Meanwhile Comdisco Disaster Recovery Services has quit IBM mid-range disaster recover in the UK by selling its Systems On Site Ltd (SOS) subsidiary to Safetynet Plc for an undisclosed sum. The UK arm failed to build much of an AS/400 business initially it was based on the purchase of Failsafe ROC in 1991 (CI No 1,823), which had a heavy mainframe bias. Joseph Kafka, managing director and president of Comdisco Europe said that AS/400 business in the UK amounted to only 2% of his business. That had been built virtually exclusively upon the company’s fleet of seven trailers – four AS/400s, two System 36s and a System 38: In the UK I really didn’t have fixed AS/400 back-up capacity and I needed it said Kafka. The five staff and the existing contracts have gone to Safetynet and the two companies have formed a joint marketing agreement – in mixed mini/mainframe sites Bracknell-based Safetynet will act as a subcontracter. Kafka denied that the deal reflected the viability of the Comdisco AS/400 operation in other parts of Europe.
