The Post Office starting talking about computerisation 15 years ago, but things are at last beginning to happen. The Thorn-EMI Software Sciences-led consortium awarded a UKP15m contract in 1987 to computerise the activities at UK Post Office counters, has announced completion of the first stage. Some 250 Post Offices in the Thames Valley area have been designated as a pilot scheme for the eventual automation of major Post Offices across the UK. The pilot will see 600 counter terminals linked to a central processing system at the Post Office’s computer centre in Farnborough. It will handle transactions with the Department of National Savings, Girobank Plc, and the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Centre. Software Sciences’ major projects directorate headed the consortium, and the other companies involved are Tandem Computers, Nixdorf Computer, Plessey-Telenet, and Data Innovation Ltd. Software Sciences recently acquired exclusive Japanese and European rights from Electronic Data Systems to the Action 2000 EFT-POS and Card Processing Products. These are used within the application software to provide the basis of the electronic funds transfer switch. Software Sciences says that the decision to wind up the operations of EftPOS UK Ltd, the consortium that was attempting to establish a UK wide on-line clearing system, presents the company with new markets for the software. The counter automation system has been built around Tandem’s fault tolerant Non-Stop range. It will act as the central host facility, providing a gateway linking individual terminals to the the various agencies involved in the project, and providing control of the distributed network management. The counter terminals are Nixdorf’s 8810/PT range, and an X25 network linking the terminals to the central system is provided by Plessey-Telenet. Personal Identification Number pads have been incorporated into the terminals, and authentication devices have been attached to the Tandem processors. Data Innovation, part of the information security specialists, Zergo Ltd (CI No 1,221), is supplying both security devices, intended to provide cryptographic facilities on either side of the system gateway.
