Unipalm

Unipalm was a U.K.-based company that operated between 1986 and 2003 that specialised in networking different computers together using TCP/IP technology and was an early promoter of internet technology.

Unipalm Ltd was founded as a software reseller in Cambridge in 1986 by Peter Dawe, later forming PIPEX in 1990, as the first commercial ISP in the UK.

In March 1994 Unipalm Group Plc on the , the purpose of the flotation was to expand the growth of The Public I.P. Exchange Ltd (Pipex).

In July 1995 the company changed its trading name to Unipalm-Pipex.

Unipalm PIPEX was sold to UUNet in November 1995 for GBP150 million, where it became UUNET/PIPEX. Dawe became Head of European Operations for UUNet Inc., with over 400 staff. Dawe left UUNet in July 1996. In 1996 it was reported that Unipalm-Pipex was the largest internet service provider in Europe.

In December 1996, Mark Norman led a successful management buy out of Unipalm. This re-established Unipalm as a separate company, moving location to offices in Newmarket, Suffolk. The company focussed on IP software distribution and services. In May 2000, German based company Computerlinks AG acquired 100% of the shares of Unipalm.

The company maintained a high level of independence until 2003 when the Unipalm name was dropped and began trading as Computerlinks UK. Unipalm changed its name to Computerlinks in 2006.

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