Page 14 - Remembering ISTEL
P. 14
Remembering ISTEL
hospitals in Dublin. In 1995 important contracts were signed with West
London's Hillingdon Hospital, the West Dorset General Hospital NHS Trust, the
Norfolk and Norwich Health Care NHS Trust, and the Camden and Islington
Community Health Services NHS Trust. The company had not severed ties with
its former parent, Rover Group, which remained ISTEL's single biggest
customer in the mid-1990s.
AT&T ISTEL thus retains ties with its original, loyal customers, has developed a
specialty in the health care sector, and is continually on the lookout for new
opportunities in the many industries that require information technology
services. With its impressive record of steady growth backed by the strength of
its new parent company, the world's largest telecommunications group, AT&T
ISTEL appears well positioned to continue as a technological and financial
success story.
As AT&T ISTEL moved into the changing economic world of the 21 century it
st
adopted a strategy of focussing on its core function - communications.
Gradually all the former ISTEL subsidiaries who had diversified into other
business sectors were closed or sold off. In 2023 the last organisation to bear
the ISTEL name was relocated out of Redditch when Highfield house, the last
ISTEL property, was sold for conversion to residential use.
So in 2024, there is no ISTEL connection with Redditch other than the
memories of former employees. This is why the Remembering ISTEL project
was established.
Further Reading:
"AT&T ISTEL Wins Pounds 2m Hospital Pay Deal," Birmingham Post, February
24, 1995.
"Health Tonic for AT&T ISTEL," Birmingham Post, November 2, 1994.
History of AT&T ISTEL, 1979--91, Redditch: AT&T ISTEL, 1992, 7 p.
"RHA Sorts Out Deal to End Scandal of Computer Cash," Birmingham
Post, November 18, 1994.
"Rover Old Boys Win Pounds 5m Project," Birmingham Post, March 31, 1995.
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