Funny thing, .....this whole ICC business started off when I went shopping for replacement AA NiMh batteries for my transmitter several years ago, at a Sanyo outlet, they were offering all sorts of Sanyo batteries and chargers (Average peak type that take 12 to 5 hrs to charge AA) the sales person warn me to stay away from GP AA batteries and chargers.
Later I saw at another general outlet that sells Sanyo and GP product, I was drawn to a particular GP charger that takes only 1/2 hr to do AA cells, I bought the 1/2 hr GP charger little knowing about it's Individual Cell Monitoring/charging capability(They called it MCU) .....Later, I was wondering why the old AA batteries I had, not only came back to life but register 11V on my transmitter instead of the usual 10.2V after a full charge. After digging up and reading the GP Charger's manual, the old AA battery charger I had went into the dustbin ! ....I remember asking myself "Wouldn't it be great if a similar charger is available for Sub-C size cells" ......I guess the rest is history.
...Oh Yes, couple of weeks ago, I was at the place selling those chargers. The Sanyo outlet is no more there but a whole bunch of outlets displaying GP Products have set up shops ! ...And I see in Sanyo adverts that they too now have ICC(or MCU) AA charging units too !