.svg){kind=logo} Logo circa 1988 | |
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Computer hardware, computer software |
| Founded | 1968 |
| Defunct | 2002 |
| Fate | Acquired |
| Successor | Fujitsu, Zensar |
| Headquarters | , England |
| Services | Computer services |
Number of employees | 33,000 (1980), 20,000 (1985)[1] |
International Computers Limited (ICL) was a British computer hardware, computer software and computer services company that operated from 1968 until 2002. It was formed through a merger of International Computers and Tabulators (ICT), English Electric Computers (EEC) and Elliott Automation in 1968. The company's most successful product line was the ICL 2900 Series range of mainframe computers.
In later years, ICL diversified its product line but the bulk of its profits always came from its mainframe customers. New ventures included marketing a range of powerful IBM clones made by Fujitsu, various minicomputer and personal computer ranges and (more successfully) a range of retail point-of-sale equipment and back-office software. Although it had significant sales overseas, ICL's mainframe business was dominated by large contracts from the UK public sector, including Post Office Ltd, the Inland Revenue, the Department for Work and Pensions and the Ministry of Defence. It also had a strong market share with UK local authorities and (at that time) nationalised utilities including the water, electricity, and gas boards.
The company had an increasingly close relationship with Fujitsu from the early 1980s, culminating in Fujitsu becoming sole shareholder in 1998. ICL was rebranded as Fujitsu in April 2002. Fujitsu (UK) as the hardware and software supplier has been implicated in the British Post Office scandal, which has extended from the 1990s to the 2020s
The ICL brand is still used by the former Russian joint-venture of the company, founded in 1991.[2]
- ^ Campbell-Kelly, Martin (1995). "ICL and the British Mainframe" (PDF). The Computer Journal. 38 (5). doi:10.1093/comjnl/38.5.400. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
- ^ "History ICL". Russia: ICL. Retrieved 24 February 2020.