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DS wins Cheshire and
buys Crossnet |
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Crossnet deal
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February 2nd, 2001: Ferndown UK,
Cheshire Libraries and Archives Service (UK) has chosen the DS Galaxy system for its 39 branch public library service.
Serving a population of 670,000 with a stock of over 1 million, Cheshire also provides the Education Library Service to schools, a Research Library for officers and members of the Council, a Business Information Service, and the Cheshire and Chester Archives and Local Studies Service. It also manages the Council's network of 14 Information Points and its Web site.
Cheshire lends more than 7 million items a year to its 220,000 active users - the highest loans per head of population than any other shire county
in the UK.
Cheshire already uses DS CALM for its Archives and Local Studies Service, and has always been interested in innovative approaches: in the 1970's it
was one of the first library authorities to implement computerised stock management techniques.
It introduced six 'Netpoint' online learning centres in 1997 with help from the CMS/Wolfson Challenge Fund, and pioneered public videoconferencing links.
'The library service is on the verge of enormous changes brought about by the revolution in networked information and renewed government interest,'
said Ray Benton, Cheshire's Information and Systems Manager.
'We have chosen DS to help us manage these changes on grounds of design, functionality, cost, and their imaginative and enterprising approach to challenges.'
DS Galaxy is used by about one third of all UK public libraries and the system is especially popular in North-West England.
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DS buys Crossnet Systems
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January 22, 2001: Ferndown: UK
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The acquisition of Crossnet Systems Limited by DS Group Holdings Limited as a wholly owned subsidiary was recently completed.
Crossnet, a specialist in inter-operability, will retain its existing staff and offices and become an autonomous member of the group alongside DS Limited, a long-established company focussing on the supply of computer systems to libraries and archives. The companies will work quite separately within the group in order to preserve Crossnet’s capacity to operate as an independent consultant, but Crossnet skills and products will be used to add value to DS Limited products and services, especially in the area of cross-domain working. Crossnet will gain benefit from the backing of a larger group, which is expected to lead to accelerated growth. Crossnet is a strategic acquisition for DS Group Holdings and will add an international perspective to a long-established UK operation.
Crossnet Systems Ltd., based in Newbury, UK, has been in existence for nearly five years and has international clients.
The Company works in library, museum, archive and geo-spatial sectors, specialising in Z39.50 software and related fields.
DS Limited has been trading since 1983 in its own name following an MBO from Plessey
Data Systems. It supplies software, hardware, networks and facilities management services to the library and archives markets. Its flagship product, Galaxy, is now used in more than
30% of all UK public libraries. Recently it was independently rated the top UK public library system by SOCITM (the Society of IT Management) in their recently published “Survey of
Application Software for locally delivered public services” Report, coming top in all 3 categories - Software Reliability, Supplier Performance and Application Functionality.
Another major product, CALM, is now the dominant system in the UK archives market, with over 60 prestigious customers. New customers gained during the course of 2000 include
the House of Lords, Channel 4, Tate Modern, and Oxfordshire CC. Its main offices are in Nottingham and Ferndown, Dorset, England.
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