LINC’s missing link— Christchurch

Press, 12 May 1987, Page 32

LINC’s missing link— Christchurch

Why is LINC installed at so few Christchurch sites? A prophet is not without honour, save in his own country and in his own house, the Bible records. This must be the reason LINC has fewer installations in Christchurch per capita than in Southland, and why it was installed at a Taiwan site before one in Christchurch. The opening of the Unisys LINC Development Centre stage two in Bumside last Thursday brought a series of testimonies to the success and prowess of the product It also brought a jibe at the Christchurch City Council for not basing its library system on LINC. Mr Denis Breese, marketing manager of the LINC Development Centre, said LINC had sold more than 3000 copies in a great variety of applications including,, “dare I say it a public library.” LINC has only five sites in Christchurch'. The reason it was taking so long to. get off the ground in the city, said Mr Breese, was “the impression that LINC "staff were 'a bunch of cowboys who worked,in a tent in Sheffield Crescent.” ;‘ . Some tent lan Krause, the architect, overseas to study the latest . before beginning work on the latest edifice. He . has , been with the LINC ; /.develqpers sipcen.they i* ad °>hly .one;:;;. employee. He - designed the old (four years) office which sits in front of what was the Fisher and Paykel warehouse in Sheffield Crescent and is now part of the computer rooms. This first office was described by the Wizard on Thursday as ; Camelot Mr Krause thought the LINC crew were ambitious in those days — planning suites of offices when there were only three in the firm. When he designed the latest building, the LINC principals had plans to lease out a floor, but by opening time it was filled with LINC’s growing staff. - , L 7 - 7 ; The building is designed for software workers. The atrium with its waterfall and pond is a place where they Can come for a break from their long hours ot concentration, Mr Krause says. In the ' tower comers on the building’s wings are small meeting rooms where section heads can discuss work with staff. The software workers have offices with

views outside, the grey glass walls to the inner corridors, so they can see people. Mr Peter Hoskins of LINC, quipped at the opening function: “Winston Churchill said, ‘We shape our buildings; thereafter they shap us.’ lan (Krause), what sort of symbolism is there in two round towers and a fat atrium?” Mr Brian Clark, manager of Unisys in New Zealand, recounted how the chairman of Unisys, then Burroughs, Mr Michael Blumenthal, had been persuaded to make LINC into an international product. He praised the three pioneer users of LINC: Mr Jerry Carter, of Moller Motors, Mr Ted Cavanagh, of the Southland Buildinng and Investment Society; and Mr John Denton, formerly ■' of Ceramco. ~ “I would describe them as entreprenerial risk takers. Peter Hoskins would describe them as stupid, desperate, innocent, or brave.”/He said ,300 senior managers ! of Unisys throughout the world, had beep asked what were their Ideas for the major products to help Uhslsys lift: annual sales from this year?s Expected "lUSIO billion- to SUS2O bQlion by 1991/ The products cited were ...LINC, and Mapper from ’Sperry (new part of Unisys). ' "So the decision has been taken and the direction is now very clear. We will be investing in products like . LINC." , At the end of the day, the success of ■ the LINC Development r .Centre . was based on Kiwi ingenuity and an international marketing :. arm to sell i/thisoverseas, Mr Clark ; said. • : ' Mr Jim Murtaugh, from Detroit* vicepresident and general manager of Unisys Large Systems Development, giving an international perspective, raid the opening of the new building: was a significant bench-mark for the centre. He emphasised that LINC was a major contributor to LINC’s plans for growth. “Most of our new business comes through LINC,” Mr MUrtaugh said. The opening was the usual splendid function offered by the LINC people, with a display of the new lighting in the atrium co-ordinated with the sound, and a two-hour shmV.,by the comedian, -Billy James.x - ////'"/- <■