Capsco Software Europe Ltd has won a a significant order from General Portfolio Group Plc for its Capsil life and pension fund administration software. The software, which costs an average of UKP600,000 per system plus customisation, now forms the core of General Portfolio’s new IBM 3090-120S mainframe, which went live in December. Guildford-based Capsco, a wholly owned subsidiary of Zurich-based Swiss Re, was set up in the US in 1973 and expanded into Canada and Europe in 1979 and 1983. With a worldwide turnover of $20m, UKP5m of which comes from the UK, the company includes CitiCorp, Providence & Capital, and Sentinel Life in its client list. It is a predominantly IBM house, but both Providence & Capital and Sentinel Life operate Capsil on Prime machines, and outside the UK, it has been customised for DEC equipment. The company’s first major AS/400 client is Citicorp, but Capsco expects to see interest from a number of small to medium-sized companies, although the cost of an average installation plus the expense of running software on AS/400 machines may prove prohibitive. Previously a System 38 user, and at one time touted by IBM as a major customer for the AS/400, General Portfolio is reticent on its reasons for moving over to 370 architecture.
