View source for Digital Equipment Corporation

'''Digital Equipment Corporation''', or '''DEC''', was a large computer company (at one time, the second-largest in the world after [[International Business Machines|IBM]]). They made [[minicomputer]]s, their signature product (and the one that led to their success), for a period, the most popular kind of computers in the world. Their product range eventually extended from small [[mainframe]]s to [[personal computer]]s.

It was started in 1957, in an old wool mill in Maynard, Massachusetts. The original product line was modules, [[System Module]]s. Once those were established, they started producing computers using them.

They reached the peak of their success in the 1980s, with their [[VAX]] line. However, they were unable to successfully adapt to the rise of personal computers, which turned computers into commodities, and were bought by [[Compaq]] in 1998.

==See also==

* [[List of Programmable Digital Processors]]
* [[DEC part number]]s
* [[DEC drawing codes]]
* [[:Category:DEC Hardware]]
* [[:Category:DEC Boards]]
* [[:Category:DEC Architectures]]
* [[:Category:DEC Buses]]
* [[:Category:DEC Systems]]
* [[:Category:DEC Processors]]
* [[:Category:DEC Memories]]
* [[:Category:DEC Peripherals]]
** [[:Category:DEC Storage Controllers]]
** [[:Category:DEC Disk Drives]]
* [[:Category:DEC Terminals]]
* [[:Category:DEC Software]]
** [[:Category:DEC Operating Systems]]

==Further reading==

* Glenn Rifkin, George Harrar, ''The Ultimate Entrepreneur: The Story of Ken Olsen and Digital Equipment Corporation'', Contemporary, Chicago, 1988 - The best general history of DEC, but stops at 1987
* Edgar H. Schein, ''DEC is Dead, Long Live DEC'', Berett-Koehler, San Francisco, 2003
* Clayton M. Christensen, ''The Innovator's Dilemma: When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail'', Harvard Business School, Boston, 1997 - Briefly discusses DEC's inability to adapt to the world with personal computers
* Jamie Parker Pearson, [http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/people/gbell/digital/Digital%20at%20work%201992.pdf ''Digital at Work: Snapshots from the First Thirty-Five Years''], Digital, Burlington, 1992
* Alan R. Earls, ''Digital Equipment Corporation (Images of America)'', Arcadia, Charleston, 2004 - Mostly covers the early years
* C. Gordon Bell, J. Craig Mudge, John. E. McNamara, ''Computer Engineering: A DEC View of Hardware Systems Design'', Digital Press, Bedford, 1978

==External links==

* [http://www.decconnection.org/digitalstechnology.htm Digital's Technology Heritage]
* [http://www.avanthar.com/healyzh/decemulation/decemu.html The DEC Emulation Website]

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[[Category: Digital Equipment Corporation]]