CIO Council joins international IT effort

ORLANDO, Fla. — The federal CIO Council is getting involved in an international effort to coordinate use of information technology.

Jim Flyzik, vice chairman of the CIO Council, has been chosen to be one of the contacts for the United States to participate in the international steering committee being formed by the United Nations' Economic and Social Council, Flyzik said Wednesday at the Information Processing Interagency Conference here.

Sally Katzen, acting deputy director for management at the Office of Management and Budget, is the other U.S. point of contact. She and Flyzik will be working with 85 other countries.

The international coordination group will build on the cooperation and communication established between countries to deal with the Year 2000 problem last year, Flyzik said. The Dec. 31, 1999, to Jan. 1, 2000, transition went so well that many of the countries involved decided to build on the experience to handle future IT issues, he said.

The committee is being formed now and is working primarily through an e-mail listserv.