computer science

Viglen

Viglen is a computer science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Viglen rather than just read about it. In short: Viglen Ltd was a company that provided IT products and services, including storage systems, servers, workstations and data/voice communications equipment and services. History The company was formed in 1975, by Vigen Boyadjian.

Key takeaways

Viglen belongs to computer science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Viglen to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Viglen from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Viglen Ltd was a company that provided IT products and services, including storage systems, servers, workstations and data/voice communications equipment and services.

History The company was formed in 1975, by Vigen Boyadjian. During the 1980s, the company specialised in direct sales through multi page advertisements in leading computer magazines, catering particularly, but not exclusively, to owners of Acorn computers. Viglen was acquired by Alan Sugar (later Lord Sugar)'s company Amstrad in June 1994. It was listed as a public limited company in 1997, and Amstrad plc shares were split into Viglen and Betacom shares, Betacom being renamed to Amstrad PLC. Following the sale in July 2007 of Amstrad PLC to Rupert Murdoch's BSkyB, Viglen became Sugar's sole IT establishment. Viglen used to be run by CEO Bordan Tkachuk, a longtime associate of Lord Sugar, who can be seen making special guest appearances on The Apprentice. From 1994 to 1998, the company sponsored Charlton Athletic F.C., expiring when they won promotion to the FA Premier League. In December 2005, Viglen relocated from its London headquarters in Wembley to Colney Street near St Albans, into a building which also houses its fabrication plant. As of 2007, Viglen focused particularly on the education and public sectors, selling both desktop and server systems, and also had interests in other IT markets such as managed services, high performance clusters, and network attached storage. In July 2009, Lord Sugar resigned as the chairman of Viglen (and most of his other companies), handing over the reins of the company to longtime associate, Claude Littner. In January 2014, Sugar sold his interest in Viglen to the Westcoast Group, which merged it with another of its subsidiaries, XMA.

The Apprentice Under its former ownership by Lord Sugar, the Viglen headquarters doubled up as one of the filming locations for the BBC programme The Apprentice, with various scenes including the infamous "job interviews" being set there. The "walk of shame" exit sequence at the end of every episode, showing the contestant leaving the building and boarding a taxi was also filmed at the Viglen Headquarters. (The boardroom scenes were actually filmed in a West London television studio.) On 15 December 2010, CEO Bordan Tkachuk, during a mock "interview" situation on The Apprentice, told a candidate that "ISP" stood for "Internet Service Protocol" (instead of Internet Service Provider), resulting in widespread criticism:

"I know what ISP is. It's an Internet Service Protocol. And that's what you're providing. It's not a telecoms operating licence. It's a protocol that allows telecoms over bandwidths. "I've been running Alan Sugar's companies for the last 25 years, and that's why I know a little bit about technology."

—Bordan Tkachuk

References

External links Official website

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Viglen

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Viglen claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In computer science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Viglen before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Viglen ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Viglen

In research: Viglen appears in computer science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Viglen in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Viglen is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1975 establishments in England, Companies based in the City and District of St Albans, Computer companies established in 1975, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Viglen outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Viglen in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Viglen means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Viglen out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Viglen in simple terms?

Viglen Ltd was a company that provided IT products and services, including storage systems, servers, workstations and data/voice communications equipment and services. History The company was formed in 1975, by Vigen Boyadjian.

Why does Viglen matter?

Because it connects several computer science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Viglen?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Viglen.