The latest Intel 80486-based mid-range personal computer system to come on to the market is Newbury, Berkshire-based Gandlake Software Ltd’s Factotum 486/25, priced at a mere UKP2,000. The standard model with a mono monitor comes with 4Mb of RAM expandable to 16Mb and a 32-bit memory slot, with 80Mb hard disk. It is rated at 11 MIPS on Performance Test-3, against a 6 MIPS rating for an IBM 80386 machine with the same clock speed. The system has parallel and two serial ports and comes in tower format as standard, with desktop option. The Factotum 486/25, which is available only from Gandlake direct, comes bundled with Digital Research’s DR DOS 5.0 operating system and US company Dac-Easy’s Lucid 3D spreadsheet, and the price includes a day’s free training on using a personal computer, two hours’ hotline support and a year’s on-site maintenance. Gandlake Software is a subsidiary of the Gandlake Group, which started up 20 years ago to develop software for ICL mainframes. The group consists of three divisions – Gandlake Computer Service, George 3 Systems Programming Ltd and Gandlake Software Ltd, but all three are served by the same 28 staff. Gandlake Computer Service concentrates on ICL mainframe software, George 3 Systems Programming used to develop ICL’s former operating system, George 3, but now just provides internal group services, and ironically it is Gandlake Software that develops the hardware although this company is usually just referred to as Factotum, just to confuse matters. The new 486/25 is the eighth in the Factotum line of personal computer systems which Gandlake first launched last year – the range includes the entry level 286/12, which costs UKP750; the 286/16 for UKP850; the 286/20 for UKP900; the 386/20 SX for UKP1,000; and the non-SX 386/25 for UKP1,170 – plus UKP180 for 64Kb cache.

Multi Platform Gateway

All systems come with DR DOS, Lucid 3D spreadsheet, training and maintenance – with a price reduction for larger firms that don’t require maintenance. Gandlake, or Factotum, has also launched Gateway – a terminal providing communication via a Novell Inc NetWare network to ICL mainframes using CO3, OSLAN and X25. In around three months, the company will be launching its Multi Platform Gateway machine for IBM sites, and a package which offers MS-DOS to Unix connection. The company says the low price of its machines comes from buying all components direct from Taiwan and Japan. The personal computers are targeted at Gandlake’s existing ICL mainframe software user base, which includes banks, local councils and stores such as Marks & Spencer Plc. The company is geared to producing 200 machines per week, and expects to sell 3,000 hardware units – personal computers, terminals, and network-to-mainframes – this year. Last year Gandlake turned over UKP2m, but expects UKP3m sales this year and twice or three times that figure next year.