Product Code Database
Michael John Aldrich (22 August 1941 – 19 May 2014) was an English inventor, innovator and entrepreneur.2010 A. Hartley '20 Great British Inventors. Michael Aldrich 1941-' Msn News UK London 24/8/10 [1] In 1979 he invented online shopping2009 Tkacz, Ewaryst, Kapczynski, Adrian 'Internet Technical Development and Application ' Springer p255 'The first pilot system was installing in Tesco in the UK first. to enable online transaction processing between consumers and businesses,2013 BBC News Magazine:'British inventor of online shopping on his inspiration'. BBC videoclip of Michael Aldrich. 16 September 2013 [2] or between one business and another, a technique known later as e-commerce.2011 I.Wallis ed '50 Best Business Ideas of' Crimson Publishing, p35 'Entrepreneur Michael Aldrich conceived the idea of e-commerce' In 1980 he invented the Teleputer, a multi-purpose home infotainment centre that was a fusion of PC, TV and Telecom networking technologies. In 1981 he developed the concept of interactive broadband local loop cable TV for mass market consumer telecommunications.
Aldrich had a 38-year career in the IT industry, 20 years of which were spent as CEO of an international computer company, Redifon/Rediffusion/ROCC Computers. He retired as CEO in 2000 and became non-executive chairman (2000-2014). He also worked for Honeywell (now Groupe Bull) and Burroughs Corporation (now Unisys).
Aside from his inventions and innovations, he is known for his pro bono public service. He was an IT adviser to British prime minister Margaret Thatcher 1981–86, IT adviser to the Confederation of British Industry January 1982-December 1983, president of the Institute of Information Scientists 1984–85, and chairman of the Tavistock Institute of Human Relations 1989–99. He has had a long, formal association with the University of Brighton in various capacities since 1982.
In 1979, Aldrich invented online shopping by connecting a modified domestic TV to a real-time transaction processing computer via a domestic telephone line. The intellectual basis for his system was his view that videotex, the modified domestic TV technology with a simple menu-driven human–computer interface, was a 'new, universally applicable, participative communication medium-the first since the invention of the telephone.' This enabled 'closed' corporate information systems to be opened to 'outside' correspondents not just for transaction processing but also for messaging (e-mail) and information retrieval and dissemination (later known as e-business.)1982 Videotex Communications, Collected Papers Aldrich Archive, University of Brighton December 1982 [4] His language of 'impacts competitive trading position', 'using IT for competitive advantage', 'externalises labour costs', etc. became commonplace in the management consultancy industry later in the 1980s.1982 Management Guide to IT, Collected Papers Aldrich Archive, University of Brighton January 1982 [5] These ideas fed into the Business Process Reengineering strategies of the 1990s. His concept of information technology as a mass communications medium is a driver for the contemporary IT industry. His definition of the new mass communications medium as 'participative' (interactive, many-to-many) was fundamentally different to the traditional definitions of mass communication and mass media and a precursor to the social networking on the Internet 25 years later.
In March 1980 he launched Redifon's Office Revolution. The 'revolution' was that corporate computer information systems had hitherto been in-house. From hereon, consumers, customers, agents, distributors, suppliers and service companies would be connected on-line to the corporate systems and business would be transacted electronically in real-time.1980 TV paves the way for Information Brokerage, Minicomputer News p. 12 London May 1980, the most comprehensive report of the March 1980 Press Conference launching the Redifon R 1800/50 computer system. Is 'Information Brokerage' aka 'browser industry'?[6]
During the 1980s,2011 M. Aldrich 'Online Shopping in the 1980s' IEEE 'Annals of the History of Computing' Vol 33 No4 pp57-61 October–December 2011 ISSN 1058-6180 [7] he designed, manufactured, sold, installed, maintained and supported multiple online shopping systems, using videotex technology.1980 Checking on the check-outs, Financial Times London 12 July 1980 [8] These systems which also provided voice response and handprint processing pre-date the Internet and the World Wide Web, the IBM PC, and Microsoft MS-DOS, and were installed mainly in the UK by large corporations.
