They’ve already made their peace with the Y2K problem, and in doing so vaulted DDA Computer Consultants Ltd. on to Profit magazine’s 1999 listing of the country’s 100 fastest-growing companies.

DDA is jointly owned by DeMello and d’Entremont, who have known each other since 1975 when both were working in Halifax’s then-infant computer sector.

The two partners travelled much different routes to get to the same place. DeMello is the self-taught driving force, d’Entremont the university-educated analytical one.

Hailing from the village of Lower West Pubnico on Nova Scotia’s French Shore, d’Entremont took the advice of a math teacher he respected and, in 1971, entered Acadia University to take computer science.

DeMello, on the other hand, arrived in Canada in 1972 as a 22-year-old refugee from Uganda. He had been caught up in the mass expulsion of Asian merchants and professionals ordered by dictator Idi Amin.

Canadian immigration officials in Montreal suggested Halifax, and down he came. A visit to a Manpower office got him three job interviews, followed by three job offers. He took the one with Maritime Life, which evolved into a night job in its computer department.

DeMello doesn’t see himself as lucky, but rather a person who took advantage of what was before him. "Opportunities are always there, you just have to recognize they’re there," he said.

The two men renewed acquittances while working for Force 10, a subsidiary of MT&T, in the mid-1980s. It was when DeMello fell victim to the first round of company layoffs and d’Entremont the second that they went into business together in 1986.

Drawing up a one-page partnership agreement, the two began working on subcontracts from other consulting firms until they could establish their own client base.

By the early 1990s, the business was growing, with DDA working on fewer subcontracts and developing more direct relationships with clients.

In 1996, the partners first read stories in the media about the potential for problems with computer systems as their internal clocks turned over at midnight on Dec. 31, 1999 – the much-hyped Y2K problem.

The work that would consume the company for the next three years began as a check of their own software to determine what the results might be if it failed.

DDA’s software was discovered to be fully compliant, DeMello said, but the partners saw a business opportunity in helping others sort through their problems.

It didn’t hurt that the partners had expertise in Foxpro, a Microsoft program that had become the provincial-government standard, also used by companies such as Maritime Life.

“Over time, we became the experts in that tool,” DeMello said. Knowledge of dated computer systems wasn’t all that DDA could offer, DeMello said, but also system testing as well.

The work peaked late last year because most large companies had already completed their Y2K programs. But a recent surge has occurred as smaller companies belatedly get around to testing their own systems.

DeMello isn’t one to dismiss Y2K as so much ballyhooed malarkey. He said much of what DDA encountered was reality. "We know that certain systems, or certain software products, will not run in the year 2000, or not run correctly," he said. "So there’s no question in our minds there was an issue there."

The Y2K problem is actually quite easy to fix, d’Entremont said. "The problem is it’s all over the place."

With most of the Y2K work completed, DDA is using its client base and expertise to expand into new technologies and consulting services, such as Web-site development.

The company got into another new service almost by default, DeMello said, following the evolving demands of clients. DDA now acts as a placement service, finding trained IT professionals for others for a fee. "We’ll provide people on contract to clients. We’ll build a team to manage projects or, if they want an employee, we’ll provide that, too," he said.

Finding those qualified people has required the casting of a rather large net. While locals make up the bulk of the source, DDA also places people from across Atlantic Canada, while central Canadians and Americans have been sending resumes as well. Then there are the Y2K-ready Indians.

"India is one of the few countries that plans well in advance not to resolve the problem, but to train people to resolve the problem," DeMello said.

Sort of like DDA itself. The two men are confident the work they and others have done will ensure a happy new year. Almost all major computers systems have had their bugs worked out, DeMello said, and any problems that do crop up will be minor inconveniences. No need to build that bunker and stock it with rice and flour.

D’Entremont compares any effects that may appear to those of a bad rain storm.

"The sewers get backed up and it’s probably not pretty for a few days for some people, (but) those who are on high ground will be all right,"he said.

SUNDAY, JULY 18, 1999THE SUNDAY HERALD -BUSINESS
PAGE A13

By Tim Arsenault
Business Reporter

THE PRINCIPALS of DDA Computer Consultants Ltd. could be considered paramedics to the computer world.