Companies with names that were simply what they did or made.

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jaut-76@reddit

Diablo Data Systems. Made some of the old 14 inch hard drives like the series 30 used on the Xerox alto.

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EyeCanHearU@reddit

Data General, which was started by three former employees of Digital Equipment

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jaut-76@reddit

The NOVA is a nicer machine than the equivalent PDP 8/11 in 1969. RDOS is a nice OS to run if you have a 14 inch drive

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ksuwildkat@reddit

LSI Logic - The smaller version of VLSI

MIPS Technologies - Microprocessor without Interlocked Pipeline Stages

Silicon Graphics - They made graphics intensive computers

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R-ten-K@reddit

The irony being that MIPS commercial processors did, in fact, use interlocked pipeline stages.

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Distribution-Radiant@reddit

IBM. International Business Machines. They used to always make business machines of some type.

These days they're more on the software side, but the name has stuck.

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2n3866@reddit

NCR. National Cash Register. They made cash registers.

They fired an employees named Thomas J. Watson, who went on to help start IBM. He picked the name because "International" is better than "National" and "Business Machines" is a better product than just "Cash Registers".

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sethkills@reddit

Huh I never thought about what it stood for. Now I have to go down the rabbit hole of finding out why they had a Unix flavor until the 90’s…

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Distribution-Radiant@reddit

They still make registers, though primarily larger scale systems. They also make ATMs.

Someone at NCR didn't realize what RealPOS could mean either. Worked with that at two grocery stores. They're still using that branding for their highest end registers. The oldest ones were painfully slow at times and would crash to the NT desktop occasionally, and even a reboot wouldn't get past the desktop (we kept a PS/2 keyboard and mouse on hand at that store).

Very easy to use, been around a long time, but that name...

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thunderbird32@reddit

At one time NCR built consumer PCs too. IIRC, they purchased AT&T's computer division.

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lee4hmz@reddit

AT&T bought NCR in 1991 and merged them with AT&T's existing computer division, making something they called Global Information Systems...which they then spat right right back out as NCR in the 1996 demerger (the same one that created Lucent).

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thunderbird32@reddit

Dang, I had it (kinda) backwards. The "new" NCR in 1996 is probably what confused me. I knew I should have looked it up again before opening my mouth, lol

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GreggAlan@reddit (OP)

IBM made a mechanical cheese wheel cutting computer. https://youtu.be/z8VhNF_0I5c?si=tAatqw8t-7eFcreC

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Mr_Salmon_Man@reddit

It's funny how HAL is one letter lower than IBM.

I'm sorry Dave.

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Distribution-Radiant@reddit

Sorry Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that.

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Mr_Salmon_Man@reddit

Daisy. Daisy. Give me your answer true....

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Tabsels@reddit

Soon to be replaced by Intentional Bowel Movements.

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ZaitsXL@reddit

nVidia, yes they made "video" look a little less obvious but we still know.

Any of the companies with "soft" suffix: Microsoft, Chipsoft, Luxoft.

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One-Strength-1978@reddit

BASF = Badische Adrenalin und Sodafabriken

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fatboy1776@reddit

But they don’t make the product you use.

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syrtran@reddit

Well, then, who made all these BASF cassettes I have laying around... and... no longer... use. Never mind.

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One-Strength-1978@reddit

It is the historical name. They produced soda and had a name that reflected that.

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syrtran@reddit

They used to advertise with the tag line "We don't make the products you use. We make the products you use better."

However, at one time, they were one of the top tier manufacturers of magnetic recording media, from reel-to-reel, to 8-tracks, to cassettes, to floppy disks.

Since practically nobody uses magnetic recording media, anymore, they switched to the above tag line because it sounds better than "We're one of the largest industrial chemical companies on the planet."

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0xKaishakunin@reddit

Adrenalin

Anilin

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sprashoo@reddit

Aww, that’s not as exciting

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orion3311@reddit

Or the opposite: Us Robotics

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kangadac@reddit

The first time I saw a clone computer boot up with the BIOS screen showing "American Megatrends," I thought it was some kind of fly-by-night company.

I'm still waiting for BIOSes to become a huge cultural phenomenon.

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darmokpicard@reddit

Blackberry. Made two-way pagers, later smartphones. Never blackberries.

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mistertoasty@reddit

To be fair they were called Research in Motion for most of the time they made Blackberries

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LeftyTheSalesman@reddit

So the workers there got a RIM job?

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hblok@reddit

Well, there was that headline when everybody got fired:

5000 RIM jobs lost

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Accurate-Campaign821@reddit

Ran out of a certain oil I guess

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mistertoasty@reddit

You know it 😏

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GreggAlan@reddit (OP)

IIRC the Blackberry name came from the slight resemblance of the curved keyboard to the bumps on a blackberry fruit.

I got to experience Blackberry's first phone with a large touch screen. It was difficult to figure out until I realized that instead of sensing taps with the digitizer the entire clear face was a button that pushed in to actuate a physical switch.

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TheAmazingWJV@reddit

Don’t get me started on Apple Computers. Not one apple to be found.

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MegaDork2000@reddit

Android is not a robot either.

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GreggAlan@reddit (OP)

They asked Isaac Asimov for permission to name their modem company that.

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LuigiTeaching@reddit

That’s cool.

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joekryptonite@reddit

Made modems from day 1. Never robotics. (Named after a book.)

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ro3lly@reddit

Verbatim?

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prefer-sativa@reddit

No, Memorex. But I preferred TDK

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kELAL@reddit

Stores everything as-is

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BurninCoco@reddit

They make it like it is

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Alternative_Candy409@reddit

TSMC - Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company

Texas Instruments

And of course a bunch of companies around the world named "xxx Telecom".

