Thorn Ericsson Telecommunications Ltd – soon to drop the Thorn from its name – has signed an agreement with Inter-Tel Inc, Chandler, Arizona supplier of business telecommunications software and systems, to distribute the US conpany’s GMX-48 Key Telephone system in the UK. The agreement is to last a minimum of four years with shipments of $36m expected over the period. The Inter-Tel GMX-48 Key Telephone system is Inter-Tel’s latest general distribution key telephone system. Production shipments in the US market for the GMX-48 will begin this month and shipments to the UK are expected to begin late this year or early next year. US orders for the GMX-48 system have been running ahead of initial projections. The pact with Thorn Ericsson is one of a spate of such agreements with UK companies. In February of 1988 Inter-Tel won a contract with GEC Plessey’s GPT Reliance Ltd to supply a minimum of $20m over the next four years of Inter-Tel’s GX-12, GX-24 and GX-60 Key Telephone systems. Steven Mihaylo, chairman of Inter-Tel, stated that the agreement between Thorn Ericsson and Inter-Tel further expands Inter-Tel’s already growing sales in the UK and is hopeful it will lead to an expanded presence in Europe with the planned liberalisation of the European Community telecommunications equipment markets by 1990.