Acorn leak discloses Risc salvage operation

Acorn's ex-technical director, Peter Bondar, was believed to be mounting a bid to save the vendor's scrapped #2 million Risc 2 project after a memo was accidentally leaked last week.

The memo revealed Acorn's Risc PC business will not be scrapped and Bondar will rescue the project. The memo said he has won exclusive negotiating rights to secure the 'quick and professional transfer of the relevant assets of Acorn's product business to Applied Risc Technologies (Art)'.

Acorn was quick to diffuse the proposal, issuing a statement that the memo was only a draft proposal and had not been finalised.

The demise of the Risc 2 PC resulted from the strategic review initiated by Acorn chief executive Stan Boland. The review outlined the Cambridge group's strategy, including the dumping of the Risc 2 PC project, focusing on digital television and thin client components and slashing staff from 175 to 100 (PC Dealer, 23 September).

The other Art board members are described as 'four wise men representing the Acorn dealers and software house's interest'. Acorn has given Art three weeks to get its act together before it formally takes over the business. The deal could result in Art manufacturing the long awaited Risc 2 PC, for which 10,000 orders have already been placed.

Andy Mee, sales and marketing director at Acorn, confirmed the vendor was committed to the digital TV market and the company was in talks with technology partners for digital TV, but declined to comment on the Risc PC deal. Mee said: 'Any deal on hardware is bound by confidentiality.'