Profile

Interchange Data Products Limited was set up in 1989 to supply IBM mid-range computer hardware. It was a year or so before this when IBM announced what was at that time, the long-awaited replacement for the ageing Systems 36 & 38, the AS/400.

The AS/400 established itself as a leading platform in many areas of business. As the general interest in Personal Computers grew and with it a global market, so the innovations in PC technology have found their way into all areas of technology including the AS/400. Compare the value for money of an 855MB disk at circa £11,000.00 in 1990 with the current offering of a 73GB drive at £1,100.00 today!

The company also deals in IBM’s open mid-range system, the RS6000. Whilst we are not as active in this area as with the AS/400 range, now that IBM has renamed its different platforms, there is a growing commonality between the iSeries
(AS/400) and pSeries (RS6000) hardware.

Interchange’s customer base exceeded the thousand mark some time ago. These customers range from Blue Chip household names at one end to small, single person consultancies at the other. We have always felt that helping the smaller consultancy companies in supporting their customers would in turn provide additional business for Interchange.

Life has not been without its ups and downs. Interchange was probably the first UK Broking Company to achieve BS5750 Part 2 (now ISO 9002) in the mid 1990s and probably the first to realise how irrelevant this accreditation is to our industry! We were also IBM Business Partners for a period of around five years until 2003 when we found we were spending more time trying to adhere to their rules & regulations than made sense.

Interchange now has alliances with a couple of Business Partners who are happy to assist us in promoting and supplying new equipment. Our experiences of supplying new equipment have helped us to know how the current ranges of machines are built and configured. We still have current new-range price information as well, enabling us to provide our customer with more informed choices.