| Electron User 2.06 March 1985 |
Say It With Electron Flowers!
Electron technology will soon be helping people say it with flowers. A new machine from British Telecom's business systems equipment division - the MERLIN M2105 - has been built around the Electron motherboard. Interflora, the association of flower retailers, plans to place one of these terminals in each of its 2,500 UK member's shops. It will replace the telephone as a means of transmitting orders around the country. A six month pilot scheme involving 50 Interflora members will take place this year, after which the association hopes all its outlets will go on-line with the new system. The MERLIN M2105 is a small desk top machine with built-in modem, auto dial and answer, VDU, dot matrix printer and associated software. It uses the T-Link communications network protocol with file transfer between terminals over the public telephone network. Not user programmable, it has a limited voice response library, powerful built-in text editing facilities and text messaging and comminications software fitted as standard. In another pilot scheme, under the auspices of the National Health Service, the MERLIN M2105 is being used in the Healthnet message service within a local area health authority. |
