To: ci: PS/Ian McCartney
Mr Sibbick CGBPS
MR MCINTYRE Ms Hathaway CII
CII
From:
CHRISTOPHER WOOLARD
PS/Secretary of State
Room {”
z-ai1 Mandelson TLO
15 September 1998
MEETING WITH KEITH TODD, ICL: 11 SEPTEMBER 1998
You were present along with Katherine Hathaway when
Keith Todd and George Hall of ICL called to see the
Secretary of State. Mr McCartney was also present.
Keith Todd began the meeting by spelling out what he wished
to talk about - namely his intentions for ICL, ICL’s
involvement in the Information Society Initiative, and he
also wish to touch on project Horizon, although he
understood the Secretary of State would not be able to
comment on the latter.
2. Mx Todd described the basic set up of ICL. They had
moved to software services where Mr Todd believed the money.
They were involved in retail, travel, and finance software
systems. In strictest confidence Mr Todd said Nortel would
step aside as a shareholder later this month, allowing ICL
to restructure with parts of Fijitsu float next year.
Mx Todd then went on to say that he appreciated the support
that DTI and the Government more widely had given regarding
Fijitsu’s decision on Newton Acliff. He realised that this
had been a decision that had hurt HMG.
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3. Mx Todd then spoke about ICL’s plans for the future.
He hoped that network technology would have the “martini
affect” of allowing people to work anytime, any place,
anywhere. You interjected that whilst the technology was
there, there was a question of society actually adapting to
the new technology available. Mr Todd said that ICL’s
strategy was to have citizen centered technology. They had
to consider customer focus in all matters.
4. The discussion then moved to focus on the skill
shortage in the IT. Mr Hall noted that the Irish had had a
considerable payback from their investment in the education
system. The Secretary of State noted that a knowledge base
economy was at the heart of the Competitiveness White Paper.
The Secretary of State noted that increasingly every company
had a foot in the new and the old technologies.
Bis On Horizon, the Secretary of State said that he could
not go into detail, but there had been some very serious
discussions over the past few weeks. The bad news of course
was that this project had run into some substantial
problems. The good news was that it was possible to
sensible about the way forward. However that said, ICL
would have to be very serious in their approach. A meeting
between Mr Mandelson, Mr Darling and Mr McCartney might be
more appropriate in a couple of weeks time. Mr Todd said he
appreciated the time and understanding DTI had taken on this
issue. Horizon was incredibly important for ICL, and the
implications of its loss would be “bewildering”. Mr Todd
said he was a strong advocate of the SMART card and asked
whether the Post Office might consider taking ownership from
DSS.
CHRISTOPHER WOOLARD
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