newsbytes@clarinet.com (02/04/90)
CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA, 1990 JAN 30 (NB) -- Custom Computer Services (CCS) still has not signed a contract with IBM for the Australian Defence Department's Desine deal despite selling the Big Blue subsidiary more than AUS$400,000 worth of PCs over the past two months. CCS managing director, Allan Garnham, said his company has saved IBM a lot of trouble by supplying the PCs because it has helped IBM meet the Australian-made content level demanded by the government for Desine. The issue began late last year when CCS bought financially distraught "Cleveland PC" maker Computer Corporation of Australia (CCA) for $1 million. At that time, CCA had been in the process of signing and agreement with IBM said to be worth $50 million over five years for the supply of Australian-made PCs to the Desine contract. However, Garnham said CCS had sent a contract to IBM and was waiting for its reaction. IBM's apparent inactive approach to the contract is no doubt connected to concern about the future of the Cleveland PC. In response, Garnham announced CCS would have a new range of Cleveland PCs by March. Garnham said reasons for the new range was that the old Cleveland machines had been using a VGA chip that Intel had now dropped and that CCA's manufacturing methods had been "labor intensive." The new line would incorporate VLSI, or surface mount technology. Cleveland's XT will be dropped for a 286XT that has a 1024 x 768, 256-color VGA board and all I/O on one board. Above the 286, CCS will introduce a 386SX with the same features and has a 486 machine on the drawing boards. "We hope to have all the new machines on the market by late March," Garnham said. The Queensland-based company now has two lines of computers -- CCS PCs which the company assembles from imported components, and the Cleveland line which is manufactured in Brisbane. "We anticipate we will have one range of machines by the end of this year, and have ceased all import activities" he said. (Martin Guldberg, Computing Australia/19900131)