 The characteristic ND dotted logo used from 1973 | |
| Industry | Computer hardware,Computer software |
|---|---|
| Founded | August 8, 1967; 57 years ago (1967-08-08) |
| Founders | Lars Monrad Krohn, Per Bjørge,Rolf Skår |
| Defunct | 1992 |
| Fate | Purchased by Telenor |
| Successor | Telenor |
| Headquarters | , |
| Products | Minicomputer |
Number of employees | over 4,500 (1987) |
Norsk Data was aminicomputermanufacturer located inOslo,Norway. Existing from 1967 to 1998, it had its most active period from the early 1970s to the late 1980s. At the company's peak in 1987, it was the second largest company in Norway and employed over 4,500 people.
Throughout its history Norsk Data produced a long string of extremely innovative systems, with a disproportionately large number of world firsts. Some examples of this are theNORD-1, the first minicomputer to have memorypaging as a standard option, and the first machine to havefloating-point instructions standard, theNORD-5, the world's first32-bit minicomputer (beating theVAX, often claimed the first, by 6 years).
The origins of Norsk Data go back to the development of digital computers at theNorwegian Defense Research Establishment atKjeller,Norway, where several early computers had been designed, such as theSAM and theSAM 2, also known as the FLINK.
The success of this program resulted in the founding ofA/S Nordata – Norsk Data Elektronikk on August 8, 1967, byLars Monrad Krohn, Per Bjørge andRolf Skår. The company became a significant supplier of minicomputers to many research projects, in particular toCERN inGeneva,Switzerland, where they were chosen to produce the computers for many projects, starting with theSPS Project,[1] Norsk Data's international breakthrough contract. The other market segments Norsk Data succeeded in were process control, Norwegianmunicipal administrationdata centers, newspapers, as well as parts of the educational, health, and university sector.
For a period in 1987, Norsk Data was the second largest company by stock value in Norway, second only toNorsk Hydro, and employed over 4,500 people.
In March 1991, shortly after theJanuary Events, Norsk Data donated the first computer to Lithuanian Institute of Mathematics and Informatics. This donation started the development ofLITNET, an academic and research network inLithuania. Later that year, the network connection lines directly connectingVilnius toMoscow were shut down. With the help of additional hardware donated by Norsk Data, Lithuania was able to use its firstsatellite-based Internet connection, which operated at 9.6 kbit/s. This was the first Lithuanian communications line that was totally independent from the formerSoviet Union.[2]
After a long period of exceptional success, the Norsk Data "empire" collapsed in the early 1990s, mostly due to not realizing the impact of thePC revolution as well as the growing competition fromUnix-based systems.[3] In 1987, Norsk Data sought to expand its collaboration withDIAB of Sweden to provide UNIX-based systems in Norsk Data's portfolio, to offer "a complete UNIX concept" together with the company's ND-5000 products.[4] 1988 saw the company sign an agreement with theSanta Cruz Operation to offer SCO's System V product on itsIntel-based personal computer systems.[5] In 1989, alongside upgraded versions of the company's proprietary minicomputer range, notably the ND-5850, attempts were made to introduce Unix products such as the Uniline 33 range, based onMotorola system designs for the68030 processor. Such conventional Unix systems were primarily aimed at international customers, whereas inScandinavia the company reportedly sought to offer only its NDIX implementation of Unix for its own proprietary architecture. Systems based on Motorola's88000 processor were planned to follow on from these new 68030-based products.[6]
Efforts to restructure the company in 1990 were initially perceived as moderately successful, with executives and analysts expressing beliefs that such restructuring had put the company in a more favourable position than competitors who were yet "to swallow the same bitter pill" of refocusing and workforce reductions.[7] Development of Norsk Data technology was continued byDolphin Server Technology, with this spin-off company aiming to supply Motorola 88000-based systems to its parent.[8] Indeed, Norsk Data introduced the Uniline 88 series of 88000-based systems, developed by Dolphin, initially in Scandinavia during 1990 and then in the UK and Germany during 1991.[9] Norsk Data also announced an agreement withData General to resell that company's Aviion line of 88000-based products.[10] Norsk Data was purchased by Telenor and went through several rebrands and relaunches.
Throughout the times, Norsk Data produced a long string of innovative computers. Some examples of this include:
Although the Norsk Data breakup caused a large number of layoffs, a large number of employees and intellectual property lived on in various smaller companies. Some went bankrupt quite quickly, some were bought for tax purposes.
The hardware research and development group was split off into Dolphin Server Technology in 1989.[15] Dolphin later split off into a number of companies, by far the most successful of these beingDolphin Interconnect Solutions, acluster interconnect hardware company.
In theUK,Telenor kept the Norsk Data name for several years, focusing in on hardware support and maintenance contracts, mainly withHMCG and local governments.
At the tail end of the "dotcom boom" Telenor decided to try and expand the service by acquiring the ISPCIX and XTML, a hosting company inManchester, UK.[16] The total expenditure on acquisitions was more than £50 million.
The name and business focus of this group of companies changed several times in the early 21st Century. Initially combined with the acquired CIX and XTML to form the UK arm of Telenor's Nextra subsidiary,[17] a "communications service provider",[18] the group became Telenor Business Solutions before finally reverting to ND Norsk Data once CIX and XTML had been resold to Pipex, reportedly for less than 10% of the purchase price. Much of the loss in value of the acquired companies was put down to the astronomical "goodwill" payment included in the purchase price during the "dotcom boom".
In 2003, Norsk Data was eventually acquired by 2e2, an IT services business pursuing rapid growth through acquisition,[19] joining various other established businesses including elements of PinkRoccade UK Group and ROCC Computers.[20] This bolstered the hardware maintenance side of the company. The growth by acquisition trend continued with several smaller businesses being taken on, and many employees subsequently being laid off. Major losses of high earning contracts such as Thomas Cook, Woolworths, HMP, or Corus, were never replaced with similar-sized customers.
Significant Norsk Data computer models include:
In addition to hardware, Norsk Data also produced a wide range of system and application software:
In addition to the above:
TheWorld Wide Web originated whenTim Berners-Lee wrote theENQUIRE program in Pascal on a Norsk Data NORD-10 running under SINTRAN III atCERN.[22] They also used ND-NOTIS, that was based onSGML,[23] and emailed with NOTIS-MAIL, using tcp/ip, coded inHTML.
