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- New Acorn / Apple Alliance Means No Limits To Learning
- - Xemplar Education Limited Opens For Business -
-
- Cambridge, UK - 2nd April 1996 - Xemplar Education Limited, the joint
- venture company formed by Acorn Computer Group and Apple Computer to
- develop information technology solutions for the UK education market and
- dedicated to transforming the UK's approach to IT in education, will
- begin trading today. The new company aims to provide the widest choice
- of educational IT solutions for UK schools.
-
- Xemplar Education is headed by Brendan O'Sullivan, previously Managing
- Director of Apple Computer Ireland, and employs 63 staff. The new
- company is jointly owned by Acorn Computer Group and Apple Computer UK.
- Acorn's Managing Director, David Lee, is Chairman of the board.
-
- Brendan O'Sullivan said: "Both Acorn and Apple have impressive
- credentials in the education marketplace. Acorn is the most experienced
- supplier in the UK with by far the largest user base, while Apple is part
- of an international corporation with a track record as the largest
- supplier to education worldwide. Together, we have the skills base, the
- resources and the commitment to remain the leading IT supplier in UK
- education."
-
- The new company will support all existing Acorn and Apple solutions and
- will continue to sell a wide range of appropriate learning technologies
- including Acorn's award winning Risc PC, A7000, Pocket Book, set-top
- boxes, PC-based school administration and Power PC-based SchoolServer
- products - under the Acorn brand. In addition, Xemplar Education will
- sell Apple's award winning Power Macintosh, Performa, PowerBook
- notebooks, Workgroup Servers, Imaging and Newton products - under the
- Apple brand. A priority of the new company is to bring out products and
- technologies which increase the inter-operability of RISC OS and Apple
- technology.
-
- Ian Carter, Head of IT, Cheltenham College, Gloucestershire, comments:
- "Apple has great products and many exciting ideas; Acorn is good at
- providing support to schools and offering them stability. If the new
- company resulting from this joint venture combined all these vital
- elements, it simply can't lose - and neither can its customers."
-
- Jeanne Hughes, The Ryde School, Hatfield, Hertfordshire said: "It will be
- a tremendous advantage if, in the future, you did not have to think about
- which bit of software went in which computer. Information technology is
- increasingly important as a tool for learning. A company that promises
- to come up with solutions that will help us integrate technology into
- learning has got to be a good thing."
-
- David Eccles, senior manager, Sherston Sofware, said: "We are pleased
- about the Apple/Acorn joint venture because of late we had taken the
- decision to develop more of our software on Macintosh anyway. At the
- moment we're investing in an extension of our existing authoring system,
- with the aim of producing applications that run on both platforms
- simultaneously."
-
- Xemplar Education is now fully operational, with products and services
- available from specially appointed Agents and also direct via phone on
- 01223 724200 or fax on 01223 724300.
-
-
- Xemplar Education Limited supplies leading information technology
- solutions including hardware, software, services and peripherals to
- schools. Based in Cambridge, UK, Xemplar Education is jointly owned by
- Acorn Computer Group plc and Apple Computer UK.
-
-