They began by building small circuit modules for laboratory use. The first PDP (Programmed Data Processor), the PDP-1, sold for $120,000. Digital Equipment Corporation’s minicomputer, the PDP-1, was much smaller and less powerful compared to the mainframe but was more interactive and significantly less expensive.
The first Product Line at Digital Equipment Corporation was formed in 1964; an event that marked an upswing in Digital Equipment Corporation’s sales volume and profits. This approach teamed the Engineering, Programming, Marketing, and Production departments under a Product Line Manager who had profit and loss responsibility. The concept soon spread from the PDP-6 group to embrace the entire company by the following year.
With growing adoption, both the minicomputer market and Digital Equipment Corporation experienced considerable growth through the 1970s.
In 1976, they moved into the high-end computing market with the VAX series of machine (an extension of their popular PDP-11 series), an architecture that extended the PDP-11s word length to 32 bits.
In March 1977: Digital Equipment Corporation announces a new mid-range price/performance system, the PDP-11/60. The PDP-11 series made minicomputers widely available for general computing, process control, and education. Including the PDP-11 clones from several sources, some in Eastern Europe, an estimated 650,000 have been produced.
In the same year DIGITAL opens the Digital Equipment Corporation Diagnosis Center (DDC) in Colorado Springs, Colorado. It is the industry's first facility for computerized remote diagnosis.
In 1990 a series of late releases of a new disk storage system put financial pressure on the company and, despite releasing their powerful Alpha microprocessor, DEC struggled.
In January 1992, the company reported a quarterly loss of $138 million, the next quarter it reported a quarterly loss of $234 million, and the next quarter a $294 million loss.
It sold off various sections of the company. On January 26, 1998, Compaq Computer Corporation agreed to buy Digital Equipment Corporation for $9.6 billion in cash and stock. Compaq itself was bought out by Hewlett-Packard in 2002.
Digital Equipment Corporation
