Everything about Olivetti totally explained
Ing. C. Olivetti & Co., SpA., known as
Olivetti, is an
Italian manufacturer of
computers,
printers and other business machines.
History
The company 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 also developed a new management system. Olivetti opened its first overseas manufacturing plant in
1930, and its Divisumma electric calculator was launched in
1948. Olivetti produced Italy's first electronic computer, the transistorised Elea 9003, in
1959, and purchased the
Underwood Typewriter Company that year. In
1964 the company sold its
electronics division to the
American company
General Electric. It continued to develop on its own new computing products such as
Programma 101, regarded as the first
personal computer produced by a company.
Olivetti was famous for the attention it gave to design: "[a] preoccupation with design developed into a comprehensive corporate philosophy, which embraced everything from the shape of a space bar to the color scheme for an advertising poster". In 1952, the
Museum of Modern Art held an exhibit titled "Olivetti: Design in Industry"; many Olivetti products remain part of the museum's permanent collection. Another major show, mounted by the
Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris in 1969, toured five other cities. Olivetti was also renowned for the caliber of the architects it engaged to design its factories and offices, including
Le Corbusier,
Louis Kahn,
Gae Aulenti, and many others.
From the 1940s to the 1960s, Olivetti
industrial design was led by
Marcello Nizzoli, responsible for the Lexicon 80 (1948) and the iconic portable Lettera 22 (1950). Later,
Mario Bellini and
Ettore Sottsass directed design. Bellini designed the Programma 101 (1965),
Divisumma 18 (1973) and Logos 68 (1973) calculators and the TCV-250 video display terminal (1966), among others. Sottsass designed the Tekne 3 typewriter (1958), Elea 9003 computer (1959), the Praxis 48 typewriter (1964), the Valentine]portable typewriter (1969), and others. Michele De Lucchi designed the Art Jet 10 ink-jet printer (1999) (winner of the
Compasso d'Oro) and the Gioconda calculator (2001).
George Sowden worked for Olivetti from 1970 until 1990, and designed their first desk top computer, L1, in 1978 (following ergonomic research lasting two years). In 1991, Sowden won the the prestigious ADI
Compasso d'Oro Award for the design of the Olivetti fax OFX420.
Olivetti's first modern 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. Olivetti sold 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.
Olivetti today operates in
Italy and
Switzerland, and has sales associates in 83 countries. Research and development are located in
Agliè,
Arnad,
Carsoli, and
Scarmagno in Italy, and
Yverdon, Switzerland.
Famous Olivetti users
Further Information
Get more info on 'Olivetti'.
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