ECS International UK Ltd is setting up a Personal Systems division in the the UK, initially as a sales operation, although leasing is an option when an installed base becomes established. The company has been selling personal computers in the rest of western Europe for a number of years, and says that it shifted 40,000 systems in France during 1990. ECS, a leasing subsidiary of the French bank Societe Generale SA, is forecasting that by the year 2000, the majority of personal computers will be connected to the mainframe or networked, and Giles Tugendhat, president and director general of ECS SA, says this represents a major business opportunity. The Personal Systems division is to be headed by Jim Thatcher, an IBMer of 19 years standing and responsible for launching the PS/2 to dealer channels. He plans to use ECS’ existing client base of leased AS/400s and mainframes as leverage for the personal computer business, and he is now recruiting staff to expand the salesforce of 15. Tugendhat is bullish about ECS’ prospects and says that no US company has found a successful approach to the European marketplace. ECS deals in the IBM world only, and while the company will sell Compaq equipment, Tugendhat has no plans to include offerings from European manufacturers. He believes that ICL Plc, Siemens-Nixdorf Informationssysteme AG, Bull SA and Ing C Olivetti & Co SpA all lack marketing expertise, and a strong European company must be a strong sales company. In his opinion, Olivetti ought not to get involved with the French mnaufacturer, Goupil SA. It has been surviving on subsidies for a long time, and the art of keeping dead bodies alive is something the French are very good at, he says. Personal computer innovation, says Tugendhat, comes from the US, not Europe, and not Japan. Given that ECS operates in the IBM world, will it supply the PS/1? Probably not, says Thatcher. Definitely not, says Tugendhat dismissively. Users do not need computers without added value.
