ICL Plc’s personal computer distributor Technology Plc is trying to broaden its parent company’s customer base by launching two new ICL-made ranges of low-end personal computers under unknown names (CI No 2,097). The move may look like a me-too following of IBM UK Ltd’s Individual Computer Products International Ltd with its Ambras but the difference is that ICL is already making money on personal computers. Other low-end additions and multimedia products will follow over the next few months. Technology director Steve Sowery claimed that the company was not ashamed of using the ICL label and hadn’t considered that a known brandname would give the products more appeal. The aim of the move, he said, was simply to enable Technology to compete at all levels of the personal computer market. ICL acquired Technology in July 1992 (CI No 1,956), and merged it with its third party trading division to create what it claims is the UK’s largest personal computer and Unix reseller. It already sells ICL’s high-end Ergoline family, which it says is on a par with IBM Corp, Compaq Computer Corp and Toshiba Corp kit. The two new ranges are TechnICL and Zeno. The TechnICL family is described as a second tier or low-cost business workstation, targeted at small to medium-sized companies. It is intended to compete with Dell Computer Corp, Ing C Olivetti & Co SpA, and IBM’s PS/1 boxes, and will be sold directly to corporate end-users as well as value-added resellers. TechnICL will initially comprise three slimline models: the 25MHz SL386s/25; 33MHz SL486; 25MHz SL486s/25; and a sub-notebook, the SN386SL. They are all based on Intel Corp chips because ICL has ‘an advantageous’ purchasing agreement with the company, and come pre-loaded with Microsoft Corp MS-DOS 5.0 and Windows 3.1. The 80486 versions have 4Mb as does the sub-notebook, but the 80386 machine has only 2Mb.

Broaden the range

Including monitor, the SL386s/25 is UKP855 to UKP900; the SL486 between UKP1,054 and UKP1,400; the SL486s/25 between UKP1,200 and UKP1,480, while the SN386SL is UKP1,260. They will all be available from today. Three desktop machines will follow in March, and the eventual aim is to broaden the range to include notebooks and printers. All computers will be manufactured by ICL Finland, although Sowery claimed that Technology had retained the option to pass on the contract to other manufacturers if the ICL boxes weren’t up to scratch. Ink-jet, bubble-jet and dot matrix printers will be bought in OEM from Mannesmann Tally GmbH. The Zeno range, manufactured at ICL’s site in Ashton-under-Lyne, Lancashire, is a high-volume, low-cost offering, intended to compete with Ambra, Elonex Plc and Trigem Computer Corp machines. The initial models, also available from February 1, are the 386SX/25, costing UKP775; the 486SX/25, costing UKP850, and the 486SX/25, costing UKP1,000. No further specifications were available, although Sowery did say that Zeno computers could not be upgraded. Like TechnICL, the range will be extended to comprise desktop, notebook, and peripherals, and will be sold direct. Further revenues will be generated by selling Zeno on an OEM basis for rebadging. ICL’s corporate accounts division will also benefit from having both lines to use in tenders for high-volume bids, Technology’s product co-ordinator, Mark Rollinson said.