Innovation Computer

Last updated
Innovation Computer Corporation
Company typePublic
IndustryComputer
Founded1979;45 years ago (1979) in Cleveland, Wisconsin, United States
FounderSteve Voigt
Defunctc. 1996;28 years ago (1996)
FateDissolution

Innovation Computer Corporation (formerly Innovation Company) was an American computer company based in the village of Cleveland, Wisconsin, and active from 1979 to the early 1990s. The company produced a number of clones of the IBM PC, as well as several expansions and peripherals, such as the SSI-2001 sound card. Innovation was one of the first American personal computer companies to do business with the Soviet Union in the late 1980s, shortly before its dissolution in 1991. [1]

Contents

History

Independent era (1979–1988)

Innovation was founded by Steve Voigt as Innovation Company in 1979 and incorporated in the village of Cleveland, Wisconsin, [2] off the Interstate 43. Before founding Innovation, Voigt graduated from the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee with a degree in applied science and engineering in the early 1970s. Shortly after, he gained employment at the Kohler Company in Wisconsin, founding their electronics division and becoming an executive at the company. In 1979, he founded Innovation as an electronics consulting firm and designer of circuit boards for industrial applications, chiefly doing business with firms in the Midwestern United States. [3]

In around 1983, Innovation formed a joint venture with Bronson Electronics of Seymour, Wisconsin, and together they manufactured a color graphics card for the IBM Personal Computer. [3] The two subcontracted manufacturing of the peripheral's circuit boards to various nearby fabricators, including Control Products of Grafton. [2] Innovation's cards sold well, with ComputerLand, Leading Edge Products, and IBM reselling it and including it in their personal computers as value-adds between 1983 and 1986; [4] [3] the company reportedly made $4 million in revenue in 1985. [2] In January 1986, ComputerLand of Hayward, California, commissioned Innovation for the design of an IBM PC compatible. [3] Innovation found raising the capital necessary to produce the computer difficult—in Voight's words, "a suicidal attempt"—on account of the skepticism of local investors in raising a high-technology firm in that area of Wisconsin. [5] Unable to manufacture a computer with ComputerLand's specified timeframe, ComputerLand ended up purchasing Innovation's design and had manufacturing outsourced in East Asia. [3] [5] ComputerLand's version of Innovation's PC design was branded the BC-88 and resold at ComputerLand's retail locations. [6]

In July 1986, by which point the company had only 10 employees, Innovation finally received $1.2 million in capital from Steve Einhorn, an investor from Milwaukee. [6] [5] Immediately after the capital infusion, Innovation began moving into nearby Sheboygan, Wisconsin, [2] ultimately leasing a warehouse formerly owned by the Hipke Packing Corporation in which to assemble computers. [3] Although slated for an August 1986 release, [2] their first computer, the 1010 XT, did not ship until June 1987. [7] The 1010 XT specced according to IBM's PC XT but featured a unique backplane design: instead of a motherboard, the computer's processors and critical support circuitry instead reside on an expansion card that slots into one of eight available ISA slots. [8] The computer supports both the standard 4.77 MHz operation of the original IBM PC as well as an 8 MHz turbo mode. [7] Also cutting-edge for the time, the computer comes with a robust hardware configuration and diagnostic utility in the BIOS, bringing it closer to plug-and-play functionality than most PC clones of the era. [8] As ComputerLand had done with the BC-88, Innovation had the 1010 XT manufactured overseas, in South Korea. [6] The New York Times gave the 1010 XT a positive review, [8] and by August 1987, Innovation was selling over 500 units a month. [3] Innovation succeed the 1010 XT with the 2010 AT Personal Workstation, based on IBM's PC AT. [9]

