CompuAdd Corporation was a manufacturer of

personal computer A personal computer, commonly referred to as PC or computer, is a computer designed for individual use. It is typically used for tasks such as Word processor, word processing, web browser, internet browsing, email, multimedia playback, and PC ...

s in

Austin, Texas Austin ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat and most populous city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and W ...

. It assembled its product from components manufactured by others. CompuAdd created generic PC clone computers, but unlike most clone makers, it had a large engineering staff. CompuAdd also created a

Multimedia PC The Multimedia PC (MPC) is a recommended configuration for a personal computer (PC) with a CD-ROM drive. The standard was set and named by the Multimedia PC Marketing Council (MPMC), which was a working group of the Software Publishers Association ...

(MPC), the FunStation, and a

Sun workstation The SUN workstation was a modular computer system designed at Stanford University in the early 1980s. It became the seed technology for many commercial products, including the original workstations from Sun Microsystems. History In 1979 Xerox do ...

clone, the SS-1. CompuAdd was the largest clone PC manufacturer in Austin until 1993 and outsold PC's Limited (now

Dell Computer Corporation Dell Inc. is an American technology company that develops, sells, repairs, and supports personal computers (PCs), Server (computing), servers, data storage devices, network switches, software, computer peripherals including printers and webcam ...

). CompuAdd sold PCs to corporate, educational and government entities. CompuAdd Computers 386 was on the US Army's Mobile Missile System in

Gulf War , combatant2 = , commander1 = , commander2 = , strength1 = Over 950,000 soldiers3,113 tanks1,800 aircraft2,200 artillery systems , page = https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-PEMD-96- ...

1 (1991) and it was rated and tested by the Army for that use.

History

Background

Bill Hayden was born in

San Antonio San Antonio ( ; Spanish for " Saint Anthony") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in Greater San Antonio. San Antonio is the third-largest metropolitan area in Texas and the 24th-largest metropolitan area in the ...

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

. He went to school at the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public university, public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 stud ...

and graduated with a degree in

electrical engineering Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems that use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

in 1971. He was employed by

Texas Instruments Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) is an American multinational semiconductor company headquartered in Dallas, Texas. It is one of the top 10 semiconductor companies worldwide based on sales volume. The company's focus is on developing analog ...

as a design engineer in a classified government reconnaissance project. In 1974, he switched to TI's Calculator Division and became a project engineer. It was there that Hayden claims he developed the entrepreneurial spirit that he later applied when he started CompuAdd. After several years in this position, which required a great deal of overtime, he decided that he needed more time to contemplate his future. He noticed that quality assurance was less demanding work with shorter hours and switched to that. As his 10-year anniversary with TI approached in 1981, Hayden turned in his resignation."Texas EE Seizes the Entrepreneurial Spirit", ''EDN'', January 14, 1993
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Products and retail stores

CompuAdd was founded by Bill Hayden in the following year, 1982. CompuAdd using $100,000 earned by selling real estate part-time. Hayden sold computer peripherals and add-on devices such as disk drives. The name came from this computer add-on business plan. The company's marketing slogan was: ''Customer Driven, by Design'', and it prided itself on its "no frills" corporate culture. CompuAdd operated a chain of retail computer stores in the United States. They also had a strong server line. At the height of CompuAdd's reign, it had over 100 sales people. In 1992, Hayden split the company into two parts: "one to handle 125 retail outlets and international markets" and the other for "large business and government accounts." Alongside its PC-compatible systems, the company joined several other PC clone manufacturers in introducing workstation products based on the SPARC architecture, colloquially known as SPARC clones and competing with

Sun Microsystems Sun Microsystems, Inc., often known as Sun for short, was an American technology company that existed from 1982 to 2010 which developed and sold computers, computer components, software, and information technology services. Sun contributed sig ...

' own product range. CompuAdd's SS-1 workstation was described as "basic" and with the "least added value" amongst its clone peers, but competitively priced at $. In 1992, having initially won a substantial contract to supply the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

with desktop computers, CompuAdd was forced to suspend a corresponding investment in manufacturing due to challenges made to the outcome of this procurement exercise, these eventually leading to the award of the contract to

Zenith Data Systems Zenith Data Systems Corporation (ZDS) was an American computer systems manufacturing company active from 1979 to 1996. It was originally a division of the Zenith Radio Company (later Zenith Electronics), after they had purchased the Heath Com ...

. Despite this setback, the company secured its largest contract to date, supplying Sears, Roebuck and Co. with point-of-sale systems.

Bankruptcy and acquisition

In 1993, CompuAdd closed all of its 110 retail stores, to concentrate on direct sales, and sought Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection – but also launched a new line of Centura personal computers. When they emerged from bankruptcy in November 1993, 75 percent ownership of the company was transferred to unsecured creditors, with Hayden retaining 20 percent and the remainder held for employees. Hayden shortly afterwards resigned as CEO, a position taken over by Richard Krause, the company's president and chief operating officer. Following the consolidation trend within the clone industry, as manufacturers sought to preserve volumes and access to lucrative corporate markets, CompuAdd sought to merge with fellow manufacturer Zeos International. Framed as an acquisition by Zeos, negotiations broke down between the companies, and Zeos was ultimately acquired by Micron Technology. CompuAdd was subsequently bought by Dimeling, Schrieber & Park, a private Philadelphia investment company in September 1994.

References

External links

CompuAdd corporate information and history at Fundinguniverse.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Compuadd 1982 establishments in Texas 1994 disestablishments in Texas 1994 mergers and acquisitions American companies established in 1982 American companies disestablished in 1994 Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1993 Computer companies established in 1982 Computer companies disestablished in 1994 Defunct computer companies of the United States Defunct computer hardware companies Defunct computer systems companies Manufacturing companies based in Austin, Texas Texas Instruments spinoffs