SCIENCE/TECHNOLOGY

If you’re a devotee of Perrier mineral water, you soon may have General Automation to thank for helping get the unofficial yuppie beverage to your favorite restaurant or grocery store.

The Anaheim-based computer manufacturer has signed a contract with Perrier Group of America to supply a computer-automated route accounting system to the bottled water supplier. Terms of the contract were not disclosed.

Under the contract, General Automation will supply more than 30 of its Zebra business computers to Perrier “over the next few years.”

General Automation also said that its Parallel Computers subsidiary, based in Santa Cruz, has signed a $2-million contract with Wipro Information Technology Ltd. of Bangalore, India. Under the contract, Wipro will have exclusive manufacturing and marketing rights in India for Parallel’s full line of minicomputers.

Further, General Automation said it has reached an agreement with London-based Midland Bank for a 10-year term loan of approximately $2.5 million.

Most of the loan funds will be used to complete General Automation’s acquisition last year of Aston Technology, a British computer manufacturer.