History
Ing. C. Olivetti & Co., SpA. is an
Italian manufacturer of
computers,
printers and other business machines. It was founded as a
typewriter manufacturer in
1908 in
Ivrea, near
Turin, by
Camillo Olivetti. The firm was mainly developed by his son
Adriano Olivetti, who is also famous for developing a new management system. It opened its first overseas manufacturing plant in
1930. Olivetti's Divisumma electric calculator was launched in
1948. Olivetti produced Italy's first electronic computer, the transistorised Elea 9003, in
1959. They also purchased the US typewriter company
Underwood that year. In
1964 the company sold its
electronics division to the USA company
General Electric, although it continued to develop new computing products. The TCV-250 video display terminal, designed by
Mario Bellini in
1966, is in the
Museum of Modern Art's design collection. Olivetti's first personal computer, the M20 with
Zilog Z8000 CPU, was released in
1982. In
1985 it acquired a controlling share in the British computer manufacturer
Acorn Computers Ltd; a third partner was
Thomson SA, and indeed Olivetti was selling the
Thomson MO6 and
Acorn BBC Master Compact with brand names "Olivetti Prodest" PC128 and PC128s respectively. The company continued to develop personal computers until it sold its PC business in
1997.
The Luxembourg-based company Bell S.A. acquired a controlling stake in Olivetti in 1999, but sold it to a consortium including the Pirelli and Benetton groups two years later. In 2003 Olivetti was absorbed into the Telecom Italia group, maintaining a separate identity as Olivetti Tecnost.
Operations
Olivetti today operates in two countries (Italy and Switzerland) and sales associates in 83 countries.
Research and development are located in:
- Agliè (Turin), Italy
- Arnad (Aosta), Italy
- Carsoli (L’Aquila), Italy
- Scarmagno (Turin), Italy
- Yverdon, Switzerland
Total employees in 2003 was 1,755.
Products
- Any Way - Multifunctional print scanner
- My Way - Portable printers
- Fax Lab 95
- Fax Lab 100
- Fax Lab 101 and 101S
- Fax Lab 120
- Fax Lab 121, 220, 450, 470, 270
- OFX 180, 9000, 9100, 9200
- IN series cartiages
- ON series paper
- L817 calculators
- T1210 Solar calculators
- J1210 Solar calculators
- Summa 120, 20,
- Logos 662, 664T, 694T
- PR2 passbook printers
- PR2E passbook printers
- PR4 SR and SL DR
- PRJ 200, 12
- Slip Printers
- PRT100
- PR40 passbook printers
- PR30 passbook printers
- d-Copia Copiers
- d-Copia colour, B/W printer/scanner (A3 and A4 series)
- d-Color P160
- d-Color P24
- PG L22 colour printer
- Fax Lab 100
- Linea 198 typerwriters
- CRF 4050 cash registers
- ECR 5100, 5300, 5700, 5900
- Gallery, Logic
- Nettuna 200, 400
- ORS 6600 Planet
- Explor@ 100, 200, 300 200M 300M - POS
- Explor@ 120D, 150D and Gold
- D-Files
- Document Management
- TP Label - franking system
- PR6 and PR2 Counter Printing Peripherals
- M2T, M3m M5C, TE1000, TE1000R, AX/T - ticket validation
- HD3, NT, XP, COMBO - validator
- Echo, H2 onboard terminals
- Software - management of appliances, integrated systems, ticketing, etc...
Associated companies
External links
Companies of Italy
Olivetti | Olivetti | Olivetti | Olivetti | Olivetti | オリベッティ