SCIENCE/TECHNOLOGY

ICL’s Irvine Connection: International Computers Ltd., the U.K.’s largest computer company, has given its Irvine-based subsidiary new responsibilities in the development of mid-size computers based on the UNIX operating system. A group in Irvine, dubbed the departmental servers group, will now spearhead planning and development for all of ICL’s mid-size machines, including a new series of products based on Sun Microsystems’ Sparc architecture.

A spokeswoman said the move reflects the importance of California as a center for computer systems development and the high level of UNIX expertise in the Irvine subsidiary. ICL last year purchased Computer Consoles Inc. of Irvine, a major vendor of UNIX systems with about 350 local employees and renamed the operation ICL Business Systems. UNIX, a product of AT&T; Corp., is gradually emerging as an industry-standard operating system. An operating system acts as the software that manages the computer’s operations, allowing it to read programs and carry out instructions.