Tandem says core business will remain

"If you look at the example of the London Stock Exchange which needs to be 95 per cent and above fail-safe, I don't think you'd see that system moving to NT," said Andy Sims, Tandem's UK marketing director. "That [level of robustness] is what you get with Tandem systems, and there's a big difference."

However, he said, the move among large corporates towards NT was too significant for Tandem to ignore.

Tandem can be contacted by telephone on 0171-628 0661.