Big Swiss cheese backs Windows NT

Computacenter has clinched a big City deal which marks a victory for Microsoft in the battle for the workstation market.

Credit Suisse Financial Products (CSFP) is set to replace its existing Sun Sparc Station machines with NT workstations in a contract worth in excess of #500,000.

Steve Long, director of IT development at CSFP, said the company's decision was in line with that of many others using workstations.

'NT is a great development platform and is now at a stage where it is very stable. The most important applications we use, which involve complex numerical calculations, are now available for Windows NT, so it made sense to look at new hardware platforms.'

CSFP is to take delivery of 100 twin-processor machines in March 1997 for its UK office and a further 100 will be installed in its New York, Hong Kong and Tokyo offices by May 1997. The twin-processor machines will be used by risk managers on the trading room floor, while single processor machines will be installed for all other dealing room staff.

Esteem, the Leeds-based reseller with offices in Swindon and Manchester, has won a #116,000 contract to supply six Merseyside colleges with an Internet-ready network. The system is designed to fit in with the NVQ system.