Acorn's New Hardware Conformance Scheme Offers Quality Assurance to Customers
Acorn Computers is responding to market demands by introducing the Acorn Hardware Conformance Scheme, a technical quality initiative aimed at independent developers and designed to offer customers greater peace of mind when buying hardware upgrades for Acorn computer platforms.
The result of close discussions with its developer community and a direct response to the ever-widening choice of upgrades available for its range of 32-bit RISC OS computers, Acorn's new Hardware Conformance Scheme aims to encourage and support developers and provide recognition for those hardware upgrades that fully comply with agreed Acorn specifications.
The new scheme is a self-certification measure which Acorn hopes will lead to greater consistency and reliability of third party hardware upgrades available on the market. Acorn will produce and maintain specifications detailing the technical requirements for particular upgrades. Those Registered Developers designing upgrades which, in their view, conform to the relevant specifications, can register this compliance with Acorn and are then entitled to display the 'Acorn Hardware Specification Compliant' logo on their product, its packaging and any associated advertising.
The initiative is sure to be welcomed by customers who, by selecting products which display the new compliancy logo, will be able to make better informed choices, and, after purchasing, may be reassured in the knowledge that their upgrade has been designed to conform to Acorn's technical quality standards.
The scheme will also benefit those developers who produce consistently good quality upgrades by offering them a mechanism which will help distinguish their products from others in the marketplace. Acorn Registered Developers are aware of the scheme and are already responding by incorporating it into their plans:
"With this new scheme, the customer will be able to consider not just price but technical quality as well when making purchasing decisions," said Peter Wild, Managing Director of Wild Vision Limited. "Wild Vision fully supports this scheme as it will give recognition to quality suppliers and help to raise the image of the Acorn market as a whole."
John Simnett, Managing Director of Cumana Limited, commented: "Acorn's approach to the Hardware Conformance Scheme is in line with our adherence to quality and standards, demonstrated not only through our conformance to BS5750 but also by the way we work closely with Acorn to ensure our customers have the best products available to meet their needs. Cumana welcomes the Scheme wholeheartedly."
Further information about the Acorn Hardware Conformance Scheme can be obtained from Acorn's Customer Services Department, tel: +44 1223 254222.
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.