By Sally Watson, 2 January 2001 17:00
NEWS The move leaves over 80 staff at the firm's Hampshire HQ facing a bleak New Year after Lloyds TSB appointed accountancy firm KPMG as official receiver. The company, which specialises in Unix, NT and desktop systems, was bought for £1.6m in July by outsourcing company Syan. Syan has taken the unusual step of submitting an offer to buy back Protocol's business assets from KPMG - a move that could save jobs but would leave the integrator's debts unpaid. In a statement released to silicon.com today, Syan said: "This action was forced upon them by the severely restricted trading conditions that have been experienced by Protocol since the recent action taken by the police in respect of Microsoft software licences." Protocol hit the headlines in November when it was discovered that the Hampshire police force was running counterfeit Microsoft software on its IT system. Three members of staff and one ex-employee were arrested and questioned by City of London police, and although Protocol has so far refused to comment on the case, the police investigation continues. After the discovery of the illegal software in November, the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) ordered an urgent inquiry to ensure all counterfeit software was found and replaced. It emerged that Special Branch officers operating in all 55 British police forces had used the software. A spokesman for ACPO estimated the total cost could be as much as £5m. Protocol Solutions was unavailable for comment.
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