Informer Computer Terminals: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 18:21, 26 January 2023

Revision as of 19:38, 26 January 2023

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| founded={{start date and age|1971}} in [[Los Angeles, California]]

| founder=Donald Allen Domike

| defunct={{end date and age|2007}}

| fate=Dissolution

| industry=Computers

| products=[[Computer terminal]]s (glass, [[teleprinter]]s)

}}

'''Informer Computer Terminals, Inc.''', originally '''Informer, Inc.''', and later '''Informer Computer Systems, Inc.''', was a privately held<ref name=oc /> American computer company active from 1971 to the late 1990s2007. It manufactured [[computer terminal|data terminal]]s that could communicate with [[mainframe computer|mainframe]]s and [[minicomputer]]s, mainly those manufactured by [[IBM]] and [[Digital Equipment Corporation|Digital]].<ref name=oc /> It was originally based in [[Los Angeles]], California; in the early 1980s, it moved to [[Laguna Beach, California]], and in the late 1980s, it moved to [[Garden Grove, California]].

==Corporate history==

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Informer in 1981 had ten branch offices in the United States,<ref name=dc /> and some time in the mid 1980s they opened a Canadian subsidiary in [[Richmond, British Columbia]].<ref name=can>{{cite journal | last=Staff writer | date=August 13, 1985 | url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/386283459/ | title=Investment approvals, acquisitions announced | work=The Globe and Mail | publisher=Bell Globemedia Publishing | page=B13 | via=ProQuest}}</ref> Its products in the early 1980s comprised not only glass terminals and teleprinters but also [[barcode reader]]s and [[batch terminal]]s. Informer's terminals were used for data entry, data monitoring, [[remote job entry]], and software programming.<ref name=dc /> Following struggling sales in the mid-1980s, the company appointed Malcolm K. Green, formerly of [[Emulex]] as president and [[Chief executive officer|CEO]].<ref name=oc /> Shortly after Green relocated the company's headquarters to [[Garden Grove, California]].<ref>{{cite journal | last=Staff writer | date=June 22, 1986 | url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/292366889/ | title=Brian D. Markham has been named president of Imperial Automation | work=Los Angeles Times | publisher=Times-Mirror Company | page=2 | via=ProQuest}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last=Ruiz | first=Frank | date=September 6, 1987 | url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/117297009/tech-bytes/ | title=Tech Bytes | work=The Tampa Tribune-Times | page=6-E | via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>

By the early 1990s the company had renamed itself to Informer Computer Systems, Inc. In 1994, the company spun off its [[local area network|local area]] and [[Dial-up Internet access|dial-up]] networking security software operations as Informer Data Security, Inc. Bradley Little was named president of the new company.<ref>{{cite journal | last=Staff writer | date=March 28, 1994 | url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/227497065/ | title=New data-security developer emerges | work=Computer Reseller News | publisher=CMP Publications | page=148 | via=ProQuest}}</ref> Beginning in the mid-1990s, the company began orienting their products toward state [[emergency service]]s, manufacturing terminals and call-tracking systems for for [[Public-safety answering point|9-1-1 call center]]s, though they still offered general-purpose terminals as well. Edward P. Dailey replaced Little as as president and CEO around this time.<ref>{{cite book | last=Petska-Juliussen | first=Karen | author2=Egil Juliussen | date=1996 | url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Computer_Industry_Almanac/1oBTYBUsV0oC | title=The 9th Annual Computer Industry Almanac | publisher=Computer Industry Almanac | page=124 | isbn=9780942107074 | via=Google Books}}</ref> In 2000, the company employed 20 in Garden Grove.<ref>{{cite book | last=McMahon | first=Mary Louise | author2=Norman Stahl | author3=Jason Wall | date=2000 | url=https://archive.org/details/southerncaliforn0000unse_v5j3/page/326/ | title=Southern California Job Source | publisher=Benjamin Scott Publishing | page=326 | via=the Internet Archive}}</ref>

Informer went defunct in 2007.<ref>{{cite web | date=n.d. | url=https://opencorporates.com/companies/us_ca/0919656 | title=Informer Computer Systems, Inc. | publisher=OpenCorporates | archiveurl=http://archive.today/2023.01.26-193633/https://opencorporates.com/companies/us_ca/0919656 | archivedate=January 26, 2023}}</ref>

==Products==

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{{reflist|colwidth=30em}}

[[Category:1971 establishments in California]]

[[Category:2007 establishments in California]]

[[Category:American companies established in 1971]]

[[Category:American companies disestablished in 2007]]

[[Category:Computer companies established in 1971]]

[[Category:Computer companies established in 2007]]

[[Category:Computer terminals]]

[[Category:Defunct computer companies based in California]]