ICOM Lore

Anecdotes about ICOM, Inc., a software automation company, last located in West Allis, Wisconsin (1985-1994).

The intention is to have volunteers contribute their memories. Over the course of time, one person's memory is not always the same as someone else's memory, and may not even be accurate. But it might be entertaining anyway…

The volunteers can be virtually anyone, an ICOM employee, distributor, customer, vendor, or even competitor. But, there needs to be some rules:

1) We cannot intentionally do anything that might violate trademarks or copyrights held by Rockwell Automation or others.
2) The intention is to post fond memories of ICOM, not memories that might embarrass, humiliate, or otherwise hurt someone's feelings. Of course, this goes for photographs as well.

To reconnect with former ICOM employees, we suggest using LinkedIn.com.

Thursday, June 17, 2004

Happily Ever After

In an email message to the company dated October 21, 1994, Steve Burt officially announced that ICOM would be merging with Allen-Bradley to form a new automation software company with a new name. "Merge" was the actual verb used, though in many of our minds this conjured the image of a bug merging with the windshield of a speeding Peterbilt.

Rumors of the merger had floated around for weeks, gradually solidifying as more details leaked out. By the time Steve's copy of the press release hit our inboxes, there was little surprise, but plenty of uncertainty. In the meeting late that day, Scott Zifferer and Rich Ryan did their best to reassure us that this wasn't the end.

Sure enough, the world kept spinning and the sun came up Saturday morning. Come Monday, we all showed up for work. We didn't yet know the name of the company we were working for, but we still had projects to complete, and the faces in the hallways were the same faces we saw the week before.

There we were, living proof of the afterlife. Not really dead, just... passed on.

That's the way it is with endings. The classic fairy tale winds up with a quip about everyone living happily ever after, though by the time we're adults we know that, in reality, a lot of what comes later isn't all so flowery. Cinderella might get drunk at the next ball, or Prince Charming might come home smelling like Snow White, and even if they make it through that, well, sooner or later one of them is going to be burying the other. But "happily ever after" lets us close the book while we still feel good about it.

October 21, 1994 is, for the purposes of ICOM and this website, where we place our "happily ever after" marker.

Nearly a decade after that marker however, another chapter in the larger story is closing, and it's difficult not to feel a little sentimental about it. Later today, Thursday, June 17, 2004, Rockwell Software employees will leave the building at 2424 South 102nd Street in West Allis for the last time. Everything will have been packed by tonight, in readiness for the movers on Friday morning. Come Monday, Rockwell Software's home will be in one of Allen-Bradley's buildings in downtown Milwaukee.

ICOM first moved into the 102nd Street building in June of 1990, and it seemed vast; how could we ever grow to fill it? The move into that building was a happy one; we were thriving, and growing, and proud that we'd managed to come so far from that first shabby apartment we used for office space. That building holds a lot of good memories, and a few bad ones as well. In leaving it, we also leave behind a piece of our shared past, that of ICOM at its pinnacle.

Most painfully, it is also time to bid farewell to the Garcia family, friends who have been cooking our meals for most of our time in the 102nd Street building, and cleaning for us since before we moved in. Carlos, Delia, Sylvia, Belinda, Julian, and the rest: we love you all. Keep in touch, and be well.

Live happily ever after.

posted by Dave Ruske @ 12:02 AM  

2 Comments:

  • At 7:24 AM, Blogger Duane Fahey said…

    Great article Dave!

    2424 S. 102nd Street holds many memories for all of us. I visited the building when I interviewed with ICOM, when it was still being remodeled. It felt so empty when we first moved in. The phones were always ringing, with apparently no one calling. The network didn't work right. Our rolling wooden bookcases with our office stuff ended up in different rooms or on a different floor. We moved everything in one weekend, and I think it took quite a while to work out most of the bugs.

    I remember Joe moving into his office. He had just gotten his sound system all connected (first things first). He stood at one end of the room with his remote, and starting turning up the volume. We were a little surprised to see dust falling from the new drop ceiling!

    And then there was Scott's office with the hidden bathroom door, the sliding star trek door, and of course, the Sprecher Keg behind the bar in his conference room.

    The 3rd floor was a big play room for a long time. We also used it for training distributors and customers, bugfest, trade show setup, and building that model train! Eventually, walls and cubes were added, getting the nickname "little Cuba".

    Lots of memories in that building... Good bye. - Duane

     

  • At 10:41 PM, Blogger belinda said…

    Thank you Dave for the nice words, and we are going to miss everyone as well. I know all good things must come to an end.Thanks to Blog we can keep in touch with some of you . Hope to hear from you soon. B!

     

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