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JamieEC@reddit

no one has mentioned 'microchip' who make.. microchips lol

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jennergruhle@reddit

And Atmel Corporation (Advanced technology for memory and logic) - later acquired by Microchip.

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MWink64@reddit

I recently found a Magnetic Peripherals hard drive in my collection.

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ElevatorGuy85@reddit

CBM - Commodore Business Machines

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RomanOswald@reddit

And don‘t foreget:

MOS Technology: Metal Oxide Semiconductor

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BaldyCarrotTop@reddit

Getting away from tech companies for a while.

Bright Ass Lights. They make super bright tail (ass) lights for motorcycles.

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TheOGTachyon@reddit

VISA - your passport to debt MasterCard - making you a slave to debt

Panasonic - Global sound DEC - Digital Equipment Corporation 3M - Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Zenith - the peak of technology Control Data - Control your data Analog Devices - Analog (electronic) devices Fluke - it'd be one if you could fix anything without our gear Radio Shack - originally, very accurate

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BaldyCarrotTop@reddit

I believe that Fluke was named after it's founder, John Fluke.

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Individual_Agency703@reddit

Nobody's mentioned IBM yet???

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SiliconSam@reddit

One that I worked for back in the early 80’s in Carrollton, TX

MOSTEK

Metal Oxide Semiconductor Technology

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syrtran@reddit

Not to be confused with the company MOS Technology, (same meaning 🙂) that invented the 6500 series cpus and later got bought by Commodore International, that had nothing to do with navies.

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SiliconSam@reddit

Pretty much all MOSTEK did was memory chips. And not well known for them as well. All of the Japanese chips were much better!

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lee4hmz@reddit

They also made microcontrollers, and were one of several second sources for the Zilog Z80 and its support chips. IIRC they were sold to SGS/STMicro back in the late 1980s.

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TheSproutMan@reddit

I have a good number of MOSTEK Z80’s in my parts bin, and a few 2716 EPROMs as well i believe.

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theweis01@reddit

BigAssFans... They make really big fans.

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CobraG0318@reddit

I got one of their stress ball...er donkeys.

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ElevatorGuy85@reddit

Cray - Made supercomputers that were Cray-Cray fast!

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GreggAlan@reddit (OP)

That's in the company named after it's founder category. Seymour Cray

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alottafungina@reddit

Wang Computers.

They were supposed to be the next big thing, but never managed to fit in

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GreggAlan@reddit (OP)

I once built a "theft proof" computer in an old Wang 386 case. The original motherboard was extra wide with ports on an extended section to the right. The left side had mounting points in standard locations so a normal Baby AT Socket 7 board fit. I blocked off the large hole in the back.

I called it theft proof because nobody would steal an old and scruffy looking 386, not knowing that inside was a Pentium or AMD 6x86.

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TheMemo@reddit

It was always a pleasure to sit down and really get to grips with a Wang.

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alottafungina@reddit

I would love to get my hands on one and spend all day playing with it

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Efficient-Sir-5040@reddit

Even the tiny ones have their charm if you know how to use them the right way.

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alottafungina@reddit

I'm more interested in the big Wangs, some of them could provide services to multiple people at the same time. A Wang like that could provide services to 100+ users every day.

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gasolinev8@reddit

Instant Pot

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cabba@reddit

Computer Devices, Inc. Guess what they made. I had a hard time even finding something to link to for reference, even though I knew the company name. -> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dot_(computer)

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GreggAlan@reddit (OP)

I wonder if MAME emulates that?

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Emptor66@reddit

Cyberdyne Systems. Will make cyberdynes in the future, popularly known as terminators.

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MFATSO@reddit

The Connecticut Leather Company = COLECO, which ended up doing electronics.

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Quiet_Cable8747@reddit

Big Ass Fans

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frumperino@reddit

MOS Technology, they made metal oxide semiconductors, later became known as Commodore but still sold MOS based chips under the MOS name.

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TheOGTachyon@reddit

No they were later bought by Commodore

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frumperino@reddit

right.

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dekai-onigiri@reddit

Intel - INTegrated ELectronics

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billyfudger69@reddit

AMD - Advanced Micro Devices

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EngineerMinded@reddit

Compaq - compatibility and quality. It started out primarily with the focus of building IBM compatible PC's.

NCR - National Cash Register

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pimpbot666@reddit

RIM, Research in Motion changed to b Blackberry, after their main product.

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ABeardHelps@reddit

RCA - Radio Corporation of America.

IMSAI - Information Management Sciences (Associates Incorporated) - made computers

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ABeardHelps@reddit

SuperMac - Made upgrades for your Mac (video cards, etc.)

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Mr_Engineering@reddit

Intel = Integrated Electronics

AMD = Advanced Micro Devices

SGI = Silicon Graphics Incorporated

IBM = International Business Machines

Oracle = people use us to store all of your data so we know everything about you

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ScudsCorp@reddit

Adaptec - who made SCSI interfaces and adaptors

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ksuwildkat@reddit

Power Computing - Made computers using the PowerPC Chip

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shawerma_sauce@reddit

BAE Systems

British Aerospace Electronic Systems

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mostly_kittens@reddit

BAE Systems doesn’t stand for anything, it’s just their name.

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Ecstatic-Network4668@reddit

There is a transportation company called "Bring"

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GreggAlan@reddit (OP)

SPRINT = Southern Pacific Railroad Internal Network Telephony. They laid fiber optic lines along all their train tracks for communication with trains and controlling signals and switches. That used a small % of the capacity so they wanted to connect to the Bell System networks as a long distance phone competitor. The railroad had to sue the phone companies to get that done. Some time later they spun off Sprint as a separate company, which is now owned by T-Mobile.

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QANTAS ... Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services

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Stoney3K@reddit

Mouse Systems.