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{{Short description|American computer manufacturer}}
{{Infobox company
| name=Librex Computer Systems Inc.
| logo=Librex Computer Systems wordmark.svg
| founded={{start date and age|1990|06}} in [[San Jose, California]]
| defunct={{end date and age|1993|04}}
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| parent=[[Nippon Steel|Nippon Steel Corporation]]
}}
'''Librex Computer Systems Inc.''' was a short-lived American subsidiary of the [[Nippon Steel|Nippon Steel Corporation]] that manufactured [[Laptop|notebook computers]] from 1990 to 1992.<ref name=Bartolik1990>{{cite journal | editor-last=Bartolik | editor-first=Peter | date=August 27, 1990 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6wpPH35JpIkC&pg=RA4-PA11 | title=Nippon steel enters PC market | journal=Computerworld | publisher=IDG Publications | volume=XXIV | issue=35 | page=103 | via=Google Books}}</ref><ref name=Rockman1996>{{cite journal | last=Rockman | first=Simon | date=June 1996 | url=https://archive.org/details/PersonalComputerWorldMagazine/PCW%20199606%20June%20Created%20From%20PCW%20Cover%20CD/page/n91/ | title=Retro Computing | journal=Personal Computer World | publisher=Verenigde Nederlandse Uitgeverijen | volume=19 | issue=6 | pages=202, 232 | via=the Internet Archive}}</ref> Librex had roots in Nippon Steel's Electronics and Information Systems Division (EISD) back in Japan, which starting in 1986 had formed joint ventures with several high-profile American computer companies. Librex was Nippon Steel EISD's first venture in the United States; it also set up '''Nippon Steel Computer [[Public limited company|PLC]]''' in the United Kingdom to sell identical products. The company's notebooks received praise in the technology press, but a fierce [[price war]] in the market for laptops in the early 1990s combined with dwindling profit margins
==History==
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The incorporation of Librex came at a time when Nippon Steel, at the time the largest [[steelmaking]] company in the world in terms of sales, was increasingly [[Diversification (marketing strategy)|diversifying]] its operations. Although computer companies investing in Japanese steel companies and vice versa was somewhat commonplace in the turn of the 1990s technology industry—EISD had ties to several American computer companies—Nippon Steel set out Librex to operate independently, which was described as a rarity. Said Susan MacKnight of the Washington-based Japan Economic Institute, no other steel company had "set up a wholly owned subsidiary [in] anything outside the steel business in this country" up to that point.<ref name=Richards1990 /> Along with Librex in the United States, Nippon Steel set up Nippon Steel Computer [[Public limited company|PLC]] in [[Langley, Berkshire]].<ref name=New_York_Times1992 />
Nippon Steel EISD, which only operated domestically, influenced the foundation of Librex, as executives within Nippon Steel expressed the desire for the company to have its own name-brand commodity computer.<ref name=Rockman1996 /> Starting in 1986, EISD had formed joint ventures with the American companies [[IBM]], [[Concurrent Computer Corporation]], [[Supertek Computers]], [[Sun Microsystems]], [[Calcomp|CalComp]], and [[3M]] and Japan companies [[Hitachi]] and [[Itochu]] to help develop EISD's hardware and software products.<ref name=Electronic_News1990 /><ref name=Schmitz1990>{{cite journal | last=Schmitz | first=Tom | date=September 9, 1990 | url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1990-09-09-9003150509-story.html | title=Nippon Steel Will Build Laptops in Silicon Valley | journal=Chicago Tribune | publisher=Tribune Publishing | page=11E}}</ref><ref name=CBR1990>{{cite journal | last=Staff writer | date=August 23, 1990 | url=https://techmonitor.ai/technology/nippon_steel_forms_librex_to_make_mabket_laptops_in_the_us | title=Nippon Steel Forms Librex to Make, Market Laptops in the US | journal=Computer Business Review | publisher=New Statesman Media Group | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20221011033233/https://techmonitor.ai/technology/nippon_steel_forms_librex_to_make_mabket_laptops_in_the_us | archivedate=October 11, 2022}}</ref> Discussions within Nippon Steel to form an international computer company began in 1987 with the commissioning of EISD to research the manufacture of [[workstation]]s and [[laptop]]s. A slate of notebook computers were developed by EISD in partnership with the EISS laboratories of Tokyo and [[Kanagawa, Japan]]. On Librex's incorporation in June 1990, the general manager of EISD, Toshiji Tanaka, was named president and [[Chief financial officer|CFO]] of Librex and moved to San Jose. The subsidiary employed only 12 in August 1990, with 28 additional positions planned for creation by December; Librex projected 80 jobs in late 1991.<ref name=Electronic_News1990 /> [[Goodby, Silverstein & Partners]], an advertising agency in [[San Francisco]], handled Librex's print ads.<ref name=Johnson1996>{{cite journal | last=Johnson | first=Bradley | date=November 11, 1996 | url=https://adage.com/article/news/technology-marketing-hey-s-perfect-tech-ad-makers-campaigns-creators-clients-simply-forget/76236 | title=Hey, nobody's perfect, not even tech-ad makers | journal=Advertising Age | publisher=Crain Communications | volume=67 | issue=46 | page=A28 | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20111204003432/https://adage.com/article/news/technology-marketing-hey-s-perfect-tech-ad-makers-campaigns-creators-clients-simply-forget/76236 | archivedate=December 4, 2011}}</ref>
===First products (1990–1991)===
