Page 12 - Remembering ISTEL

Remembering ISTEL

company to initiate Comet, Britain's first electronic mail service. The number of BL
Systems employees had risen to 1,000, and by the end of the year revenues stood at £27.4
million, with £1.9 million of this attributable to outside customers. By the end of 1982,
revenues reached £29.5 million, and the equipment in BL Systems' data center was valued

at £20 million.

As BL Systems began to recognize the increasing importance of outside clients to its

business, the company focused on attracting and retaining outside customers. To that end
a 1983--87 five-year plan was established, with the goal of attaining 30 percent of the
company's revenue from outside sources by the end of the decade.

In January 1983 BL Systems engaged in a joint venture with Atlantic Computers to found

the Failsafe business unit, which provided contingency preparation and rescue services
for computer failures. In April BL Systems launched a U.S. office in Boston called ISTEL Inc.

to sell the popular See Why package. The year's other achievements included the
foundation of BL Systems' Travel Service, its first facilities management project, for
Homeview, and the assignment to manage an EEC-sponsored project to create the ground

rules for computer-integrated manufacturing (CIM).

In 1984 BL Systems changed its name to ISTEL, making known its intentions to become a
significant player in the fast-growing field of information technology, rather than simply a

support function to the automotive industry as represented by BL. By mid-year--and
several years earlier than originally targeted--the company surpassed its goal of achieving
30 percent of its revenue from outside clients.

ISTEL's first sale to a National Health Service (NHS) customer was made in 1984, when the

company provided the Herefordshire District Health Authority with the Star tendering and
review system. This marked the first step toward what would become a prominent role in

the health sector. Later in the year the company made its first acquisition, Business Science
Computing, which it purchased from British Steel.

In 1985 ISTEL defined its objectives, significantly altering its corporate structure to create
specialized marketing divisions to court particular markets and sectors. That year the

company also established ISTEL Automation to sell CIM systems to the manufacturing
industry and launched InView, a highly successful data communications link between

insurance companies and their retail markets. At the end of the year, ISTEL's revenues
stood at £49.7 million, with £14.6 million of that attributable to non-BL customers.

Page: 12