Systime Computer Solutions

Systime Computers Ltd was a British computer manufacturer and systems integrator of the 1970s and 1980s. During the late 1970s and early 1980s, Systime become the second largest British manufacturer of computers, specializing in the minicomputer market.

The company was based in Leeds, England, and founded in 1973. Its success was based on selling systems built around OEM components from Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC), and it grew to have over 1,300 employees with turnover peaking around £60 million. Systime was unusual among systems integrators in that it actually manufactured the hardware it sold to customers.

A portion of Systime was purchased in 1983 by Control Data Corporation and the company's founder departed. Systime Computers then went through a period of sharp decline, in part due to lawsuits from DEC for intellectual property infringement, and even more so due to charges of violating Cold War-era U.S. export restrictions regarding indirect sales to Eastern Bloc countries.

In 1985, what was left of Systime was fully acquired by Control Data Corporation, and a year later the DEC-related services part of that subsidiary was bought by DEC. Systime then focused on selling products built by its own engineers. The Systime–Control Data arrangement did not prosper, and in 1989 Control Data split Systime into four companies, each sold to a management buyout.

Subject ID: 53407