Memex Information Holdings Ltd, the East Kilbride, Glasgow-based text-retrieval system company recently acquired by Microfilm Reprographics Plc (CI No 1,774), is to operate as an autonomous subsidiary under its new ownership, says Memex marketing director Keith Owen. The company, which today considers itself to be a document management specialist, is pleased to have a right arm to lean on – cash-wise – when the need arises, and a newly-enlarged customer base. For Microfilm’s part, Memex represents a way out of the dying microfilm market, as more and more of its customers demand computerised document storage systems – Owen believes Microfilm saw Memex as a step in that direction. Memex has 15 employees, all based in East Kilbride, and projects a turnover of between UKP2.5m and UKP3m this year. The company has a history of financial difficulties. Having bought itself out of receivership in 1988, with a little help from 3i Plc and a grant from the Scottish Development Agency, the company has continued to struggle – Owen describes Memex’s plight as that of the typical UK hardware company, battling to be recognised above the all-consuming US giants, particularly as over 90% of the company’s 250 customers are in the US – these mainly consist of defence and government intelligence-related sites, something that dates back to the days when Gould – which was acquired by Encore Computer Corp – had the exclusive rights to the product. Memex’s product, Textract, is a high-speed text searching system, which today runs on any VMEbus-based Unix box and Digital Equipment Corp environment. And Owen says versions for IBM Corp machines are due for release in three to four months. A software version, too, has been available for two months, which brings the cost of Textract right down to UKP5,000, from between UKP10,000 to UKP35,000 for the various hardware configurations. The system is now being promoted as a general information management system. Owen claims it can tackle all types of data, which it compresses and stores as ASCII files. Textract typically searches gigabytes of data within seconds, and the user can update and edit the database in real-time. For the future, Memex will be shipping document management systems based around Textract – Owen reckons document management systems will subsume the information management market. Memex currently sells its products direct in the UK, and through value-added resellers in the US. It is now seeking to appoint additional resellers this side of the Atlantic, presumably to try to expand Memex’s small European customer base.
