Backchat - Flashback - March 1995. Flicking through Issue 101 of IWR in our archives, there was a sense of deja vu. All these familiar names - Martin White, Tim Owen, et al - and yet so much water has flowed under the bridge since!

Martin White moves to TFPL

We brought you the hot news that Martin White was about to join Nigel Oxbrow's crew at TFPL, in order to set up a division offering market research and consultancy to the information sector. In 1995, White already had a rich pedigree, with stints at Logica, International Data Corporation, Link Resources and Reed Telepublishing to his credit. More significantly, he arrived at TFPL from Romtec, a market research and direct marketing specialist in the IT, telecoms and commercial property sectors (now part of Harris Interactive Inc). Our reporter had also consulted White's entry in Who's Who in the UK Information World 1995/6, which revealed personal interests in "classical music, photography and motor racing". Today, White is known for his consultancy, Intranet Focus, and his chairmanship of the Online Information conference (this year is his sixth stint). Clearly the conference theatres at Olympia continue to bear as much allure as the picnic areas of Silverstone and Glynbourne.

Company information on CD-ROM

It's hard to believe that so much information a decade ago was being delivered on CD-ROMs, but a lot of our news and reviews in March 1995 was about availability of information on this now outmoded medium. In an issue that focused heavily on company information sources, we brought news of Infobank - a "demo disc" venture masterminded by former Microsoft UK MD, David Fraser. The CD-ROM was aimed at business buyers of hardware and software, and gave them the ability to check a company's financial background on Dun & Bradstreet databases before making a purchase. Encrypted versions of software ...