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<span id="openzim-page-title" class="mw-page-title-main"><i>Computergram International</i></span>
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</style><table class="infobox hproduct"><caption class="infobox-title fn"><i>Computergram International</i></caption><tbody><tr><td colspan="2" class="infobox-image"><div class="infobox-caption">Issue no. 820, 27 November 1987</div></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Editor</th><td class="infobox-data">Tim Palmer</td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Format</th><td class="infobox-data">Newsletter</td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Publisher</th><td class="infobox-data">APT Data Services</td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">First issue</th><td class="infobox-data">August 13, 1984<span style="display:none"> (<span class="bday dtstart published updated">1984-08-13</span>)</span></td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label">Final issue</th><td class="infobox-data">April 1998<span style="display: none;"> (<span class="dtend itvend">1998-04</span>)</span> (print)</td></tr><tr><th scope="row" class="infobox-label"><a href="ISSN_(identifier)" class="mw-redirect" title="ISSN (identifier)">ISSN</a></th><td class="infobox-data"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.worldcat.org/search?fq=x0:jrnl&q=n2:0268-716X">0268-716X</a></td></tr></tbody></table>
<p><i><b>Computergram International</b></i> was a daily, pre-Internet newsletter covering enterprise information technology, published in London by APT Data Services from 1984. It eventually merged into the electronic <i>ComputerWire</i> service, and is now owned by <i>Tech Monitor</i>, one of the specialist titles within the <a href="New_Statesman" title="New Statesman">New Statesman</a> Media Group.<sup id="cite_ref-cbr_1-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-cbr-1"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>1<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>
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<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="APT_Data_Services">APT Data Services</h2></div>
<p>APT Data Services was founded in London by Peter White (publisher) and Tim Palmer (editor) in 1984.<sup id="cite_ref-2" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-2"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>2<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Peter White was previously the editor of <i>Datalink Magazine</i> from 1978. Palmer had worked as an engineer at <a href="General_Electric_Company" title="General Electric Company">GEC</a> before changing course and starting his publishing career as a journalist on <i><a href="Computer_Weekly" title="Computer Weekly">Computer Weekly</a></i>. He then moved to the UK division of Dutch publishing company <a href="Nielsen_Holdings#Verenigde_Nederlandse_Uitgeverijen" title="Nielsen Holdings">VNU</a> and its then weekly title <i>Infomatics</i>. It was Palmer who persuaded VNU to launch an <i>Infomatics</i> spin-off title, <i>Infomatics Daily Bulletin</i>, in 1980.<sup id="cite_ref-gk_3-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-gk-3"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>3<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> Four years later White and Palmer formed their own company to publish a rival daily, <i>Computergram International</i>, five days a week. Subscriptions were priced at £450 per year.<sup id="cite_ref-js_4-0" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-js-4"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>4<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>
</p><p>The first issue, published on 13 August 1984, included a report detailing the forthcoming launch of the <a href="IBM_Personal_Computer_AT" title="IBM Personal Computer AT">IBM PC AT</a> on the following day. Among the subscribers was Microsoft co-founder <a href="Bill_Gates" title="Bill Gates">Bill Gates</a>, who was heard to describe the publication as “that little yellow sheet”.<sup id="cite_ref-5" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-5"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>5<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-gk_3-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-gk-3"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>3<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> The four (and occasionally six or eight) page newsletter was published, printed and mailed from APT's London offices on the top floor of 12 Sutton Row in <a href="Soho" title="Soho">Soho</a>. It was also available on early electronic public access databases such as <a href="Micronet_800" title="Micronet 800">Micronet 800</a>, <a href="Prestel" title="Prestel">Prestel</a> and <a href="Telecom_Gold" title="Telecom Gold">Telecom Gold</a>,<sup id="cite_ref-js_4-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-js-4"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>4<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> and then via the <a href="World_Wide_Web" title="World Wide Web">World Wide Web</a> from the early 1990s.
