Fujitsu
Fujitsu (Fujitsu Kabushiki-kaisha) is a Japanese company
specializing in semiconductors, computers (supercomputers, personal
computers, servers), telecommunications, and services, and is
headquartered in Tokyo.
Fujitsu employs around 161,000 people and has 500 subsidiary companies.
Internationally, Fujitsu considers IBM to be its main competitor. Its
historical domestic rival is NEC.
The slogan "The possibilities are infinite" can be found below the
company's logo on major advertising and ties up with the small logo above
the letters J and I of the word Fujitsu. This smaller logo, similar to a
sideways figure of eight represents the symbol for infinity.
History
The company was established in 1935 under the name Fuji Tsushinki Seizo
(Fuji Telecommunications Equipment Manufacturing), a spinoff of
the Fuji Electric Company, this in turn being a joint venture between the
Furukawa Electric Company and German conglomerate Siemens founded in 1923.
Despite its connections to the Furukawa zaibatsu, Fujitsu escaped the
Allied occupation of Japan mostly unscathed.
In 1954 Fujitsu manufactured Japan's first computer, the FACOM 100, and in
1961 the transistorized FACOM 222. In 1967, the company's name was
officially changed to the contraction Fujitsu.
In 1955, Fujitsu founded Kawasaki Frontale (????????, Kawasaki Furontare)
as a Fujitsu soccer club. Kawasaki Frontale has now been a J. League
football club since 1999.
After 1981 Fujitsu gradually took over International Computers Ltd (ICL)
in the UK, ultimately becoming Fujitsu Services in 2002. ICL Inc, the US
subsidiary was founded in 1992 and was renamed to Fujitsu Transaction
Solutions in 2002. This division provides Point of Sale computing products
to retailers and service of equipment.
From February 1989 until the Summer of 1997 Fujitsu built the FM Towns PC
variant. It started as a proprietary PC variant intended for multimedia
applications and computer games, but later became more compatible with
regular PCs. In 1993, the FM Towns Marty was released, a gaming console
compatible with the FM Towns games.
Amdahl became a wholly owned subsidiary of Fujitsu in 1997.
The active partnership with Siemens AG was revived in 1999 in the form of
Fujitsu Siemens Computers, now one of Europe's largest IT hardware
suppliers, and owned 50/50 by Fujitsu and Siemens.
Plasma displays In 1992, Fujitsu introduced the world's first 21-inch
full-color display. It was a hybrid, based upon the plasma display created
at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and NHK STRL, achieving
superior brightness.
On March 2, 2004, Fujitsu Computer Products of America lost a class action
lawsuit over hard disk drives with defective chips and firmware.
On April 1, 2006, Fujitsu Software Corporation merged with Fujitsu
Computer Systems Corporation.
Product Lines
- LifeBook notebook computers.
- Tablet personal computers, pen based computers. With rotating screen and
plastic pen.
- Scanners - for various purposes of copying print in to digital
files.
- Ethernet switches
- KVM switches
- Servers SPARC Enterprise, PRIMEPOWER, PRIMEQUEST, PRIMERGY high end
UNIX, Linux Windows products.
- ETERNUS storage for enterprise environments.
- Hard drives for notebook computers, work stations and enterprise
servers.
- Mag EraSURE degaussers for disposal of magnetic computing
media.
In Popular Culture
In the movie Back to the Future Part II the writers thought by 2015 most
companies would be owned by Japan. Marty's employer is Fujitsu in 2015, he
is fired by company owner Ito Fujitsu. When the film was shown in Japan,
audiences did not understand the joke, since Fujitsu is not a person's
name, it is only a company name similar to the American company General
Motors and being fired by Mr. General Motors.
From: Wikipedia