Digital Equipment Corporation
Maynard, Massachusetts

Founded in 1957, DEC became a major producer of digital hardware, digital computers and peripherals. At its peak in 1987, the company employed over 140,000 people worldwide and had annual sales of $14 billion. After a reversal of fortunes, the company was bought by Compaq in 1998 and this company merged with Hewlett-Packard in 2002.

Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) was founded by two MIT engineers in 1957 to manufacture electronics modules that could be wired together to build custom digital systems for lab use. These modules were sold successfully, and evolved through several generations as technology advanced. In 1964 the Flip-Chip series was introduced, and these modules were used in the manufacture of PDP-7, PDP-8, PDP-9 and PDP-10 computers. Over 1450 PDP-8s were sold, and it is considered by many to be the first real minicomputer.

The PDP-11 was even more successful, with a total over 600,000 of all models produced, and the VAX architecture that was derived from the PDP-11 evolved through different models into the early 1990s. DEC also became a major supplier of communications subsystems, Ethernet hardware and peripheral equipment, such as VT100 and VT220 terminals. However, the company's fortunes declined when it missed out on the personal computer revolution and continued to emphasise proprietary products that reduced opportunities for third-party developers. In spite of restructuring, DEC suffered losses of $2.8 billion during fiscal 1992. From this time onwards, many of the company's subsidiary activities were spun off, and in 1998 the remains of DEC were sold to Compaq in what was the largest merger in the computer industry up to that time.

Some rebranded DEC products continued to be sold by Compaq, and then by Hewlett-Packard after HP acquired Compaq in 2002.