Pathfinding. (British Telecommunications PLC may purchase International Business Machine Corp.'s European data network service)

Economist (US), The, June, 1991

THE world's biggest computer company, IBM, is quietly negotiating to sell its European data-networking business to BT, Britain's privatised telephone company. Data-networking is one of the information-processing industry's fastest growing markets. If the deal comes off, it will be a coup for BT, which wants to expand from its near-monopoly at home. it will also mark an interesting departure for IBM, struggling to reshape itself in a stagnant and increasingly competitive computer market. An announcement is likely in September.

Firms use data networks to move large volumes of computerised information--invoices, sales records, or credit-card authorisations--between distant offices. Though the amount of data flying round the world is still tiny compared to the...

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