| Type | Public |
|---|---|
| Traded as | LSE: RM. |
| Industry | Computer hardware Computer software IT services |
| Founded | 1973 |
| Founder(s) | Mike Fischer and Mike O'Regan |
| Headquarters | Milton Park, UK |
| Area served | Worldwide |
| Products | Desktops Servers Notebooks Netbooks Educational software Virtual Learning Environment |
| Revenue | £380 million (2010) |
| Employees | 2,711 (2009) |
| Subsidiaries | RM Education PLC, Caz Software Pty Ltd, RM Lightbox (3T Productions LTD and Softease LTD), DACTA LTD, Forvus LTD, School Management Solutions, SpaceKraft LTD, TTS Group LTD, RM Educational Software Inc (USA), Sentinel Products Ltd, RM ASIA PACIFIC Pty Ltd, RM Education Solutions India Pvt Ltd, Easytrace, |
| Website | http://www.rm.com/ |
RM plc is a British company specialising in providing products and services to schools, colleges, universities and government education departments & agencies. While RM is primarily involved in supplying information communications and technology (ICT) services to UK education, the group also includes companies providing educational software in the US and school management software in the Asia Pacific region.
RM employs more than 2,700 people, with the majority based in the company's headquarters located on Milton Park, near Didcot, Oxfordshire. RM also has offices across the UK, in North America, Australia and a software development facility in India.
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Research Machines, now rebranded as 'RM', was founded in 1973 in Oxford, England by Mike Fischer and Mike O'Regan, respectively graduates of Oxford and Cambridge Universities. Initially it traded under the name Sintel which was a mail-order supplier of electronic components, mainly dealing with the hobbyist market.
With the arrival of microcomputer chips in the mid-1970s, the company expanded into the design and manufacturing of microcomputers. The company shipped its first computer in 1977[1] to a customer in a Local Education Authority and has been exclusively involved with educational computing ever since.
By the time the United Kingdom government was encouraging the use of computers in schools through the Microelectronics Education Programme. The company's early and dominating presence in educational computing meant they were the natural choice as the founders and key partners in the project. Indeed, RM were praised by UK Ministers for being responsible for putting computers into every UK primary school. Throughout the 1980s RM, with their Z80-based RML 380Z, and Cambridge-based rivals Acorn Computers provided computers to the majority of schools in the UK.
The company was offered the chance to manufacture the BBC microcomputer; this offer was refused on the basis that the BBC micro had already been designed without RM input, making it wholly incompatible with RM microcomputers which were already widespread throughout educational establishments across the UK. RM's philosophy was to make all its new machines backwardly compatible.
RM floated on the London Stock Exchange in November 1994 under the name RM Plc.
Mike Fischer was Chief Executive of the Group until 1997, when Richard Girling took over. Girling retired in 2002 after RM had some involvement in the dot com boom and bust and was replaced by Tim Pearson who left in 2008. Both Girling and Pearson had long careers with RM before being appointed Chief Executive. Long careers are a feature of RM - Pearson having joined the company as a technical support engineer straight from university in 1981. His PA served in that role for both Fischer and Girling. In October 2008 Terry Sweeney took over the role of CEO having joined RM in 1998[2]. He lasted in the role until October 2011, when the RM Board was re-structured; the existing non-executive chairman Martyn Ratcliffe taking over as Executive Chairman and long-term RM employee Rob Sirs (21 years) taking up the position of Group Managing Director[3] .
Amstrad's home word processor had the operating system CP/M on a ROM that was developed by RM.
RM plc also won the contract for KS3 ICT tests. These were innovative on-line tests which provided a virtual PC office environment for students. Very late in the day, the government scrapped the tests.[4]
29-Sept-2011 Guardian News reports "Education group RM slumps by a quarter after profit warning and 600 job cuts" based on Company Announcement.[5].
RM classifies its UK business into three market areas which each have their own broad focus:[6]
The main IT division of RM that deals with technology infrastructure, software and services - including learning platforms, interactive classroom equipment, computer systems, connectivity, networking software, school management software and support services.
The division that focuses on curriculum products designed to make classroom learning fun, motivational and effective. In order to grow this element of their business RM has made a number of acquisitions in recent years which include:
Deals with the process management and outsourcing for testing and qualifications; data analysis services for teachers, education managers and policy makers. Notable clients include Cambridge Assessment and the International Baccalaureate.[8]
In the last decade RM has expanded its educational solutions overseas, with International revenues accounting for 12% of the total group's revenue[9] Their products have also been recognised in international markets with RM Easiteach 3.5 being announced as a 2010 CODiE Award Finalist for Best Education Technology Solution for Productivity/Creativity in the USA.
RM Educational Software, Inc. was initially established in 2005 to provide schools and districts in North America with many of the UK software products. In 2008 this scope grew when RM purchased and integrated the US interactive classroom provider Computrac.[10]
RM Asia-Pacific emerged in the Australian marketplace in 1997, opening a Perth office in February 1999 after being awarded the SIS contract for the Department of Education and Training Western Australia (then named EDWA).
Since then, the company has flourished and now employs 50 staff across offices in Perth, Melbourne, Sydney and Wellington (NZ), servicing more than 4,000 schools across Australasia and in Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai, Singapore and Taipei.[11]
In 2009 RM announced that it was expanding its business into the MENASA region with offices based in Dubai. The company stated that this would be a joint venture:
"RM MENASA will, through subsidiaries licensed to trade in each country, provide educational ICT products and services to schools in the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia (MENASA). It will be the exclusive distributor of RM's learning technologies products in the MENASA region."[12]
RM was the first significant supplier of LAN computer networks in the UK and, working with Zilog, developed Z-Net, a low-cost network technology that was widely used in UK schools particularly the RM Nimbus model. Z-Net was subsequently replaced by what later became the industry standard, Ethernet. RM cooperated with Microsoft in the production of early networking software. Various generations of RM’s networking products – all of which have been built on standard Microsoft networking software – are currently in use, the most recent version is called Community Connect 4, released in June 2008.[13].
RM not only provides networking solutions but offers a range of computer hardware. Most RM computers are assembled at their factory in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, but they also sell on laptops, interactive whiteboards and peripherals, some re-branded as RM.
Early products such as the RM 280Z, RM 380Z and Link 480Z were based on the Zilog Z80A processor.
The Group switched to Intel processors with the launch of the 80186 based Nimbus PC-186 in 1984. While not 100% IBM PC compatible, the Nimbus PC-186 ran MS-DOS and was a very early example of a computer designed to support Microsoft Windows, in fact Windows 1. Since 1986, with the introduction of the Nimbus AX and VX models, all RM computers have been fully IBM compatible.
RM also offers a range of software, such the Kaleidos VLE, MathsAlive, DiscoverAlive, Living Library and SuccessMaker. They also bundle popular software titles from other software companies to allow teachers and network administrators to install the titles more easily[14]. In 2005 RM was awarded the contract for Glow. (formally known as Scottish Schools Digital Network (SSDN) National Intranet project). Under the five year, £37.5 million project, all 32 Local Authorities, over 3000 schools and over 800,000 education users plus parents will have access to Glow. Glow has indicated that it will not reprocure the existing service after the end of the current contract in September 2012.
In October 2007 RM started selling the RM Asus Minibook in the UK. As indicated by the name it is a re-branded Asus computer.[15]
In 2010 RM was awarded the title of Top IT Employer at the 2010 Top Employers United Kingdom awards, run annually by the CRF Institute. RM scored a five star rating across all five categories which consist of pay and benefit, career development, training and development, working conditions and company culture. The award was also won by RM in 2008 and 2009.[16]