In 1980 he invented a system he called the 'Teleputer' by connecting a modified 14-inch colour television to a plinth containing a Zilog Z80 microprocessor running a modified version of the CP/M operating system and a chip set containing a modem, character generator and auto-dialler. The Teleputer of 1980's operate as a stand-alone colour PC (at a time when computer screens were mainly mono-chromatic), with a full complement of application software and network with other computers via dial-up or leased lines.1981 Large. The Thing has arrived, and guess what- it's British teleputer, The Guardian London 30 September 1981 [9] The system included two 360 KB floppy disks (later a 20 MB Hard disk), a keyboard and a printer. The name 'Teleputer' later became synonymous with the fusion of computers, telecommunications and television in a single device. There were plans to add video-disks which at the time, in prototype form, were 12 inches. In a number of ways the Teleputer was the first home media centre concept.1981 Price.P Living by Numbers, The Sunday Times Colour Supplement, London 27 September 1981 [10]
Although the Teleputer had been conceived for mass market home use, it was put into production for business use with the TV tuner removed. There was no consumer electronics market for it (at the time the consumer electronics market was just waking up to the VCR) but it was relatively easy to cost-justify the Teleputer for business networking.1981 Charlish.G Enter the Teleputer, all purpose information tool, Financial Times London 2 October 1981 [11] It was widely used in the UK and, because a Cyrillic version was made, in the then USSR.
The Teleputer was often used with the online shopping systems. Most computer systems by their nature are transient but a number of Aldrich's systems were transformative. A number were recorded for posterity and case studies have survived. Pioneer Case Studies, Innovative Information Systems, Aldrich Archive, University of Brighton, England [12] and [13] The world's first recorded Business-to-Business (B2B) Online Shopping system was Thomson Holidays (1981).1988 Palmer.C Using IT for competitive advantage at Thomson Holidays, Long range Planning Vol 21 No.6 p26-29, Institute of Strategic Studies Journal, London- Pergamon Press now December 1988. Original story at The world's first recorded Business-to-Consumer (B2C) online shopping system was Gateshead SIS/Tesco (1984).1984 Videotex takes Gateshead Teleshopping into the home, The Incorporated Engineer, Journal of the IEE September 1984 p.6 [14] The original story can be found at [15] The world's first recorded online home shopper was Mrs Jane Snowball, 72,2013 BBC News Magazine: 'Online Shopping: The pensioner who pioneered a home shopping revolution' Denise Winterman and Jon Kelly. 16 September 2013 [16] of Gateshead, England in May 1984. Gateshead celebrates world's first online shopper and the Mrs Snowball interview can be found at [17] The Gateshead system had an Online Shopping Basket (later renamed Online Shopping Trolley) invented by Aldrich's colleague John Phelan.2011 'John Phelan Application Developer and Project Manager' Aldrich Archive, University of Brighton [18]
Some of the most interesting B2B applications in the surviving case studies were in the auto industry. Peugeot-Talbot (1981), then trading as Talbot Motors, installed a system for dealers to locate and adopt both a new car from the manufacturer or a used car from other dealers. Ford (1982) installed systems with ISPs in Brentwood England and Valencia Spain that permitted dealers in multiple European countries to buy new cars from Ford or transfer existing new cars from other dealers' lots. General Motors (1985) used systems for selling truck spares. The Nissan (1984) systems were truly revolutionary. They combined car purchase by the dealer from the manufacturer (known in the industry as 'adoption') with car sale and financing to the consumer.1988 Behind the driving wheel at NISSAN, Aldrich Archive, University of Brighton, [19] The Nissan systems networked credit ratings from outside agencies (mainly UAPT Infolink 1985)1985 Uapt/Infolink, Innovative Information Systems Aldrich Archive, University of Brighton [20] Summer 1985 and finance provision from either Nissan or other suppliers in real-time as part of the complete consumer purchasing transaction. This is the world's first recorded B2C online shopping for high value consumer durables and a model for the complex internet-based online shopping transactions for consumer durables that followed 20 years later. The Nissan system was copied by other credit rating and finance companies at the time but these systems appear to have been supplied by Aldrich's company under confidentiality agreements and no record is extant. Introduction, Innovative Information Systems, Aldrich Archive Para 9, University of Brighton [21]
Aldrich's systems directly changed the holiday, retail, auto, finance and credit ratings industries. Online shopping was an important development for electronic commerce. E-commerce changed the way the world does business. Both of his B2C systems in Gateshead and Bradford were shopping and information services. Bradford Centrepoint (1987) even ran a news service at one point. These systems were pioneering pre-internet systems.1993 Cahill. M Computer Technology and Human Services in the 1990s: Advancing Theory and Practice: Teleshopping and Social Services in the UK, 'Computers in Human Services' Vol. 9 3/4 London 1993