Innovation repurposed their processor-on-a-card technology for an expansion for Leading Edge's Model D. Called the Innovation D-Z, the card takes over the Model D's stock 4.77-MHz Intel 8088 and runs the computer off an 7.8 MHz compatible processor; a key combination allows the processor board to revert to the stock clock speed. [10] In April 1988, they released a line of "upgrade kits" allowing users to replace the motherboard of their existing IBM PC or compatible with the 1010 XT backplane and the customer's choice of processor card. Innovation sold these kits on the basis of future-proofing the customer's existing computer investments. The upgrade kit line included the 1010P (upgrading original PC-class systems to the XT); the 2010P (upgrading PC-class systems to the AT and its 80286 processor); the 2010I (upgrading XT-class systems to AT); and the 3020I (upgrading AT-class systems to i386). [9]

Merger era (1988 – 1990s)

Between February 1988 and May 1988, Innovation merged three ways with two other companies: first with software developer New Software International of Attleboro, Massachusetts, and later with systems integrator California Microelecronics of Campbell, California. [11] [12] All three companies had nascent plans to supply computer products to the Soviet Union, which had difficulty supplying advanced personal computers for itself around the late 1980s. [13] This merger was worked out both to effectively gain more capital for the three companies and to allow the companies to more efficiently supply computer products to ELORG, a state-owned organization that was the computer trading arm of the Soviet Union's Ministry of Foreign Trade. [11] [12] The resulting joint venture became known as Elorg Soft, with Innovation supplying the kit of computer components for factories in the Soviet Union to assemble. [13] [12]

New Software eventually instigated a de-merger of the three companies, however, seeking another group of companies to do business with. By October 1988, the companies were once again independent. [14] In November 1988, Innovation reverse-merged with a holding company in Boston to form Innovation International. [15] [16] The Boston-based company, owned by Frank G. Wright, had also been interested in Soviet computer trading. With the reverse merger, Innovation gained $8 million in capital to expand their lease and accommodate more production lines at their Cleveland headquarters. [14]

In December 1988, Innovation unveiled two 286-based desktop computers, the 2000 ST and the 2000 ET. The 2000 ET was a conventional pizza-box-style desktop computer with 3.5-inch floppy disk drives, while the 2000 ST was a very-small-form-factor computer enclosed in a 2.5 by 6 by 15 inches (6.4 by 15.2 by 38.1 cm) case. The 2000 ST (nicknamed the Stealth PC) featured a matte black finish and a flat-panel, monochrome plasma display (measuring 8 by 11 by 3 in) with a reticulating metal arm reminiscent of a Luxo lamp and standing base that could optionally be mounted to a wall or affixed to a corner of a desk. This Luxo-esque design predated Apple's similarly designed iMac G4 by 14 years. [17] [18]

In mid-1989, the company released the SSI-2001 sound card for the IBM PC. Also known as the Innovation Sound Standard, the SSI-2001 is notable for featuring a MOS Technology 6581 "SID" as the sound chip of choice. [19] The so-called SID chip was primairly the domain of the Commodore 64 microcomputer, which despite lacking in processing power compared to the IBM PCs and compatibles of the late 1980s was still lauded for its far superior sound-generating capability. [20] The SSI-2001 received high accolades in Byte and Compute! magazines. [20] [21]

In November 1988, Innovation International formed a joint venture with NPO Energia of Moscow called I3C (pronounced I Cubed C), which sold Innovation's computers to various organizations in the Soviet Union. [22] Innovation received its first order via I3C from the Institute for Automated Systems, a Soviet information technology firm. [23] Innovation later received a $6.5-million order for 80286-powered laptops via I3C, to be used in Mir , the Soviet Union's last low-orbit space station. [22] [24] The Soviets placed another order worth $2 million for Innovation's laptops in March 1991, shortly before their dissolution in December that year. [25] Voigt continued to work with the Russian Federation in the succeeding decades under his successor company American Innovation. [26] Innovation let the rights to their namesake lapse in 1996, by which the company was defunct. [27] For his contributions to space technology, the Russian Federation awarded Voigt with a medallion in the 1990s, sharing this honor with Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan. [28]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Industry Standard Architecture</span> Internal expansion bus in early PC compatibles

Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) is the 16-bit internal bus of IBM PC/AT and similar computers based on the Intel 80286 and its immediate successors during the 1980s. The bus was (largely) backward compatible with the 8-bit bus of the 8088-based IBM PC, including the IBM PC/XT as well as IBM PC compatibles.

