Intelligent Information Systems Ltd is shipping its new IS-37X Displaywindow range of IBM 3270 compatible workstations. The company was established 10 years ago to address the 3270 market in Israel, and it moved into the US arena in March with the acquisition of Lee Data Corp’s loss-making commercial and international operations for $8.5m. According to Martin White, general manager of IIS (UK) Ltd, the $36m company was suffering from expense account syndrome, but a shake-down of senior management and more realistic business approach should see a return to profitability this year. By 1989, IIS reported $3.9m profit on $18m turnover, and as Lee Data added about $36m, IIS has jumped up the plugcompatible league. It now has 60 offices in the US, and of 380 staff worldwide, 150 are in the US. It has been in the UK for 18 months, employs six sales staff and four engineers, and White anticipates turnover of UKP2m this year. Research and manufacturing is still based in Israel, where the company says it has 70% of the plug-compatible terminal market, but manufacturing plant in the US is to be used only for back-up since the company says there are no real cost savings by manufacturing there. The company’s two new products are the IS-371 and IS-372 terminals. The first is compatible with IBM’s InfoWindow 3471 and 3192 models A and B. It also connects via coaxial cable to the 3174 and 3274 control units, the 4300, 9370 and ES/9000 family. The 14 screen is formatted to support 1,920 characters with green, amber or white monitors. It is also able to connect via an integrated parallel port to a parallel printer which is designed to serve as a local screen printer, and is available with either coaxial or twisted pair controller connections. The IS-372, also available in monochrome or colour, is compatible with the 3472 and 3192 terminals, and connects with the 3174 and 3274 controllers, 4300s, 9370s, and ES/9000 range. The screen puts up 24 lines of 80 characters, 32 lines of 80 characters, 43 lines of 80 characters or 27 lines of 132 characters. It offers the same printer facilities as the the 371, and can also act as a host system printer for any parallel printer without using parallel devices. A further feature is the Alis suite of office automation modules which include a calculator, diary, notepad, telephone directory and word processing functions. The IS-371 costs UKP600 and the 372 is UKP900 with a three-year site warranty, and both prices, claims the Aldermaston, Berkshire-based company, reflects its policy to price its products at about 20% less than the nearest IBM equivalent screen.
