A UKP70m-a-year computer services and facilities management company employing over 1,000 people was launched with no ado on April 2. The UK Post Office has spun off its information technology division as a separate profit centre, and IT, as its now known, can market its services to an external customer base. The Post Office has recently been in the news with the launch of The National Network (CI No 1,393), and IT’s marketing director, Peter Morris, claims that organisation will use a small proportion of IT’s integrated voice and data network. It is gearing up to provide a range of services including business analysis, facilities management, systems development, and security analysis, and is advertising for systems analysts, designers, programmers, and operations staff to work on its Tandem Computers Inc and IBM mainframe-based systems. IT says that current projects include a system for tracing 40,000 items of mail a day, the automation of Britain’s largest retail network, and managing a database of 23m addresses. Morris claims that external projects will be undertaken according to IT’s spare capacity, and The Post Office will remain the new firm’s principal customer.
