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Ithaca InterSystems

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Ithaca InterSystems, Inc., often shortened to InterSystems, was an American computer company active in the 1970s and 1980s and based in Ithaca, New York. The company both manufactured microcomputers and peripherals and developed its own software.[1]

History

This was one of the last S100 computers to have front panel switches like the original Altair.

Ithaca InterSystems was founded in Ithaca, New York, in March 1977 and formally incorporated in April 1978.[2][3] Steven Edelman, the company's principal founder, incorporated it with two of his friends.[2] For the first two years of its existence, the company was named Ithaca Audio, an homage to Edelman's original business of reselling Hi-Fi audio gear to his fellow peers at his alma mater of Cornell University in the early 1970s.[4][5]: 48  After graduating from Cornell University in 1976, he briefly worked as an engineer at NCR Corporation, working at the latter company's microcomputer research and development laboratory before quitting, citing disagreement with his managers.[2][5]: 48  Edelmen and two others founded InterSystems with $6,000 in startup capital; its initial headquarters was a small rented space in Sheldon Court, within the Collegetown neighborhood adjacent to Cornell University's main campus.[2][6] In the summer of 1979, the company leased a 8,300-square-foot building off Hanshaw Road, quickly filling it with manufacturing equipment. By the end of 1979, InterSystems had 34 full-time employees on its payroll.[2]

InterSystems' first complete computer system was the DPS-1, a Z80-based, S-100 bus microcomputer, released in 1979.[7] The computer sold very well, the company soon earning big-name customers such as Bank of America, CBS, General Electric, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and NASA.[2] Its success threatened to overload the company's sole manufacturing facility, and in mid-1980 the company began eyeing real estate elsewhere in the city before getting a grant from the local government to expand their presence on Hanshaw Road.[6][8] The year 1981 saw the company's workforce grow to 75 employees.[9]

References

  1. ^ "County has 9 electronic firms". The Ithaca Journal: 2. February 3, 1981 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Mnudell, Helen (January 23, 1980). "Mini-computers: New kid on the block". The Ithaca Journal: 26 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ Mundell, Helen (October 16, 1982). "Electronics firm gets $1.5 million computer order". The Ithaca Journal: 3 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ Fowler, Robert Z. (January 26, 1979). "Electronics industry will continue to grow". The Ithaca Journal: 4 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ a b Ahl, David H. (December 1979). "Ithaca InterSystems, Inc". Creative Computing. 5 (12): 48–53 – via the Internet Archive.
  6. ^ a b Leone, Matt (August 19, 1980). "Heights school eyed by firm". The Ithaca Journal: 3 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ Stark, William (December 1979). "A Front Panel Computer for the S-100 Bus". Kilobaud Microcomputing (36). 1001001: 26–30 – via the Internet Archive.
  8. ^ Schwartz, Joseph (October 15, 1980). "Dryden town services to be cut and taxes to increase, Cotterill says". The Ithaca Journal: 9 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ^ Mundell, Helen (February 6, 1981). "In search of technicians, capital, space". The Ithaca Journal: 14 – via Newspapers.com.
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