The story
Founded by Lars Monrad-Krohn, Per Bjørge and Rolf Skår in 1967, in Bergen.1
The origins of Norsk Data go back to the development of digital computers at the Norwegian Defense Research Establishment at Kjeller, Norway, where several early computers had been designed, such as the SAM and the SAM 2, also known as the FLINK.
The success of this program resulted in the founding of A/S Nordata – Norsk Data Elektronikk on August 8, 1967, by Lars Monrad Krohn, Per Bjørge and Rolf Skår. The company became a significant supplier of minicomputers to many research projects, in particular to CERN in Geneva, Switzerland, where they were chosen to produce the computers for many projects, starting with the SPS Project, Norsk Data's international breakthrough contract. The other market segments Norsk Data succeeded in were process control, Norwegian municipal administration data centers, newspapers, as well as parts of the educational, health, and university sector.
In 1981–1982, Norsk Data became the first Norwegian company to be listed on both the London Stock Exchange and Nasdaq.
For a period in 1987, Norsk Data was the second largest company by stock value in Norway, second only to Norsk Hydro, and employed over 4,500 people.
In March 1991, shortly after the January Events, Norsk Data donated the first computer to Lithuanian Institute of Mathematics and Informatics. This donation started the development of LITNET, an academic and research network in Lithuania. Later that year, the network connection lines directly connecting Vilnius to Moscow were shut down. With the help of additional hardware donated by Norsk Data, Lithuania was able to use its first satellite-based Internet connection, which operated at 9.6 kbit/s. This was the first Lithuanian communications line that was totally independent from the former Soviet Union.
After a long period of exceptional success, the Norsk Data "empire" collapsed in the early 1990s, mostly due to not realizing the impact of the PC revolution as well as the growing competition from Unix-based systems. In 1987, Norsk Data sought to expand its collaboration with DIAB of Sweden to provide UNIX-based systems in Norsk Data's portfolio, to offer "a complete UNIX concept" together with the company's ND-5000 products. 1988 saw the company sign an agreement with the Santa Cruz Operation to offer SCO's System V product on its Intel-based personal computer systems. In 1989, alongside upgraded versions of the company's proprietary minicomputer range, notably the ND-5850, attempts were made to introduce Unix products such as the Uniline 33 range, based on Motorola system designs for the 68030 processor. Such conventional Unix systems were primarily aimed at international customers, whereas in Scandinavia the company reportedly sought to offer only its NDIX implementation of Unix for its own proprietary architecture. Systems based on Motorola's 88000 processor were planned to follow on from these new 68030-based products.
Efforts to restructure the company in 1990 were initially perceived as moderately successful, with executives and analysts expressing beliefs that such restructuring had put the company in a more favourable position than competitors who were yet "to swallow the same bitter pill" of refocusing and workforce reductions. Development of Norsk Data technology was continued by Dolphin Server Technology, with this spin-off company aiming to supply Motorola 88000-based systems to its parent. Indeed, Norsk Data introduced the Uniline 88 series of 88000-based systems, developed by Dolphin, initially in Scandinavia during 1990 and then in the UK and Germany during 1991. Norsk Data also announced an agreement with Data General to resell that company's Aviion line of 88000-based products.
Ultimately, having reorganised and rebranded its operations and having sold off numerous divisions, including Dolphin to a Telenor subsidiary, the remaining parts of Norsk Data were purchased by Telenor.
From Wikipedia’s article on Norsk Data, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4