 | |
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Computers |
| Founded | 1973; 53 years ago (1973) inSan Leandro, California |
| Founder | William Millard |
| Defunct | October 1979 (1979-10) |
| Fate | Bankruptcy |
| Products | IMSAI 8080 |
IMS Associates, Inc., orIMSAI, was amicrocomputer company, responsible for one of the earliest successes inpersonal computing, theIMSAI 8080. The company was founded in 1973 byWilliam Millard and was based inSan Leandro, California.[1] Their first product launch was the IMSAI 8080 in 1975. One of the company'ssubsidiaries wasComputerLand.[2] IMS stood for "Information Management Sciences".[3]
IMS Associates required all executives and key employees to take theEST Standard Training.Forbes considered Millard's requirements - which placed a heavy emphasis onself-actualization and encouraged vast discrepancies between executives and staff - were a key contributor to the downfall of the company,[4] andPaul Freiberger andMichael Swaine concurred inFire in the Valley: The Making of The Personal Computer, noting that Millard's EST-induced unwillingness to admit a task might be impossible was a key factor in IMSAI's demise.[5]
In May 1972,William Millard began business individually asIMS Associates (IMS) in the area of computerconsultancy and engineering, using his home as an office. The work done by IMS was similar to that Millard had done previously for the city and county ofSan Francisco.[5] By 1973, Millard founded IMS Associates, Inc. Millard soon foundcapital for his business, and received severalcontracts, all for software. IMS provided advanced engineering and software management tomainframe users, including business and theUnited States Government.[3][6][7]
In 1974, IMS was contacted by a client which wanted a "workstation system" that could complete jobs for anyGeneral Motors new-car dealership. IMS planned a system including aterminal, small computer,printer, and special software. Five of these work stations were to have common access to ahard disk, which would be controlled by a small computer. Eventually, product development was stopped. Millard and his chief engineer Joe Killian turned to themicroprocessor.
Intel had announced the 8080 chip, and compared to the 4004 to which IMS Associates had been first introduced, the 8080 looked like a "real computer". Full-scale development of theIMSAI 8080 was put into action, and by October 1975 an ad was placed inPopular Electronics, receiving positive reactions.[8] IMS shipped the first IMSAI 8080 kits on 16 December 1975[9] and shortly after turned to fully assembled units.[1] Between 17,000 and 20,000 units were eventually produced, with an additional 2500 produced under the Fischer-Freitas name thereafter.[10]
In 1976, as IMS had completed its transition from a consultancy firm into a manufacturing firm, the name of the company was changed to IMSAI Manufacturing Corporation.[11]
The release of theZ80 byZilog in 1976 quickly put an end to the dominance of 8080 machines as the new chip had an improved instruction set, could be clocked at faster speeds, and had on-chip DRAM refresh. IMSAI sales quickly plummeted and so in 1977 Millard decided to take the company through another transition, this time from a computer manufacturing company to a computer retailer. He established a chain offranchised retail outlets, initially called Computer Shack (the name was changed to ComputerLand following legal threats fromRadio Shack).[12]
ComputerLand retailed not only IMSAI 8080s, but also computers from companies includingApple,North Star, andCromemco. The 8080 sold poorly in comparison, and IMSAI developed theIMSAI VDP-80, anall-in-one computer which worked poorly. Many franchise dealers refused to retail most IMSAI products except those that retained popularity including the IMSAI 8080. With most of the IMSAI resourcesstripped to fund ComputerLand's expansion, and with Millard's attention diverted, IMS Associates, Inc. went into a "tailspin",[5] and filed forbankruptcy in October 1979.[12]
Thetrademark was eventually acquired by Thomas "Todd" Fischer and Nancy Freitas (former early employees who undertook continued support after the parent company folded), now doing business asFischer-Freitas Company (since October 1978), who continued manufacturing and service support under their newly acquired and trademarked IMSAI badge (such as theIMSAI Series Two), and continue support to this day.[10] ComputerLand stores continued to prosper retailingIBM computers until IBM abandoned the 8-bitISA bus in 1984; the franchises became independent following a series of bitter and costly legal battles with Millard.[13] The right to the word mark IMSAI expired on 2004-04-06 because Thomas Fischer did not correctly submit the required documents for renewal.[14]