This section describes the various takeovers of and by ICL that followed its formation in 1969.
Singer Business Machines Early in 1976, ICL acquired the international (that is, non-US) part of
Singer Business Machines. The Singer group, a holding company which had diversified by adding many divisions, the most well-known of which was its early roots in sewing machines, and others such as the Business Machine division which was acquired by purchasing Friden, a San Leandro computer company, whose flagship product was the
System Ten, a small business minicomputer. SBM had also acquired
Cogar Corporation, a manufacturer of desktop intelligent terminals in Utica, New York, which after the ICL acquisition became the development and manufacturing plant for both minicomputers and terminals. The acquisition shifted the geographical balance of ICL's sales away from the UK, and also gave a presence in industry markets such as retail and manufacturing. ICL subsequently developed the System Ten into the System 25, and used the product to spearhead the growth of its Retail Systems business during the 1980s.
1981 crisis ICL was in financial difficulty in 1981, with weak export performance against American and Japanese competition, and a takeover by an American manufacturer seemed likely.
Christophor Laidlaw, deputy chairman of
BP, was appointed as chairman and achieved a financial reconstruction, supported by loan guarantees from the government; he also oversaw the start of a technology agreement with Japan's
Fujitsu. In 1984, Laidlaw was succeeded by
Sir Michael Edwardes, previously chairman of motor manufacturer
British Leyland. The stated rationale was the predicted convergence of computers and telecommunications. The ICL board recommended acceptance of the bid, and the takeover was completed on 10 September.
Sir Michael Edwardes, who had been chairman for just six months, resigned, and Laidlaw returned briefly as chairman. Robb Wilmot, who had arrived as managing director in 1981 (at the age of 36) remained, along with
Peter Bonfield as marketing director. The takeover caused losses at STC, leading in 1985 to a
rights issue Although an agreement was almost reached, ICL's management strongly favoured an arrangement with Fujitsu, also rebuffing an apparent interest in the company from
Unisys.
Datachecker In 1988 STC acquired US retail systems specialist Datachecker Systems from National Semiconductor Corporation. At the time this was the second largest supplier in the US retail market, and greatly expanded ICL's US presence.
Regnecentralen In 1989, ICL acquired
Regnecentralen of Denmark, a company with a distinguished history and reputation in that country, but which was best known internationally for its front-end communications handling equipment.
Computer Consoles Inc Also in 1989 STC acquired
CCI, suppliers of ICL's Clan 5, 6 and 7 ranges (later DRS 500) and originator of OfficePower. By 1990 CCI's Computer Products Division in Irvine, California, and Office Products Centre in Reston, Virginia, had been transferred to ICL.
Nokia Data In 1991 ICL acquired Nokia Data, part of
Nokia. Nokia Data was itself the result of Nokia's mid-1980s acquisition of Ericsson Information Systems, whose origins lay in the purchase by
Ericsson of the computer business of
Saab, known as
Datasaab. Financed with £ in cash, £ in preferred stock, and the assumption of £ of Nokia Data's debt, ICL's acquisition added 7,000 employees to the company (bringing the group's total workforce to 21,000) and, with £ in revenue, effectively gave ICL a turnover of £. The acquisition brought with it a
PC manufacturing capability, a suite of desktop software products, and more importantly a strong presence in the
Nordic market and an awareness of the high-volume end of the IT market.
ICL KME-CS In July, 1991 ICL acquired more than half of the Russian company KME-CS (Kazan Manufacturing Enterprise of Computer Systems,
Kazan,
Tatarstan, Russia). The agreement was signed between
Peter Bonfield (President of ICL) and
Mintimer Shaimiev (President of the Tatarstan Republic).
Fujitsu relationship and eventual acquisition ICL's relationship with Fujitsu started in 1981, when ICL needed a cheaper source of technology to develop lower-end machines in the 2900 range to compete with the
IBM 4300 series. At this stage ICL was developing its own
large scale integration (LSI) technology for use in the higher-end machines, designed as a successor to the highly successful 2966 processor (known internally as S3). ICL had visited a number of companies during 1980, including Fujitsu and
Hitachi, to identify potential suppliers. As part of the 1981 restructuring, Robb Wilmot – an electronics engineer and former head of
Texas Instruments' British-based calculator operation – arrived as CEO in May 1981. He cancelled in-house LSI technology development, and negotiated an agreement that gave access to Fujitsu's LSI and packaging technologies, which, when combined with ICL's in-house CAD capability, enabled ICL to design and manufacture the DM1 and Estriel machines, later marketed profitably as Series 39 level 30 and 80. Initially the collaboration with Fujitsu was presented as being an arm's length one, to avoid diluting ICL's credentials as a European and British company. However, Fujitsu's involvement with ICL at both the financial and the technical level steadily increased over the subsequent two decades, and in 1990 Fujitsu acquired 80% of ICL plc from its parent STC plc, paying US$1.29 billion. In 1998 Fujitsu became ICL's sole shareholder and the ICL brand was dropped in 2002. Long term chief executive Keith Todd, in place for 13 years, planned to float ICL on the stock exchange, but due to on and off financial difficulties from some units of the company and the realisation that the parts of ICL sold separately were worth a lot more on the market than ICL as a whole, this was abandoned in 2000. Todd resigned and was replaced by Richard Christou, who dismantled the complicated matrix management structure, rationalised the balance sheet and sold some smaller units. One of ICL's past acquisitions, CFM (Computer Facilities Management), was a key profitable outsourcing unit which originated from local government and managed both ICL and other manufacturer large customer installations. Christou expanded this unit moving the company further into services and away from being a computer supplier. Christou later said "big outsourcing contracts, despite all their problems, actually were, and still are, the profit drivers in ICL".
Fujitsu Siemens Following the acquisition of Nokia Data in 1991, personal computers and servers were marketed under the ICL brand. This changed when
Fujitsu Siemens Computers was formed in 1999 as a joint venture between Fujitsu and
Siemens. The joint venture absorbed all ICL's hardware business with the exception of VME mainframes, and all the business of
Siemens Nixdorf with the exception of its banking and retail systems. Fujitsu Siemens was merged back into Fujitsu in 2009.
PC Interworks Ltd PC Interworks was incorporated in October 1995. It was created as a sales company, selling personal computer and other IT equipment to the employees of large organisations. The company, which evolved from a concept developed within ICL, began business with a contract from ICL to provide computer related products to its staff, as a part of its Employee Benefit Programme. PC Interworks was subsequently absorbed by International Computer Logistics Limited.
Transfer of ICL trademark to International Computer Logistics International Computer Logistics, a British company specialising in IT repair and data recovery, secured the intellectual property rights to the ICL brand in 2014. It is based in
Kidsgrove, North Staffordshire and was formed in 2012. == ICL Fellowship ==