<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 directed by William C. Lowe and Philip Don Estridge in Boca Raton, Florida.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tandy 1000</span> IBM PC compatible home computer system

The Tandy 1000 is the first in a line of IBM PC compatible home computer systems produced by the Tandy Corporation for sale in its Radio Shack and Radio Shack Computer Center chains of stores. Introduced in 1984, the product line was aimed at providing affordable but capable systems for home computing or education, with some of its Tandy specific features like graphics, sound and joystick port making it more appealing for home use.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Micro Channel architecture</span>

Micro Channel architecture, or the Micro Channel bus, is a proprietary 16- or 32-bit parallel computer bus introduced by IBM in 1987 which was used on PS/2 and other computers until the mid-1990s. Its name is commonly abbreviated as "MCA", although not by IBM. In IBM products, it superseded the ISA bus and was itself subsequently superseded by the PCI bus architecture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">MPU-401</span> MIDI interface device

The MPU-401, where MPU stands for MIDI Processing Unit, is an important but now obsolete interface for connecting MIDI-equipped electronic music hardware to personal computers. It was designed by Roland Corporation, which also co-authored the MIDI standard.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">AST Research</span> American computer manufacturer (1980–1999)

AST Research, Inc., later doing business as AST Computer, was a personal computer manufacturer. It was founded in 1980 in Irvine, California, by Albert Wong, Safi Qureshey, and Thomas Yuen, as an initialism of their first names. In the 1980s, AST designed add-on expansion cards, and evolved toward the 1990s into a major personal computer manufacturer. AST was acquired by Samsung Electronics in 1997 but was de facto closed in 1999 due to a series of losses.

During the late 1980s, Intel sold two ISA expansion cards named Intel Inboard 386/AT and Intel Inboard 386/PC, which allowed users to upgrade an IBM AT or an IBM PC respectively. The boards allowed users to upgrade their machines' CPU to a 16 MHz 80386 processor. Both variants utilized a ribbon cable which plugged into the computer's original CPU socket on one end and into a socket on the Inboard card on the other end.

Pravetz is a brand of personal computers produced in Bulgaria from 1979. They were widely used in scientific organizations and schools until the 1990s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Vollrath Company</span> American manufacturing company

The Vollrath Company is an American company based in Sheboygan, Wisconsin that manufactures stainless steel and aluminum equipment and smallwares, and deep draw stainless steel items, for commercial and institutional foodservice operations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">IBM Personal Computer XT</span> Personal computer model released in 1983

The IBM Personal Computer XT is the second computer in the IBM Personal Computer line, released on March 8, 1983. Except for the addition of a built-in hard drive and extra expansion slots, it is very similar to the original IBM PC model 5150 from 1981.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">IBM ThinkPad Power Series</span>

The IBM ThinkPad Power Series(800/820/821/822/823/850/851/860) is a laptop series from the ThinkPad line that was manufactured by IBM. It is based on the PowerPC architecture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reply Corporation</span> American computer company

Reply Corporation, often shortened to Reply Corp., was an American computer company based in San Jose, California. Founded in 1988 by Steve Petracca, the company licensed the Micro Channel architecture from IBM for their own computers released in 1989, competing against IBM's PS/2 line. The company later divested from offering complete systems in favor of marketing motherboard upgrades for older PS/2s. Reply enjoyed a close relationship with IBM, owing to many of its founding employees, including Petracca, having worked for IBM. The company was acquired by Radius in 1997.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">American Computer and Peripheral</span> American computer company