</p><p>APT Data subsequently launched a series of other IT titles, including the weekly <i>Unigram.x</i> newsletter (covering the rise of the <a href="Unix" title="Unix">Unix</a> operating system), and the monthly <i>Computer Business Review</i>, <i>Software Futures</i> and <i>Unix News</i> magazines. By 1997 the company name and website had changed from APT to ComputerWire. The last paper copy of <i>Computergram International</i> was printed in April 1998, though the electronic service continued well into the 2000s.<sup id="cite_ref-6" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-6"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>6<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> A core team of APT editors left the company at the end of 1999 to form the IT industry analyst firm <a href="451_Group" title="451 Group">The 451 Group</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-7" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-7"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>7<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>
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<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Sale_to_Datamonitor">Sale to Datamonitor</h2></div>
<p>Tim Palmer died in 1997.<sup id="cite_ref-8" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-8"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>8<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-gk_3-2" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-gk-3"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>3<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>
APT Data Services was finally sold off to its primary investor and advisor, Interregnum, for just £44,000 (€68,900) in June 2002,<sup id="cite_ref-9" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-9"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>9<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> and then passed on to Datamonitor, which agreed to absorb the £1.02m in debt.<sup id="cite_ref-10" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-10"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>10<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> The daily service was merged into <i>Computer Business Review</i>, which was re-branded as <i>Tech Monitor</i> in 2021.<sup id="cite_ref-cbr_1-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-cbr-1"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>1<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> <i>Tech Monitor </i> is now part of the New Statesman Media Group (owned by Mike Danson, as Datamonitor was before its sale to <a href="Informa" title="Informa">Informa</a> in 2007).<sup id="cite_ref-11" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-11"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>11<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>
</p><p>In 2003 Peter White launched an industry analyst company, Rethink Technology Research.<sup id="cite_ref-12" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-12"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>12<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> He died in September 2023.<sup id="cite_ref-13" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-13"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>13<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>
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<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="References">References</h2></div>
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<li id="cite_note-cbr-1"><span class="mw-cite-backlink">^ <a href="#cite_ref-cbr_1-0"><sup><i><b>a</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-cbr_1-1"><sup><i><b>b</b></i></sup></a></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://techmonitor.ai/leadership/strategy/computer-business-review-has-some-news">'Computer Business Review Has Some News…'</a>, <i>Tech Monitor</i>, 10 March, 2021</span>
</li>
<li id="cite_note-2"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-2">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://tuneimages.wordpress.com/about/">Computergram archive: About</a></span>
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<li id="cite_note-gk-3"><span class="mw-cite-backlink">^ <a href="#cite_ref-gk_3-0"><sup><i><b>a</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-gk_3-1"><sup><i><b>b</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-gk_3-2"><sup><i><b>c</b></i></sup></a></span> <span class="reference-text"><a href="Guy_Kewney" title="Guy Kewney">Guy Kewney</a>. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.zdnet.com/article/tim-palmer-greatest-computer-press-reporter-is-dead/">'Tim Palmer, greatest computer press reporter, is dead'</a>, ZDNET, 5 June 1997</span>
</li>
<li id="cite_note-js-4"><span class="mw-cite-backlink">^ <a href="#cite_ref-js_4-0"><sup><i><b>a</b></i></sup></a> <a href="#cite_ref-js_4-1"><sup><i><b>b</b></i></sup></a></span> <span class="reference-text">Jack Schofield. 'All the news too late to print', in <i>The Guardian</i>, 1 November 1984, p. 21</span>
</li>
<li id="cite_note-5"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-5">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Tim Palmer obituary, <i>Computergram International</i>, Issue No. 3,175, 5 June 1997</span>
</li>
<li id="cite_note-6"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-6">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://techmonitor.ai/technology/tim_palmer_anniversary">'Tim Palmer anniversary'</a>, <i>ComputerWire</i>, June 3, 1998</span>
</li>
<li id="cite_note-7"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-7">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Dawn Hayes. 'Who said internet start-ups were easy?', in <i>Sunday Business</i>, 30 April 2000, p. 18</span>
</li>
<li id="cite_note-8"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-8">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://techmonitor.ai/technology/tim_palmer_computergram_international_editor_1984_1997">'Tim Palmer, Computergram International Editor, 1984-1997'</a>, <i>Computer Business Review</i>, 5 June 1997</span>
</li>
<li id="cite_note-9"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-9">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Ben Rossi. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.information-age.com/computerwire-sold-to-interregnum-for-44000-23465/#:~:text=ComputerWire%20sold%20to%20Interregnum%20for%2044%2C000%20%2D%20Information%20Age">'ComputerWire sold to Interregnum'</a>, <i>Information Age</i></span>
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<li id="cite_note-10"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-10">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">William Hutchings. '<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.fnlondon.com/articles/vcs-desperate-to-find-any-way-out-20021021">VCs desperate to find any way out</a>', in <i>Financial News</i>, 21 October, 2002</span>
</li>
<li id="cite_note-11"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-11">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">James Robinson. '<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2009/apr/14/new-statesman-ownership-mike-danson-geoffrey-robinson">Mike Danson takes full ownership of New Statesman</a>', in <i>The Guardian</i>, 14 April, 2009</span>
</li>
<li id="cite_note-12"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-12">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Tommy Flanagan. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://rethinkresearch.biz/articles/peter-white-founder-visionary-maverick-dies-suddenly/">'Peter White – founder, visionary, maverick – dies suddenly'</a>, Rethink Technology Research, 20 September, 2023</span>
</li>
<li id="cite_note-13"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-13">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text">Matthew Gooding. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://techmonitor.ai/leadership/computer-business-review-founder-peter-white-dies">'Computer Business Review founder Peter White dies'</a>, <i>Techmonitor.ai</i>, 19 September, 2023</span>
</li>
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