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608:"Called the IMSAI 108, the system can handle 54 megabytes of data with a single spindle or, according to IMS director of marketing William H. Millard, it could be expanded to handle up to 16 drives-864 megabytes-'without any trouble at all.'" "The single-spindle model costs $ 29,500, and a dual-spindle (108 megabytes) model is priced at$ 47,500."
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in 1976 quickly put an end to the dominance of 8080 machines as the new chip had an improved instruction set, could be clocked at faster speeds, and had on-chip DRAM refresh. IMSAI sales quickly plummeted and so in 1977 Millard decided to take the company through another transition, this time from a
297:, receiving positive reactions. IMS shipped the first IMSAI 8080 kits on 16 December 1975 and shortly after turned to fully assembled units. Between 17,000 and 20,000 units were eventually produced, with an additional 2500 produced under the Fischer-Freitas name thereafter.
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in 1984; the franchises became independent following a series of bitter and costly legal battles with
Millard. The right to the word mark IMSAI expired on 2004-04-06 because Thomas Fischer did not correctly submit the required documents for renewal.
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Intel had announced the 8080 chip, and compared to the 4004 to which IMS Associates had been first introduced, the 8080 looked like a "real computer". Full-scale development of the
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which worked poorly. Many franchise dealers refused to retail most IMSAI products except those that retained popularity including the IMSAI 8080. With most of the IMSAI resources
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was eventually acquired by Thomas "Todd" Fischer and Nancy
Freitas (former early employees who undertook continued support after the parent company folded), now doing business as
588:"Hypercube II will sell for about $ 80,000." "IMS marketing director William Millard says military and government agencies have already expressed great interest in Hypercube"
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In 1976, as IMS had completed its transition from a consultancy firm into a manufacturing firm, the name of the company was changed to IMSAI Manufacturing
Corporation.
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and engineering, using his home as an office. The work done by IMS was similar to that
Millard had done previously for the city and county of
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378:(since October 1978), who continued manufacturing and service support under their newly acquired and trademarked IMSAI badge (such as the
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to fund
ComputerLand's expansion, and with Millard's attention diverted, IMS Associates, Inc. went into a "tailspin", and filed for
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and encouraged vast discrepancies between executives and staff - were a key contributor to the downfall of the company, and
190:, noting that Millard's EST-induced unwillingness to admit a task might be impossible was a key factor in IMSAI's demise.
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retail outlets, initially called
Computer Shack (the name was changed to ComputerLand following legal threats from
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ComputerLand retailed not only IMSAI 8080s, but also computers from companies including
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276:, and special software. Five of these work stations were to have common access to a
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Once Upon a Time in
ComputerLand: The Amazing, Billion-Dollar Tale of Bill Millard
802:"The Microcomputer System that's easy to take (Advertisement for the IMSAI 8080)"
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computer manufacturing company to a computer retailer. He established a chain of
227:, all for software. IMS provided advanced engineering and software management to
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147:. Their first product launch was the IMSAI 8080 in 1975. One of the company's
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Advertisement: IMSAI 8080 computer with 1K of RAM. $ 439 kit, $ 621 assembled.
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Scrupski, Stephen (December 11, 1975). "Coming: cheap, powerful computers".
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considered
Millard's requirements - which placed a heavy emphasis on
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IMS Associates required all executives and key employees to take the
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219:. By 1973, Millard founded IMS Associates, Inc. Millard soon found
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351:. The 8080 sold poorly in comparison, and IMSAI developed the
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was put into action, and by
October 1975 an ad was placed in
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405:(1983 film), in which the IMSAI 8080 appeared in a key role
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company, responsible for one of the earliest successes in
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760:"The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)"
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Fire in the Valley: The Making of The
Personal Computer
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In 1974, IMS was contacted by a client which wanted a "
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Fire in the Valley: The Making of The Personal Computer
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The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)
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new-car dealership. IMS planned a system including a
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626:. Vol. 8, no. 4. Ziff Davis. p. 110.
606:(17). New York: McGraw-Hill: 129. August 21, 1975.
488:"IMSAI Pre-History: The Hypercube and Other Tales"
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820:
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854:Defunct computer companies of the United States
686:"The History of IMSAI - The Path to Excellence"
791:Oral history interview with Seymour Rubenstein
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514:"History of Cults: A Trail of True Believers"
688:. IMS Associates, Inc. 1978. Archived from
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29:
849:Computer companies disestablished in 1979
834:American companies disestablished in 1979
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264:system" that could complete jobs for any
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386:computers until IBM abandoned the 8-bit
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665:"Company: IMS Associates, Inc. (IMSAI)"
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223:for his business, and received several
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736:"ComputerLand's suddenly poorer boss"
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618:IMS Associates, Inc. (October 1975).
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139:. The company was founded in 1973 by
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859:Defunct computer hardware companies
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586:(25). New York: McGraw-Hill: 67–68.
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864:Defunct computer systems companies
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433:. Los Angeles: Price Stern Sloan.
231:users, including business and the
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869:1973 establishments in California
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457:"Stores Acquired By Computerland"
598:"Disk system is 'intelligent'".
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207:began business individually as
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211:(IMS) in the area of computer
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1:
839:Companies based in California
734:Brody, Michael (1985-04-15).
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638:Lundin, Leigh (2011-10-09).
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59:; 51 years ago
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797:. University of Minnesota.
512:Crosby, Kip (2001-02-04).
425:Littman, Jonathan (1987).
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795:Charles Babbage Institute
620:"IMSAI and Altair Owners"
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486:Fischer, Thomas (2008).
233:United States Government
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145:San Leandro, California
70:San Leandro, California
786:Official IMSAI website
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807:. Computerhistory.org
667:. Computerhistory.org
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454:Staff (1990-12-30).
166:Standard Training.
121:IMS Associates, Inc.
16:For other uses, see
650:: SleuthSayers.org.
624:Popular Electronics
357:all-in-one computer
319:The release of the
294:Popular Electronics
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272:, small computer,
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174:self-actualization
155:. IMS stood for "
133:personal computing
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367:in October 1979.
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809:. Retrieved
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714:"IMSAI 8080"
694:. Retrieved
690:the original
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669:. Retrieved
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395:Pop culture
334:Radio Shack
262:workstation
213:consultancy
199:Consultancy
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811:2008-10-27
769:2023-05-26
745:2008-10-27
720:2008-10-27
696:2008-10-27
671:2008-10-27
644:Technology
525:2008-10-27
498:2008-10-27
469:2008-10-27
410:References
365:bankruptcy
345:North Star
330:franchised
301:Transition
289:IMSAI 8080
255:IMSAI 8080
245:IMSAI 8080
239:IMSAI 8080
137:IMSAI 8080
113:IMSAI 8080
104:Bankruptcy
740:CNN Money
372:trademark
278:hard disk
229:mainframe
225:contracts
49:Computers
551:(1984).
402:WarGames
361:stripped
349:Cromemco
270:terminal
127:, was a
109:Products
46:Industry
648:Orlando
388:ISA bus
274:printer
221:capital
194:History
93:1979-10
91: (
86:Defunct
76:Founder
62: (
54:Founded
41:Private
561:
519:Forbes
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347:, and
169:Forbes
135:, the
805:(PDF)
355:, an
341:Apple
325:Zilog
125:IMSAI
123:, or
559:ISBN
435:ISBN
370:The
253:The
180:and
151:was
101:Fate
64:1973
57:1973
384:IBM
336:).
323:by
321:Z80
164:EST
159:".
68:in
18:IMS
825::
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