Industrial Computer Source

Last updated
Front cover for Industrial Computer Source first catalog Sourcebook Cover.jpg
Front cover for Industrial Computer Source first catalog
Back cover for Industrial Computer Source first catalog Sourcebook Cover Back.jpg
Back cover for Industrial Computer Source first catalog

Industrial Computer Source was a company launched in 1985 with the publication of their first Industrial Computer Sourcebook. Industrial Computer Source was also known as ICS. Industrial Computer Source became notable for the volume of Sourcebooks mailed to engineers and scientists. The company would mail two to four Sourcebooks per year with quarterly supplements.

The company was headquartered in San Diego, CA. Eventually there were satellite divisions in the UK, France and Germany.

The first Sourcebook was 52 pages long. Included were sections on industrial computers, industrial I/O cards, monitors and printers, rack accessories, computer accessories, software and books. The 6531, a 4U rackmount computer with a 4.77 MHz 8088 processor. 128KB of RAM, 360K floppy and 10MB hard drive sold for $7,795.00.

The products were industrial and rackmount computers, I/O cards and accessories.

Industrial Computer Source was sold to Dynatech in 1992.

In 1999, the company acquired Advent Design, Inc. and changed the name to ICS Advent.

In 2001, Kontron purchased ICS Advent from Dynatech. [1] While Kontron is a German firm, the US division of Kontron initially occupied the headquarters building of ICS Advent in San Diego before moving to a new building in Poway, CA., in May 2005.

Kontron allowed the trademark "Industrial Computer Source" to lapse July 20, 2002, [2] and the trademark "Industrial Computer Sourcebook" lapsed May 31, 2003. [3] Chassis Plans secured the trademark "The Original Industrial Computer Source" December 27, 2005. [4] Chassis Plans offers original equipment support for previous Industrial Computer Source customers.

Industrial Computer Source is currently a popular term used by companies in the industrial computer market with a Google search returning over 24,000 pages. Many previous customers still search on that term looking for the company for either new equipment or support for existing systems.

Industrial Computer Source and ICS Advent systems can often be found for sale on eBay.

Industrial Computer Source started as a division of Action Instruments as created by Chuck Philyaw. The concept of Intrapreneur was popular and Industrial Computer Source fit the definition perfectly. David Lippincott was brought in as a founder for technical and manufacturing support. Misters Philyaw and Lippincott purchased Industrial Computer Source from Action Instruments in 1987.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">IBM Personal Computer</span> Personal computer model released in 1981

The IBM Personal Computer is the first microcomputer released in the IBM PC model line and the basis for the IBM PC compatible de facto standard. Released on August 12, 1981, it was created by a team of engineers and designers at International Business Machines (IBM), directed by William C. Lowe and Philip Don Estridge in Boca Raton, Florida.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Silicon Graphics</span> 1981–2009 American computing company

Silicon Graphics, Inc. was an American high-performance computing manufacturer, producing computer hardware and software. Founded in Mountain View, California, in November 1981 by James Clark, its initial market was 3D graphics computer workstations, but its products, strategies and market positions developed significantly over time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">19-inch rack</span> Standard width frame for electronic equipment

A 19-inch rack is a standardized frame or enclosure for mounting multiple electronic equipment modules. Each module has a front panel that is 19 inches (482.6 mm) wide. The 19 inch dimension includes the edges or ears that protrude from each side of the equipment, allowing the module to be fastened to the rack frame with screws or bolts. Common uses include computer servers, telecommunications equipment and networking hardware, audiovisual production gear, professional audio equipment, and scientific equipment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Psion (company)</span> Software company in Canada

Psion PLC was a designer and manufacturer of mobile handheld computers for commercial and industrial uses. The company was headquartered in London, England, with major operations in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, and other company offices in Europe, the United States, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East. It was a public company listed on the London Stock Exchange and was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Texas Instruments</span> American semiconductor designer and manufacturer

Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) is an American multinational semiconductor company headquartered in Dallas, Texas. It is one of the top 10 semiconductor companies worldwide based on sales volume. The company's focus is on developing analog chips and embedded processors, which account for more than 80% of its revenue. TI also produces TI digital light processing (DLP) technology and education technology products including calculators, microcontrollers, and multi-core processors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Single-board computer</span> Computer whose components are on a single printed circuit board

A single-board computer (SBC) is a complete computer built on a single circuit board, with microprocessor(s), memory, input/output (I/O) and other features required of a functional computer. Single-board computers are commonly made as demonstration or development systems, for educational systems, or for use as embedded computer controllers. Many types of home computers or portable computers integrate all their functions onto a single printed circuit board.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Automatic test equipment</span> Apparatus used in hardware testing that carries out a series of tests automatically

Automatic test equipment or automated test equipment (ATE) is any apparatus that performs tests on a device, known as the device under test (DUT), equipment under test (EUT) or unit under test (UUT), using automation to quickly perform measurements and evaluate the test results. An ATE can be a simple computer-controlled digital multimeter, or a complicated system containing dozens of complex test instruments capable of automatically testing and diagnosing faults in sophisticated electronic packaged parts or on wafer testing, including system on chips and integrated circuits.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">PCI eXtensions for Instrumentation</span>

