination with the Product properly exchange data with it. This warranty applies to desktop, portable, Destination®, and server products, and it is governed by the terms and conditions outlined in the original system warranty. It does not include application software, or non-Gateway branded external hardware peripherals such as printers, scanners, and joysticks. Because Gateway does not control the design of these products, we cannot ensure how they access or calculate date information in the computer. Clients will need to contact the software or peripheral manufacturer regarding the Year 2000 capabilities of these products.




Older Systems

For older computers using Intelâ i486 and earlier processors, the operating system clock will successfully transition to the Year 2000 if the machine is left on during the date change. However, the first time that the machine is rebooted in the new year (or powered on, if the machine is off during the date change), the date will be wrong. This can easily be corrected by resetting the computer's Real-Time Clock, using the instructions below. Once this adjustment is made, i486-based PCs will provide the correct date and will continue to do so at each subsequent re-boot.




Instructions for Resetting the Real-Time Clock

For systems with DOS 6.x / Windows 3.x:

• If you have not booted your system after the year 2000 roll over, do so.
• If you are running Windows, exit by choosing File, Exit Windows from the Program Manager window.
• At a DOS prompt, type the following command: C:\> date 01-01-2000 and press Enter.
• To return to Windows type Win and press Enter.

• If you have not booted your system after the year 2000 roll over, do so.
• Once in the Windows 95 desktop, restart the computer in MS-DOS mode. This can be done by choosing Start, selecting Shutdown, clicking on Restart the computer in MS-DOS mode and clicking Yes.
• At a DOS prompt, type in the following command: C:\> date 01-01-2000 and press Enter.
• To return to Windows 95 type Exit and press Enter.

Gateway Infrastructure Compliance

In addition to inquiries about Gateway products, some clients have asked about Gateway's organizational preparedness, and if the millennium change will affect Gateway's ability to deliver product and support our clients. Our clients' concerns have always driven our business, and our goal is to meet them today and in the next millennium. Accordingly, the Year 2000 Project for our internal infrastructure actively began in September 1997.We have chosen two of the three top-rated Year 2000 consulting firms as business partners throughout phases of our project, and appropriate testing for our business-critical applications is ongoing. At a high level, our Year 2000 Infrastructure Project phases are described below:

Organizational Readiness: September 1997 (Complete)

• Determined the overall status of the company's readiness for Year 2000.

• Compiled inventories of all physical assets, vendor software, and custom applications.

• Determined remediation and testing processes and procedures.
• Decided which tools to utilize in testing applications.
• Designed the Year 2000 test environment.

• Test all assets and applications for compliance of all business-critical systems.(Complete)
• Follow-up with vendors and suppliers to determine compliance and strategy for non-compliant providers. (Complete)
• Install and implement all new compliant applications and systems using pre-determined process steps and environment restrictions.(Scheduled for completion 9/99)

Part of the overall process is to implement procedures and guidelines within our company to promote continued Year 2000 compliance beyond the initial compliant setup of our internal production environment.

The Company plans to complete the remediation and testing phases for its mission critical IT systems by the end of the third quarter of 1999, with the remaining quarter in 1999 reserved for unplanned contingencies, compliance validation, and quality assurance. In addition to checking centralized IT infrastructure, the Company is also reviewing its building systems (equipment and property such as elevators, alarms, etc.) and business tools and processes (hardware, software, and associated computer chips distributed throughout the organization and managed by local business units). For mission critical building systems and business processes, remediation and testing are targeted for October 1999.

Thank you for your questions regarding Gateway's Year 2000 support and preparations. We're glad to have the opportunity to help you with the Year 2000 issue today, and to help you successfully navigate the world of technology in the future.




FINAL NOTES

Gateway designates this year 2000 statement as a Year 2000 Disclosure under the Year 2000 Information and Readiness Disclosure Act of 1998, a U.S. statute enacted on October 19, 1998 (the "Act"). Information contained in Gateway's past and present year 2000 letters regarding products and services offered by Gateway and its subsidiaries are "Year 2000 Readiness Disclosures" under the Act. Information in our year 2000 letters regarding non-Gateway products and services are "Republications" under the Act based on information supplied by other companies about the products and services they offer. Gateway has not independently verified the contents of these Republications and takes no responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of information contained in such Republications.

* Leap year occurs in every year that is evenly divisible by four, with the following variations: years that end in '00' (such as 1900) are not leap years, except for years divisible by 400 (such as 2000, 1600, or 2400) are leap years. Therefore, the year 2000 is a leap year, but 1900 and 2100 are not.
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** All systems tested using the most current BIOS version available at the time of the test. Subsequent systems tested by Gateway. NSTL makes no recommendation or endorsement of any product.
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