The diversification strategy put into place by Tony Davies when he took control of Hemel Hempstead minimaker Computer Technology Ltd a decade ago, had to be abandoned in order to get the company into shape for flotation, and in its latterday incarnation as ITL Informati-on Technology Plc, little is left of the more ambitious of the two diversifications, the one that was dubbed Office Technology Ltd, which despite a very substantial acquisition and and OEM agreement for challenging new speech technology from Nixdorf Computer AG, failed to live up to its promise. The other diversification, the one that was called Network Technology Ltd, spent most of its life in heavy shadow from its two bigger sister companies, but survived to flotation, at which time it represented 15% of the business, and continues as a useful extra string to ITL’s bow. And it could soon be seen as rather more than that, for Digital Equipment Co Ltd has signed ITL as a network subcontract supplier and implementer for the DECsite range of planning and implementation services for installation of networked computer systems. ITL reckons that it was chosen because of its expertise in implementation of all types of large corporate networks. ITL is also cheering at the news that DEC is to reference sell and support the Chipcom Inc ORnet fibre optic Ethernet system, since, it says, it has itself been a UK supplier of the Chipcom products in the UK since 1984.
