Nearly everyone got a present at the bash thrown by Toshiba Information Systems Ltd to mark the opening of its UK headquarters in Weybridge, Surrey, but as far as future plans were concerned, the company was giving little away. A total of UKP1.3m has been spent in equipping the new offices, which will house 120 employees working in administration, and sales and marketing of Toshiba Corp’s full range of printers, copiers, and lap-top computers. Toshiba Information Systems’ other premises in Sunbury-on-Thames, Middlesex, will deal mainly with spare parts, quality assurance, distribution and training. The company chairman, Shunki Yatsunami, remained typically inscrutable over the significance of the new opening, but forecasts an office automation turnover of UKP150m by 1991, which suggests an expansion of UK business. As for more immediate plans, Toshiba hopes to explore networking systems; an Ethernet product is predicted for April or May, with a Unix system on the horizon. More than that, the man would not say. But elsewhere, Mr Yatsunami reiterated that Toshiba was looking for a European base in which to build its lap-tops, with the UK, West Germany and France top of the list.
