In a move that makes it one of the leading UK supplier of health systems, Siemens Nixdorf Informationssysteme AG has bought ICL Plc’s Medical Portfolio, in spite of ICL vehemently denying it was for sale to Computergram in June (CI No 2,677). Siemens would not disclose what it paid for the #20m turnover business, but an ICL source suggested the price was in tens of millions. The business will become part of Siemens Nixdorf Health Systems Division, which will become a #40m-a year business in the UK. Siemens says the acquisition puts it in a very strong position to win new contracts under the UK government’s Private Finance Initiative, which involves private sector investment and joint risk in public sector projects. Siemens inherits ICL’s mainframe customer base, using the IRC PAS patient administration system, many of whom are already committed to migrating to OPENpas, a Unix system. Siemens says it will continue to support both these systems, as well as actively promoting its own Unix-based CaMIS clinical and management information system.