Librex contracted the mass manufacturing of the company's initial product lineup, a duo of notebook computers, to an unnamed American firm.<ref>{{cite journal | last=Sexton | first=Tara | date=August 27, 1990 | url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A8783238/GPS?sid=wikipedia | title=New Nippon Steel Division to Launch Line of Computers | journal=PC Week | publisher=Ziff-Davis | volume=7 | issue=34 | page=24 | via=Gale}}</ref> The Librex office in San Jose mostly handled sales and marketing and other operational duties, although the office did
===Subsequent lineups and dissolution (
In November 1991, Librex unveiled the M486 and M386SL lines of notebooks. They were based on Intel's [[Intel 80486|486]] and [[Intel 80386SL|386SL]] processors respectively and were compatible with an optional [[docking station]]. Interfacing to the laptop through a 130-pin connector, the docking station added two 16-bit [[Industry Standard Architecture|ISA]] expansion slots, a [[SCSI]] hard drive adapter, a passthrough for serial, parallel, and external monitor cables, and three 3.5-inch disk drive bays. Slated for an early 1992 release,<ref name=Quinlan1991>{{cite journal | last=Quinlan | first=Tom | date=November 4, 1991 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Xz0EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA32 | title=Librex moves to desktop with batch of portables | journal=InfoWorld | publisher=IDG Publications | volume=13 | issue=44 | page=32 | via=Google Books}}</ref> they were shortly followed up by the introduction of the Librex T386SX, featuring a modular design that extended into the design of the caddy for the internal hard drive, which could be removed toollessly for replacement or stored away as a security precaution. It took
Although Librex's laptops continued to receive high marks for their build quality, the company saw pressure in the crowded notebook market by the beginning of 1992.<ref name=Eisenstodt1992>{{cite web | last=Eisenstodt | first=Gale | date=January 24, 1992 | url=https://www.afr.com/companies/nippon-steel-learns-from-diversification-19920124-kaoas | title=Nippon Steel Learns from Diversification | work=Australian Financial Review | agency=Forbes Reprint | publisher=Nine Entertainment | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20221011033237/https://www.afr.com/companies/nippon-steel-learns-from-diversification-19920124-kaoas | archivedate=October 11, 2022}}</ref> Amid falling profit margins, Nippon Steel announced in August 1992 that they would dissolve both Librex in the U.S. and Nippon Steel Computer PLC in the United Kingdom,<ref name=New_York_Times1992 /> in what was called "the first visible fallout from the [[price war]]" hitting the portable computer market in the early 1990s, according to [[International Data Corporation|IDC]].<ref>{{cite journal | last=Lee | first=Yvonne | date=September 7, 1992 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DVEEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA26 | title=Librex shuts down its U.S. operations | journal=InfoWorld | publisher=IDG Publications | volume=14 | issue=36 | page=26 | via=Google Books}}</ref> Librex pulled their products from the market that month but continued to support customers until March 1993 while they discussed selling their capital and intellectual property to potential buyers.<ref name=Wall_Street_Journal1992>{{cite journal | last=Staff writer | date=August 31, 1992 | url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/398376981
In its three years of existence, Librex managed to attain the rank of the 47th largest personal computer maker in the United States by August 1992.<ref name=New_York_Times1992 /> Dan Crane, vice president of sales and marketing for Librex, reflected in 1996 that Nippon Steel's remote management imposed handicaps in selling Librex's products at attractive prices: "Nippon Steel simply didn't have the cultural infrastructure needed to compete here ... [having a] rather cool, ultraslim notebook for 1992 with quantities and prices that were [arbitrarily] set in 1991", in part due to management honoring the initial quotes it gave to retail and direct sales partners, refusing to ask for adjustments after the fact.<ref name=Doyle1996>{{cite journal | last=Doyle | first=T. C. | date=July 1, 1996 | url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/194167590
Librex's San Jose headquarters at 1140 Ringwood Court later became home to [[Synaptics]].<ref name=Krohn1990 /><ref>{{cite journal | last=Donato-Weinstein | first=Nathan | date=January 28, 2014 | url=https://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/news/2014/01/27/synaptics-grows-again-with-10-million.html | title=Synaptics grows again with $10 million property purchase | journal=Silicon Valley Business Journal | publisher=American City Business Journals | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140913234027/https://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/news/2014/01/27/synaptics-grows-again-with-10-million.html | archivedate=September 13, 2014}}</ref>
==References==▼
▲==References==
{{reflist }}
{{Nippon Steel|state=expanded}}
[[Category:1990 establishments in California]]
[[Category:1993
[[Category:American companies established in 1990]]
[[Category:American companies disestablished in 1993]]
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[[Category:Computer companies disestablished in 1993]]
[[Category:Defunct computer companies of the United States]]
[[Category:
[[Category:Defunct computer systems companies]]
[[Category:Former joint ventures]]
[[Category:Nippon Steel]]
[[Category:Laptops]]
[[Category:Technology companies based in the San Francisco Bay Area]]
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