Aldrich's original intention had been to develop a consumer electronics market for IT systems linked to a concept for broadband interactive information processing and cable TV distribution. He had a particular schema for a wired community.1982 Aldrich. M 'Videotex Key to the Wired City' Quiller Press London He campaigned successfully to change the law in the UK to permit new cable TV technology.1982 Aldrich. M co-author 'Cable Systems' HMSO London
Aldrich articulated and broadcast the ubiquitous business and social potential of his mass communications medium concept of IT and created systems to realise that dream, sold and installed them, and created satisfied clients. Well known in the 1980s in the UK, he was all but forgotten 20 years later. His ideas were copied, plagiarised and patented in the 1990s without acknowledgement.Introduction to the Aldrich Archive, Aldrich Archive, University of Brighton [22]'None of the US Patents mention Michael Aldrich, John Phelan or Redifon/Rediffusion/ROCC' Thomson Holidays reverse-engineered his system (the sincerest form of homage in the computer business)1989 Allan E. Altar 'The Great Chiefs of Europe-Colin Palmer' CIO Magazine, IDG UK February 1989 pp29-31 and in the peer-reviewed 1988 report used his language while virtually air-brushing his contribution. For online shopping he produced both the system and the business rationale for using it. The tie between his online shopping systems and the innovative information systems he created is the concept that videotex was a new, mass communications medium. That was the giant conceptual leap from the world of EDP to modern IT, emancipating computing from corporate information centres, and a precursor to the development of the Apple Mac and Microsoft Windows approaches to universal human/computer interface design for PCs and the Apple iPhone 3G.
The three areas of his work in consumer electronics — online shopping, , online banking, home information centres and broadband cable TV — and his book, papers and UK Government reports represent a significant contribution to the development of contemporary IT mass communications, consumer information and transaction systems, electronic commerce and e-business. Aldrich's ideas are the basis for Internet home shopping. In June 2011 an ICM poll in the UK voted Aldrich's date of birth as the 7th most important date in the history of the internet. 2011 ICM Poll UK In April 2012 the UK Intellectual Property Office (formerly the UK Patents Office) nominated Aldrich for a public poll to identify the UK Visionary Innovator to celebrate World IP Day on 26 April. He came 4th in the Ppll.
He was also an innovator in other areas of computer and information technology including large-scale data capture, mixed media scanning, minicomputer networking, voice response and handprint processing. He patented the world's first static signature recognition system in 1984. He founded ROCC Computers in 1984 after a management buy-out of Rediffusion Computers. The company traded mainly in the UK and Eastern Europe.
The first project for which evidence survives provided a system to automatically read handprinted timesheets for the nationalised railway, British Rail with over 100,000 employees, to complete the weekly payroll (1978). Regional centres were established throughout the UK. Scanners were used to read timesheets and for other applications. The systems were used for a number of years. 1978 British Rail, Aldrich Archive, University of Brighton
The largest project was the Siberian Gas Pipeline for Gazprom (1981–83) where 46 computer systems with 1200 terminals and 240 Teleputers were networked to provide logistics support for the operation of the pipeline. Every aspect of the project was fraught with difficulties, including political, technical, environmental, technical support, economic and resourcing problems. Some 1500 Russian hardware and software specialists were trained. The system was the most advanced IT system then installed in the USSR. It was used for a number of years. USSR, Aldrich Archive, University of Brighton
The largest European project was the Ford Europe system (1981–83) for dealers to locate and adopt a car, an online shopping system for dealers in the UK and much of Europe networking to systems based in the UK and Valencia, Spain. The system was used for nearly two decades. 1985 Ford, Aldrich Archive, University of Brighton The largest UK project, apart from the Inland Revenue (the UK IRS), was the pricing of over 334 million medical prescriptions per annum for the Prescription Pricing Authority (1981–83, now NHS Prescription Services), part of the UK's single provider health system. These systems were used throughout the UK for a decade or more. The most politically sensitive project was probably the cattle passport system for the British Cattle Movement Service to address the BSE (mad cow disease) crisis in 1998.1988 British Cattle Movement Service, Aldrich Archive, University of Brighton, [27] There were hundreds of other projects.
