Type VAR and ISV Motto Solutions for success Parent organizations Infor, Systems Union | Number of employees 50-120 Founded 1982 | |
Headquarters UK, Norwich and London, United Kingdom Key people Ray Townsend, Rob Johnson, Len Palmer, Peter Dryer, David Singh, Hugh Scantlebury Products Financial and business solutions Website Foundation Systems home page | ||
Foundation Systems Limited is a British software company that provides accounting and business solutions to corporate clients. It was founded in 1982 in Norwich and is part of American company Infor Global Solutions. Foundation Systems provides a software portfolio based around their core offering of SunSystems, to mid-market organisations, predominantly in the United Kingdom.
History
The business was created in 1982 as Office Automation (Norwich) Ltd by a team of experienced ex-Olivetti employees based in Norwich, Norfolk, England, led by Terry Davies, Ray Townsend and Rob Johnson. The business grew successfully during the 1980s providing turnkey PC network solutions initially based around the Multisoft range of accounting and business products. They were pioneers with the development of Oracle-based bespoke software solutions and in Xenix and subsequently Unix platforms.
Terry Davies sold his interest in 1988 and Peter Dryer later joined the management. Subsequent acquisitions of businesses including Spartex added Tetra and SunSystems to the portfolio of products carried; introduced a London base of operations (located in Borehamwood, Hertfordshire and a number of other key personnel including Len Palmer and David Singh.
During the 1990s the business focused more and more on SunSystems whose success eventually led to the disposal of the Multisoft and Tetra Chameleon divisions. At the same time Foundation Systems increased its investment in the development of its own in-house products which culminated in the release of SharpOWL, a highly sophisticated project accounting and resource management solution in 1999.
Following a management buyout in 1989 backed by 3i, the business demerged in 2001 into three core businesses:
In December 2003, Foundation Systems was acquired by Systems Union Group plc, following which it ran as a free standing system systems integrator until the whole group was subsequently acquired by Infor Global Solutions in July 2006. Over this period Foundation Systems specialised in providing solutions to the following key market sectors: