COL Limited - Milestone

About Us > Milestone

Founded in 1972, COL has provided computing services to Hong Kong companies for more than three decades. Originally established as a mainframe computer service bureau catering largely to the finance sector, today COL is Hong Kong's leading independent IT services provider, offering an unmatched range of services from Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity to Facilities Management, Business Process Outsourcing and Professional Services. COL's customers include more than 100 of Hong Kong's top companies, including virtually every major bank.

The 1970s
1972	Chartered On-Line formed as joint venture between Chartered Bank, Sir Ely Kadoorie Continuation Ltd. and Wheelock Marden, offering a Univac mainframe based bureau service and applications development service. Name quickly contracts to COL.
1975	Introduced Hong Kong's first bureau-based on-line banking package, which was quickly adopted by 14 major banks.
1978	Expanded Bureau facilities with DEC PDP systems.

The 1980s
1983	Offered a wider choice, increased functionality and in-house solutions with the introduction of a range of plug-compatible computers and peripherals.
1984	Launched an IBM mainframe service using MSA (Management Science America) Financial Management applications.
1986	Became part of the HK$100billion Wharf/Wheelock Group.
1987	Introduced the full range of high-performance peripherals from StorageTek. Introduced the first generation intelligent banking teller terminal systems to banks in Hong Kong.
1988	Launched bureau services for the DEC VAX systems which proved popular with finance and insurance customers.
1989	Introduced the Comshare range of decision-support software to meet the emerging requirements from both IT and end-users in Hong Kong.

The 1990s
1991	Became the Hong Kong Distributor of Dun & Bradstreet Software, a merger of two world class financial management software vendors - MSA and M&D (McCormack and Dodge).
1995	Embraced the Internet with the introduction of a powerful server to host web sites for customers. Launches Facilities Management service for many of the Internet Service Providers (ISPs), allowing them to migrate to a professional, long-term data center environment.
1997	Established Business Recovery Centre and quickly dominates the local market for trading room business recovery.

2000 and beyond
2000	Leveraged CISCO Premier Reseller relationship to create the Network Solution Group. Developed marketing partnership with ORACLE to provide implementation services for the Oracle Human Resources application.
2001	Consolidated its position as the premier supplier of business recovery in Hong Kong. Completed major facilities expansion, adding some 8,000 sq.ft. of business recovery datacentre and office space at the main Kwun Tong site and created true dual-site capability for business recovery services. Became a regional player with the opening of its first overseas office in Manila.
2003	Became Hyperion Implementation Partner and provides a Web-based application for Management Planning and Control that integrates planning, budgeting, consolidation, and management reporting into a continuous closed-loop process for large multinational corporations.
2004	Certified ISO9001:2000 in Data Centre Services, and is the first company in Hong Kong offering business/disaster recovery services certified by this standard. Achieved CISCO Silver Partner status.
2004	Expanded into Mainland China with the opening of Wharf COL (Shanghai) Limited focusing on providing major corporations with operations in Shanghai the same level of comfort and Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery protection they now enjoy in Hong Kong.
2005	The company is CMMI Level 3 appraised for Professional Services.
2005	Achieved CISCO Gold Partner status.
2006	Integrated with Wharf T&T to become an IT and telecom services provider.
2008	Wharf T&T & COL is the first Hong Kong’s service provider to achieve Cisco’s Authorized Technology Provider (ATP) - Outdoor Wireless Mesh (OWM) specialist status qualified to provide, implement and maintain a Cisco outdoor wireless mesh solution in Hong Kong. Wharf COL owns and operates 2 state-of-the art Business Continuity Centres in Shanghai, one in Puxi since 2004 and another one in Pudong established in May 2008. Attained ISO/IEC 20000:2005 and ISO/IEC 27001:2005 dual certification for IT Services & information security Management. COL has expanded its data centre in Hong Kong to capture the surging demand from corporate customers with an increase of capacity by 30%.