The legacy of these projects is somewhat perverse. Leading-edge technology was seen to work well and to be reasonably easy to implement. It may have encouraged others to take risks that were not always justifiable. The 1990s onwards in the UK saw a succession of big, failed IT projects.
Aldrich was invited to address an invited audience including British Royalty on 23 March 1983 in Edinburgh, Scotland to mark the 25th Anniversary of the founding of the British Computer Society.1983 HRH Duke of Kent etc,'Computing', Aldrich Archive, University of Brighton 14 April 1983 [28] The speech was titled 'Computers in the Community.'1983 Computers in the Community, Aldrich Archive, February 1983 University of Brighton, [29]
In 1987 Aldrich was made a freeman of the City of London, England. He became a founder member of the Company of Information Technologists which became a Chartered City Livery in 1992. The company's membership consists of senior IT professionals. He is a liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Information Technologists.
Aldrich was a member of the team for the whole term of its existence. He wrote a seminal paper on re-cabling the UK with local loop broadband cable and paying for it without government subsidy by distributing cable television alongside data and telephone services.1981 Aldrich. M. The Original Discussion Paper, Aldrich Archive, University of Brighton [30] The panel then wrote a report, published it and the government subsequently changed the law to legalise such systems.1982 Aldrich M. co-author Cable Systems, London- HMSO 1982 By 2007, 12 million UK homes were passed by these high-speed broadband links.2008 Aldrich M. Cable Story, Aldrich Archive, University of Brighton [31] The second report concerned the emerging software and information business and, among other issues, identified the potential power of providers who might control both content and electronic delivery.1983 Aldrich M. co-author Making a Business of Information London- HMSO 1983ISBN 011 6308249 The third report was a long-range forecast of the potential effects of IT on schools and teaching and it predicted powerful PCs on school desks.1986 Aldrich M. co-author Learning to Live with IT, London- HMSO 1986 The panel was disbanded in 1986.
In 1988 the TIHR had an illustrious history at the forefront of the social and psychological sciences but was somewhat in the shadows of the world-famous founding fathers who had once worked there or indeed were still working there. These people were approaching retirement and the TIHR needed to renew itself. The transition of the TIHR was to take nearly two decades.
The 1989-99 period was characterised by the physical relocation of the TIHR from the Tavistock Clinic in Hampstead to its own building in London's City financial district; the stabilisation of the institute's finances;the 50th Anniversary (1997) celebration that saluted the past achievements while embracing future challenges; the publication of the Tavistock Anthology'The Social Engagement of Social Sciences, A Tavistock Anthology' Vols 1-3 Trist.E, Emery.F and Murray.H, University of Pennsylvania Press 1990-97 which served to draw an elegant line under the TIHR's previous achievements; and the development of new lines of research by a talented younger team.
Aldrich left the council in 1999. He remains a member of the Tavistock Association.
In November 2010 the University of Brighton Business School announced that it would be using the Aldrich Archive for teaching and research. A Michael Aldrich Prize would be awarded to the outstanding e-commerce student on merit each year.2010 'Getting down to Business with the help of the Aldrich Archive' University of Brighton [34] The first awards were made in the summer of 2011. The Michael Aldrich Prize, University of Brighton
Aldrich was a prolific writer of magazine articles, conference papers and speeches. Some have survived. Collected Papers, Aldrich Archive, University of Brighton Some are available from commercial publishers. A number of them have been lost or destroyed.
|
|
