history of a&o
Since Memorex burst onto the recording scene more than 30 years ago with its 1972 campaign; Ella Fitzgerald and the shattering glass - ''Is it live or is it Memorex ?” a lot has changed.
Memorex Corporation, founded in 1961 by Laurence L Spitters and a group of entrepreneurs from Ampex Corporation, initially successfully entered professional tape media markets. In the mid-1960s Memorex began a strategic plan to enter the computer systems business by first establishing its presence as a supplier of products plug-compatible to IBM systems and then using its established sales and service capabilities to offer complete computer systems.
A consumer products division established in 1970 made Memorex a household name with its 1972 campaign; Ella Fitzgerald and the shattering glass - ''Is it live or is it Memorex ?'' Pieces of such shattered glass are purported to be in the Smithsonian Museum. Tandy acquired the consumer business in 1982 and in 1993 it was sold to Hanny Holdings. In the early 1970’s, Memorex had significant success with its IBM plug-compatible disk storage and communications products. It continued as a leader in various media products.
In 1981 Burroughs acquired Memorex and in 1986 Burroughs merged into Unisys. Memorex continued into the 1980s in its three business lines but a difficult transition to the 3380 class of plug-compatible disk subsystems which coupled with a complete miss in the then vigorous OEM disk drive markets led to the dismemberment of Memorex by Unisys in the late 1980’s.
Most of Memorex spun out of Unisys, later becoming Memorex Telex N.V. and it, in turn was broken up in the middle 1990's. Many of Memorex's original international sales and service subsidiaries continue as subsidiaries of other companies today. In April 2001, Memorex Telex was taken over by EDS Global Field Services (GFS) as part of its larger $570m acquisition of German IT services provider Systematics AG. EDS GFS was a newly branded division of EDS responsible for providing global desktop and field support services to the group’s client base.
In November 2006, significant emerging players in the IT services industry a&o group, acquired EDS GFS operations in Ireland, UK, France, Germany, Iberia and the Netherlands. The acquisition represented the beginning of a long-term strategic business relationship between a&o and EDS; ensuring continuity for customers, partners and employees.
Today, a&o group is a very successful vendor independent consulting and IT services company operating across Western Europe. a&o provide a comprehensive portfolio of IT services and products. a&o helps customers to analyse, map, design and deploy IT Service Management (ITSM) and Information Management business strategies and solutions.
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*It should be noted that Memorex as a consumer brand still very much lives on today; in 2006 Imation acquired the brand from Hanny Holdings.
