Logica is a global IT and management consultancy company headquartered in Reading, United Kingdom.
1969 Logica was founded by Len Taylor, Philip Hughes and Pat Coen as a systems integration business. Early projects included the control system for the natural gas grid in the UK in 1971 and the design of the SWIFT network for international money transfers in 1973.
1974, Logica, together with the French company SESA, set up a joint venture, Sesa-Logica, to undertake the European Informatics Network development. This project, undertaken with the support of partners throughout Europe and with the assistance of Bolt, Beranek and Newman in Cambridge, Massachusetts, brought the core datagram technology of the Arpanet, now the Internet, to Europe for the first time, and established a network linking research centres in a number of European Countries, including CERN, the French research centre INRIA and the UK’s National Physical Laboratory.
1975 Logica developed the first electronic typing pool – Unicom – for Unilever. This development allowed the complete functions of a typing pool to be automated into a single system supporting about 50 workstations. With the support of the UK’s National Enterprise Board the company established a new subsidiary to exploit this technology, Logica VTS. A range of stand alone word processors, the VTS 100 and the VTS 2200, were developed and were manufactured at a purpose built factory in Swindon. These machines were sold internationally by BT and by International Computers Ltd and were amongst the first word processors to achieve mass sales. However the advent of the Personal Computer and software such as Microsoft Word led to the decline of this business and its ultimate closure.
At this time Logica set up operating subsidiaries in the Netherlands, Australia, Sweden, the United States and elsewhere as well as joint ventures in Hong Kong with Jardine Matheson, in Italy with Finsiel and in the UK with British Airways.
1983 The Company floated on the London Stock Exchange on 26 October 1983.
1984 the Company developed the automated clearing system for the UK banks (CHAPS) as well as the customer service system for British Telecom.
1987 The Company pioneered the automated ticketing system for London Underground in 1987
1988 Developed a system which randomly generates premium bond numbers (ERNIE).
During the late 1980s and early 1990s the Company was led by David Mann.
1993 Dr Martin Read was recruited from GEC Marconi and appointed CEO in August 1993. All the executive directors left the company during the two years following his appointment - David Mann, Colin Rowland Andrew Karney, Ian Macleod and Cliff Preddy.
2001 the Company secured an outsourcing contract to create and operate a new case management system for the Crown Prosecution Service. At this time the level of Dr Read's remuneration received attention when it was revealed that he enjoyed a £28 million pay packet.
2002 Merger of Logica (60%) with CMG (40%) - the union of an established technology firm (Logica) with an established consulting firm (CMG).
2003 LogicaCMG’s software controlled the Beagle 2 probe after separation from the Mars Express orbiter in December.
2005 LogicaCMG purchased 60% of the Portuguese company Edinfor
2006 LogicaCMG purchased the French company Unilog and the Swedish company WM-data.
2007 LogicaCMG Telecom Products was sold for £265m (US $525m) to private investors Atlantic Bridge Ventures and Access Industries and became known as Acision.
Following a profit warning in 2007, Andy Green was recruited as the new CEO and took office from 1 January 2008.
2008 the Company changed its name back to Logica.
2008 purchased the remaining 40% of Edinfor.
2008 Green announced a major restructuring programme for the company, leading to 1,300 job losses. The Company announced that it would move more of its activities offshore including SAP support and HR and payroll administration to Makati City in the Philippines and has seen a subsequent increase in its outsourced HR and payroll services business to more than 850 customer organisations.
2011 Logica announced it would axe 1,300 jobs or around 3 percent of the workforce spread across Benelux, the United Kingdom and Sweden and save Logica £50 to 60 million a year from the second half of 2012.
See Also
Sources of Information
- [1] Wikipedia