American Computer & Peripheral, Inc. (AC&P), also written as American Computer and Peripheral, was an American computer company based in Santa Ana, California. The company was founded in 1985 by Alan Lau and released several expansion boards for the IBM PC as well as a few PC clones before going bankrupt in December 1989. Obscure in its own time, the company's 386 Translator was the first plug-in board for Intel's newly released 80386 processor and the first mass-market computing device to offer consumers a means of using the 386 in July 1986.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Advanced Logic Research</span> American computer company

Advanced Logic Research, Inc. (ALR), was an American computer company founded in 1984 in Irvine, California by Gene Lu. The company marketed IBM PC compatibles across that standard's evolution until 1997 when it was acquired by Gateway 2000.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">IBM PS/2 Model 30</span> 1987 IBM desktop computer

The Personal System/2 Model 30 and Personal System/2 Model 30 286 are IBM's entry-level desktop computers in their Personal System/2 (PS/2) family of personal computers. As opposed to higher-end entries in the PS/2 line which use Micro Channel bus architecture, the Model 30 features an Industry Standard Architecture bus, allowing it to use expansion cards from its direct predecessors, the PC/XT and the PC/AT. The original PS/2 Model 30 is built upon the Intel 8086 microprocessor clocked at 8 MHz; the Model 30 286 features the Intel 80286 clocked at 10 MHz.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aox Inc.</span> American technology corporation

Aox Inc. was a privately run American technology corporation founded by Michael and Linda Aronson in 1978. Over the course of its 22-year lifespan, the company chiefly developed software and hardware for IBM's PC and compatibles, for the Personal System/2, and for the Macintosh. In its twilight years, the company designed multimedia and teleconferencing devices and chip designs. Aox was founded after Michael Aronson graduated from Harvard University with a doctorate in physics; he stayed with the company until 2000, when he incorporated EndPoints Inc. and switched to full-time fabless semiconductor design.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cumulus Corporation</span> American computer company

Cumulus Corporation was an American computer peripheral and system manufacturer active from 1987 to 1993. Based in Beachwood, Ohio and started by Tecmar founder Martin Alpert, the company set out to exclusively manufacture expansion products for IBM's Personal System/2 (PS/2) family of computers—mainly RAM expansion cards. It later released cross-platform CPU upgrade cards and memory expansion cards for other platforms besides the PS/2. Beginning in 1990, the company began trading as Cumulus Computer Corporation and began releasing complete systems of their own. Initially a success story for the tech industry in Cleveland, a botched stock launch in 1992 proved disastrous for the company's ailing cash flow situation, and in 1993 the company was liquidated amid massive debt to suppliers and lenders.

Ogivar Technologies Inc. was a Canadian computer company founded in Montreal, Quebec, in 1982 and 1992. Active for roughly a decade, the company primarily manufactured IBM PC compatibles before having the majority of its assets bought out by Tandem International, a electrochemical company, following bankruptcy proceedings. It was once one of Canada's top manufacturers of personal computers.

Innovation SSI-2001 is a sound card for IBM PC compatible computers introduced by the Innovation Computer Corporation in 1989. Unique to its design was the use of the MOS Technology SID as its sound chip of choice.

Xebec Corporation, formerly Microcomputer Systems Corporation, was an American computer hardware company active from 1969 to 1990. The company was primarily known for their data storage products, especially their hard disk controller ICs. A major customer of Xebec was IBM, who used their disk controllers extensively in the PC XT in 1983, their first PC with a hard drive preinstalled.