PCI eXtensions for Instrumentation (PXI) is one of several modular electronic instrumentation platforms in current use. These platforms are used as a basis for building electronic test equipment, automation systems, and modular laboratory instruments.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sfakianakis S.A.</span> Greek conglomerate

SfakianakisGroup is a Greek company that primarily focuses on the import, distribution, and trading of automobiles, trucks, and buses employing over 2800 in 6 countries in 2014.. The company has been in operation for several decades and has established itself as a prominent player in the Greek automotive market. It is known for representing and distributing various international brands, including Mercedes-Benz, Setra, and other well-known manufacturers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Essendant</span> American office supply distributor

Essendant, formerly known as United Stationers, is a national wholesale distributor of office supplies, with consolidated net sales of $5.3 billion. Essendant stocks over 160,000 items, including traditional office products, office furniture, janitorial and break room supplies, and technology products. Essendant is headquartered in Deerfield, Illinois, and also has operations in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Ultra Network Technologies was a networking company. It offered high-speed network products for the scientific computing market as well as some commercial companies. It was founded in 1986 by James N. Perdue, Drew Berding, and Wes Meador to provide higher speed connectivity and networking for supercomputers and their peripherals and workstations. At the time, the only other companies offering high speed networking and connectivity for the supercomputer and high-end workstation market was Network Systems Corporation (NSC) and Computer Network Technology Corporation (CNT). They both offered 50 megabytes per second (MB/s) bandwidth between controllers but at that time, their architecture was not implemented using standard networking protocols and their applications were generally focused on supporting connectivity at high speed between large mainframes and peripherals, often only implementing only point-to-point connections. Ethernet was available in 1986 and was used by most computer centers for general networking purposes. Its bandwidth was not high enough to manage the high data rate required by the 100 MB/s supercomputer channels and 4 MB/s VMEbus channels on workstations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Industrial PC</span> Type of computer intended for industrial purposes

An industrial PC is a computer intended for industrial purposes, with a form factor between a nettop and a server rack. Industrial PCs have higher dependability and precision standards, and are generally more expensive than consumer electronics. They often use complex instruction sets, such as x86, where reduced instruction sets such as ARM would otherwise be used.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Osaifu-Keitai</span> Japanese mobile payment system

Osaifu-Keitai, which means "Wallet Mobile", is the standard mobile payment system in Japan. Osaifu-Keitai services include electronic money, identity card, loyalty card, fare collection of public transits, or credit card. The term "Osaifu-Keitai" itself is a registered trademark of NTT Docomo.

Liebert Corporation was a global manufacturer of power, precision cooling and infrastructure management systems for mainframe computer, server racks, and critical process systems headquartered in Westerville, Ohio. Founded in 1965, the company employed more than 1,800 people across 12 manufacturing plants worldwide. Since 2016, Liebert has been a subsidiary of Vertiv.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cromemco Dazzler</span>

The Cromemco Dazzler was a graphics card for S-100 bus computers introduced in a Popular Electronics cover story in 1976. It was the first color graphics card available for microcomputers. The Dazzler was the first of a succession of increasingly capable graphics products from Cromemco which, by 1984, were in use at 80% of all television stations in the U.S. for the display of weather, news, and sports graphics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Computer Automation</span> Computer manufacturer

Computer Automation, Inc. was a computer manufacturer founded by David H. Methvin in 1968, based originally in Newport Beach, California, United States. It opened a sales, support and repair arm in the UK in 1972, based at Hertford House, Maple Cross, Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire. Later relocated to Suite 2 Milfield House, Croxley Centre, Croxley Green, Watford, Hertfordshire.

CP Inc., doing business as Chassis Plans, is an American military and industrial computer systems manufacturer specializing in rackmount computers, military computers, rugged computers, industrial PCs, rackmount LCDs, single-board computer systems with passive and active backplanes and motherboard systems. Chassis Plans is a spin-off of Industrial Computer Source.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">EnerSys</span> Stored energy systems and technology provider

EnerSys is a stored energy systems and technology provider for industrial applications. The company manufactures reserve power and motive power batteries, battery chargers, power equipment, battery accessories and outdoor equipment enclosure systems.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tritek</span>

Tritek Technologies, Inc. was founded in 1984 by inventor and innovator James Malatesta. Headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware, USA. It specializes in custom designed hardware and software for mail processing equipment, imaging, and vote-by-mail. It has many patents in mail sorting and processing.

Dynatech Corporation, originally Microtech Research Corporation, was an American technology corporation originally based in Burlington, Massachusetts, that owned a wide variety of manufacturing subsidiaries across multiple industries, including biomedical equipment, video and broadcast hardware and software, scientific instrumentation, and telecommunications testing, among others. It was founded by 1959 by a pair of MIT researchers and soon grew into a multifaceted corporation, helped along by dozens of acquisitions of small niche manufacturers across the United States. At its peak in the early 1990s, the company posted over $500 million in sales, largely generated from its video and telecommunications businesses. Following poor performance in the mid-1990s, the company divested many of its redundant businesses, culminating in its purchase by a private equity company in 1997. In 2000, it began trading as Acterna Corporation. The company was acquired by JDS Uniphase in 2005 and folded.

References

  1. "Kontron Investor Relations". Archived from the original on 2008-06-11. Retrieved 2008-07-28.
  2. USPTO
  3. USPTO
  4. USPTO