User:Stiofan.walsh/Kindle Banking Systems

Kindle Banking Systems Kindle Banking Systems [Kindle] was a banking solutions company that originated from a bespoke banking systems project in 1979 for the merchant bank, Ansbacher Bank in Ireland. The system originally ran on the ICL hardware platform - the relationship with the UK-based computer manufacturer provided a spring-board which helped Kindle gain establish itself as a leading banking solutions provider in Asia and Africa. It later ported to many flavours of UNIX, a move which has been linked to much of the growth of the company.

Kindle's flagship product was a modular banking solution known as Bankmaster. According to the RBS Market Report, by 1987 there were 170 sites operating Bankmaster worldwide.

Through the 80's and 90's Kindle sold Bankmaster to over 200 banks located in over 80 countries worldwide. For many years, it was the most widely adopted third party banking solution and topped the IBS Publications Banking Systems League Table (which is considered to be the benchmark for core banking systems suppliers).

In 1991, Kindle was acquired by rival banking systems provider ACT, and was renamed as ACT Kindle. ACT was subsequently acquired by Misys in 1995 - at which point much autonomy (which had been removed by ACT) was returned to Kindle. During the later part of the 1990s sales of Bankmaster declined - whilst the Bankmaster solution set was considered to be functionally rich, and proven to be a robust solution the core technology on which it was based became obsolete.

A major development effort in Kindle to create a new generation Bankmaster-RS in the 1990's struggled to reach maturity. Furthermore, it did not provide a clear upgrade path for the installed Bankmaster customer base. New sales declined in the 2000's.

Kindle is regarded as a remarkable company, as it was considered to be the first high-tech Irish company which achieved the status of world leader in its field.