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Ing. C. Olivetti & Co., SpA. is an Italian manufacturer of computers, printers and other business machines. more...

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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 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. Anyway, it continued to develop on its own new computing products such as Programma 101, regarded as the first personal computer produced by a company (that is, a desktop electronic calculating machine programmable by non-specialists for personal use).

Olivetti was famous for the attention it gave to design: " 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 New York Museum of Modern Art put on the show Olivetti: Design in Industry and 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 well-known 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 60s, 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 very famous 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).

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, 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.

Read more at Wikipedia.org