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Castle Technology Limited
Company typePrivate
IndustryComputer hardware
Computer software
Founded4 June 1993; 31 years ago (1993-06-04), in Colchester, England
FounderJohn Ballance
Jack Lillingston
Peter Wild
Defunct2018 (2018)
SuccessorRISC OS Developments Ltd.
Headquarters
Cambridge
,
England
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
  • Jack Lillingston (CEO)
  • Peter Wild (COO)
  • John Ballance (CTO)
ProductsIyonix PC
RISC OS
RISC PC
DivisionsTematic
WebsiteCastle-Technology.co.uk

Castle Technology Limited, named after Framlingham Castle,[1] was a British computer company based in Cambridge, England.[2] It began as a producer of ARM computers and manufactured the Acorn-branded range of desktop computers that run RISC OS.[3]

Following the break-up of Acorn in 1998, Castle Technology bought the rights to continue production of the RISC PC and A7000+ computers under the Acorn brand.[4] Castle Technology later released the Iyonix PC in November 2002,[5] the first desktop computer to use the Intel XScale microarchitecture and then bought the rights to the RISC OS Technology from Pace in July 2003.[6]

History

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See also: Acorn Computers

After Acorn withdrew from the desktop computer industry in 1998, Castle Technology acquired the rights to produce the A7000, A7000+ and RISC PC using the Acorn brand.[7]

In 2001, development started on the Iyonix PC (codenamed Tungsten) as a set-top unit (STU) in secret by engineers at Pace's Shipley campus along with a 32-bit version of RISC OS 4 (known as RISC OS 5). When management discovered the project the campus was closed.[8]

Castle Technology acquired the proposed designs and the original engineers from Pace to further develop the Tungsten into a desktop computer. Robert Sprowson, the original hardware designer, declined to join Castle Technology and so Peter Wild was recruited.[8] The Iyonix PC was released six months later. Although it was well received, it was not designed for long-term production and therefore used some components that were near obsolete when it was released.[8]

A problem for the Iyonix PC was that it used leaded components which were outlawed with the adoption of Directive 2002–95/EC in February 2003 by the European Union. However, by this time Castle Technology was financially troubled and could not afford to re-engineer the Iyonix PC without the leaded components.[8] The remaining Iyonix stock were passed to Iyonix Limited which stopped distribution on 30 September 2008.[9]

In 2004, Castle Technology acquired Tematic to further development of RISC OS in embedded systems.[10] In December 2005, Castle Technology moved its main office to the former premises of its software development division,[2] following the migration of Tematic to a neighbouring premises in Signet Court, Cambridge.[11]

In 2018 RISC OS Developments acquired Castle Technology Ltd including the Intellectual Property.[12]

References

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  1. ^ Bailey, Alasdair (May 2000). "Interview: Castle Technology". Foundation RISCWorld. Archimedes Public Domain Library. Retrieved 30 August 2019.
  2. ^ a b Williams, Chris (5 December 2005). "Castle confirms move to Tematic office". Drobe. Retrieved 11 May 2012.
  3. ^ Cole, George (12 February 1999). "Apple's bigger bite". TES. Archived from the original on 5 October 2012. Retrieved 30 June 2011.
  4. ^ "Acorn announces distribution deal with Castle Technology for RISC based products" (Press release). Acorn Computers. 12 October 1998. Archived from the original on 6 May 1999. Retrieved 6 January 2011.
  5. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 5 November 2013. Retrieved 29 January 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  6. ^ Williams, Chris (4 July 2003). "Castle buys RISC OS from Pace". Drobe. Retrieved 30 August 2019.
  7. ^ "Castle Technology". Chris's Acorns. Archived from the original on 11 February 2012. Retrieved 5 May 2012.
  8. ^ a b c d "Iyonix R.I.P." Foundation RISCWorld. Archimedes Public Domain Library. October 2008. Retrieved 30 August 2019.
  9. ^ "Iyonix Press Release" (Press release). Iyonix. 25 September 2008. Archived from the original on 24 January 2013. Retrieved 5 May 2012.
  10. ^ Williams, Chris (10 January 2004). "Castle merges with Tematic". Drobe. Retrieved 11 May 2012.
  11. ^ Williams, Chris (7 April 2005). "Coy Castle expands development team". Drobe. Retrieved 30 August 2019.
  12. ^ "Home". riscosdev.com.
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