Acorn stimulates educational CD ROM market to meet National Curriculum needs

2 March, 1994

Acorn Computers is taking positive action to support the Department for Education's CD ROM for primary schools initiative by announcing a complimentary CD ROM offer during March and April 1994. In addition to making CD ROM upgrades and systems available to schools at specially reduced prices, the Acorn initiative will further develop the UK market for CD ROM educational software and curriculum materials, ensuring schools continue to have access to powerful resources supporting all aspects of the curriculum.

Peter Talbot, General Manager of Acorn's Education Business Unit, comments:

"All Acorn's RISC OS systems sold to schools since 1987 have been fully multimedia capable; this huge installed base provides the springboard for a dynamic market for UK produced educational software and materials on CD ROM."

"CD ROMs are the ideal format for applications incorporating the whole range of different media children face in the world outside school; not just text and graphics but sound, animation, photographs and video footage. They reflect the growing understanding that a child's literacy no longer means reading and writing alone, but being able to interpret a variety of visual and aural media and communicate with others in an equally complex manner. Our latest CD ROM scheme is proof of Acorn's longterm commitment to bring greater multimedia capability and enhanced literacy systems to our classrooms, underpinning the demands of the curriculum in a cost effective way."

In addition to the CD ROM initiative, Acorn is running a 'Curriculum Excellence' campaign which helps teachers take advantage of the DfE's 1994-5 programme of Grants for Education support and Training (GEST). Acorn is offering secondary school teachers comprehensive booklets illustrating the use of IT in the teaching of the four GEST funded curriculum subjects: Maths, Science, Geography and Technology. The Acorn booklets have been designed to help schools bid successfully for funds and to encourage further exploration of the power of IT in these curriculum areas. The CD ROM offer will be open to all primary, secondary and independent schools and local authorities in the UK. Upgrades will be available through this scheme for Acorn A3020, A4000 and A5000 machines and will include CD ROM drive and interface, speakers and a selection of CD ROM discs, with prices starting below £500. Users of other 32-bit Acorn computers should contact local dealers for information about upgrades. Complete CD ROM systems based on Acorn A4000 and A5000 are also available incorporating CD ROM drive and interface, 4MB of RAM and speakers. A selection of popular discs will also be available. Full price details will be available from Acorn dealers from 1st March 1994.

Founded in 1978, with 1992 revenues of £48.2m, Acorn Computers is the premier supplier of IT solutions to UK education and has been the leading provider of 32-bit RISC based personal computers since 1987. In 1990, Acorn established an associate company, Advanced RISC Machines (ARM) in a joint venture with Apple Computer and VLSI Technology Inc to develop and exploit further Acorn's RISC processor technology. Acorn works closely with a strong community of other industry partners, users and software developers to provide innovative technology solutions for the education, consumer, publishing and international markets. Acorn Computers Limited is part of the Acorn Computer Group plc, which went public on the USM in 1983.

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