ECLAT, the European Computer Leasers And Traders association, has abandoned its plans to buy Amsterdam-based Computer Brokers Exchange BV (CI No 600) and will instead set up its own network information exchange service (CI No 550) in conjunction with a software house in which its newly-appointed director general Geoff Sewell has a substantial interest. The unidentified software house will hold 75% of a new ECLAT Network company, ECLAT holding 25%. The Personal Computer-based service – UKP960 per year to the 50 ECLAT members – will poll and update members’ databases twice a week with information on spot prices for used equipment and market information relevant to members. Although the service will initially be available only to members of ECLAT, it is planned to make it more widely available in due course. Full details are expected in two weeks. Sewell, twice former chairman of CPS Computer Group Plc before its acquisition by Inspectorate International, is ECLAT’s first full-time senior manager. He will work out of ECLAT’s Paris office while continuing to run Sewell Associates, his Birmingham-based management consultancy.