References

  1. ↑ Howard, Thad (December 1992). "American Intl. Finds Local Opportunities in Russia". Northeastern Wisconsin Business Review. R.M. O'Donnell & Company: 6 – via ProQuest.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "New Computer Firm Eyes Sheboygan". The Sheboygan Press: 22. July 10, 1986 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Schmeling, Peg (August 2, 1987). "Lakeshore firm quietly cranks out computers". Green Bay Press-Gazette: B-11 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ↑ Warner, Jack (June 14, 1987). "A Motherboardless Child". The Daily Spectrum. Saint George, Utah: B3 – via Newspapers.com.{{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |agency= ignored (help)
  5. 1 2 3 Wigg, Rita (March 13, 1988). "Cleveland computer firm punches up national sales". The Sheboygan Press: 15 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. 1 2 3 Jensen, Dave (August 29, 1988). "Local firms find that it pays to manufacture copycat computers". The Business Journal-Milwaukee. 5 (46). American City Business Journals: 4 et seq– via Gale.
  7. 1 2 "Systems". Computerworld. XXI (26). IDG Publications: 40. June 1987 – via Google Books.
  8. 1 2 3 Sandberg-Diment, Erik (August 16, 1987). "A PC That Has Plenty of Backbone". The New York Times: A12 – via ProQuest.
  9. 1 2 LaPlante, Alan (April 18, 1988). "'Upgrade Kits' for XTs, ATs Let Users Protect Investments". InfoWorld. 10 (16). IDG Publications: 28 – via Google Books.
  10. ↑ Brownstein, Mark (August 24, 1987). "Innovation Board Speeds the Model D". InfoWorld. 9 (34). IDG Publications: 28 – via Google Books.
  11. 1 2 "State computer firm will be acquired by New Software". Green Bay Press-Gazette: B-15. February 28, 1988 – via the Internet Archive.
  12. 1 2 3 Metcalfe, Robyn Shotwell (1988). The New Wizard War: How the Soviets Steal U.S. High Technology, and How We Give It Away. Tempus Publishing. pp. 91–92. ISBN   1556150164 – via Google Books.
  13. 1 2 Hiday, Jeffrey L. (March 6, 1988). "Firm plans joint venture with Soviets". The Naples Daily News: 43H – via Newspapers.com.
  14. 1 2 "Cleveland computer firm to expand". The Sheboygan Press: 17. October 7, 1988 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. ↑ "Innovation Computer mergers with Boston firm". Green Bay Press-Gazette: D-1. October 11, 1988 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. ↑ "Business briefs". York Daily Record: 8A. October 14, 1989 – via Newspapers.com.
  17. ↑ "Cleveland firm unveils 2 computers". The Sheboygan Press: 15. December 25, 1988 – via Newspapers.com.
  18. ↑ Smith, Jennifer (March 1989). "A deskless PC". Lotus. 5 (3). Lotus Publishing: 18 – via Gale.
  19. ↑ "Innovation SSI2001 Sound Board". Computer Gaming World. No. 63. Golden Empire Publications. September 1989. p. 19 – via the Internet Archive.
  20. 1 2 Latimer, Joey (August 1989). "Innovation Sound Standard". Compute!. 11 (8). Ziff-Davis: 68 – via the Internet Archive.
  21. ↑ "Musical Prayers Answered" (PDF). Byte. 15 (2). McGraw-Hill: 40. February 1990 – via Vintage Apple.
  22. 1 2 Witt, Louise (May 7, 1990). "Computers to Moscow". Boston Business Journal. 10 (11). American City Business Journals: 4 – via Gale.
  23. ↑ Robinson, Duncan (April 12, 1990). "Wisconsin computer firm carves niche in U.S.S.R." The Journal Times: 6B – via Newspapers.com.
  24. ↑ Norman, Jack (May 1, 1991). "Computer link to the USSR: How to do business with the Soviets? Here's a lesson from rural Wisconsin". Milwaukee Journal: C6 – via ProQuest.
  25. ↑ Freese, Mildred (March 18, 1991). "Some US firms use bartering, advance payment with Soviets: Getting paid has become a major stumbling block for American companies". Milwaukee Journal: C9 – via ProQuest.
  26. ↑ Eckardt, Mary (January 2, 2005). "Man shares honor with Reagan, Gorbachev". The Sheboygan Press: A3 – via Newspapers.com.
  27. ↑ "Innovation Trademark (Registration Number 1592781 – Serial Number 73653005)". Justia Trademarks. Justia. n.d. Archived from the original on January 16, 2024.
  28. ↑ "Who's news". Sheboygan Press. Gannett Company. July 2, 2016. Archived from the original on January 16, 2024.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.