DPC Prepares for Year 2000

The year 2000. . . Y2K. . . the dawn of the new millennium.

It was once an obscure concept, a faraway dream, a date that would never arrive. Now, less than a year away, it no longer seems remote. Notwithstanding rampant speculations ranging from mild to wild about what the year 2000 will bring, both customers and businesses are concerned about the practical matter of maintaining an uninterrupted flow of products and services. To ensure a smooth transition into the new millennium, DPC has implemented a comprehensive year 2000 compliance program.

Information and Business Systems Readiness
The program to prepare DPC's information and business systems is nearing completion at the three sites that account for most of the Company's manufacturing and business operations: corporate headquarters in Los Angeles, DPC Cirrus in New Jersey, and EURO/DPC in North Wales. DPC has tested all critical systems and has identified work stations that require corrective software. The Company's goal, subject to timely software manufacturer support, is to complete the remediation efforts by June of 1999. Aside from the issue of year 2000 readiness, the Company has also been engaged over the last year and a half in an ongoing program to upgrade its information systems.

Looking beyond its major manufacturing sites, DPC also commenced a testing and validation program for the information and business systems of certain international subsidiaries and affiliates last September. The Company expects this program to be completed with respect to wholly owned affiliates by June. Each affiliate will evaluate and correct its own computer systems.

Immunoassay Systems Compliance
DPC is also bringing its immunoassay instrumentation into year 2000 compliance. The IMMULITE® 2000 instrument, which DPC began shipping in March of 1998, is already compliant by design. As a part of routine, ongoing software development, DPC is now preparing software for the original IMMULITE® instrument that will change from the current two-digit year field to a four-digit field. The goal is to offer customers software and hardware upgrades to make their IMMULITE instruments and other major instrument and software products year 2000 compliant by March 31, 1999.

DPC is committed to averting any disruption in its support of its customers. With upgrades to computer systems and modifications to existing software, DPC believes that the year 2000 will not pose significant operational problems to any currently supported products.

For information on year 2000 compliance for all DPC products, go to "Year 2000 Readiness."