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Datatech Enterprises
DTK Computer
Company typePrivate
IndustryComputers
Founded
Defunct2009; 15 years ago (2009)
FateDissolved (except Dubai branch)
RevenueUS$99 million (1994)
Number of employees
1,000 (1989[1])

DTK Computer is the name for international branches of Datatech Enterprises, a Taiwanese computer manufacturer. Founded in 1981, the company was an early supplier of peripherals for IBM PCs as well as PC compatible motherboards. In the late 1980s, the company switched to developing complete systems under the DTK name as well as serving as an OEM for motherboards and cases, as bought by other small computer companies and systems integrators.[2]

DTK was little-known in its own time but performed well in the marketplace.[3] By 1991, the company was the second-largest computer system manufacturer in Taiwan, behind Acer.[4] It was the 10th and 11th biggest personal computer manufacturer in the world in 1991 and 1992 respectively, according to Electronics magazine.[5]

History

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Foundation and expansion (1981–1989)

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Datatech Enterprises was established in Taipei, Taiwan, in 1981.[6] The company was founded by eight employees with US$15,000 in start-up capital; in 1982, Datatech raised an additional US$337,000 in capital and expanded to 24 employees.[7] Datatech's president Duke Liao founded the company's United States branch in 1986.[8] This branch was named DTK Computer and was initially headquartered in Rosemead, California. In 1989, DTK moved their headquarters to the City of Industry in California to afford more space for its warehouse of products and to lessen the driving distance for most of its employee base, which in 1993 comprised 100 employees.[9]

Datatech employed 1,000 people globally in 1989. Its research and development lab in Taiwan grew from 45 employees to 72 that year. Employees worked from eight to ten hours on weekdays and four hours on Saturdays. The workplace environment in Taiwan was relatively progressive for the time, with only a single layer of management between engineers and the company presidents, management allowing capable engineers to fully experiment in their departments, and flexible hours with a two-hour grace period for employees' nominal starting times and no punch clock. The R&D lab was cramped for space, however, with workbenches and two-by-four-foot desks arranged in a loose grid, bookshelves being used for equipment storage and small tables being used to store books and papers.[1][a]

The company manufactured clones for several architectures, including the IBM PC standards, Micro Channel, and SPARC. The R&D lab's Systems Development department, managed by Norman Tsai in 1989, was responsible for creating and maintaining the different divisions for each architecture and hiring employees for those divisions. Most employees in Systems Development had majored in electrical engineering with emphasis in computer architecture while in college. The Institute for Information Industry funded research for DTK, as they had done with other computer companies in Taiwan.[1]

Datatech developed its own chipsets in addition to purchasing ones from VLSI and Chips and Technologies. The company's ASIC division comprised 20 employees under the supervision of Dr. Chen Kunnan in 1989. Most employees in this division were trained on the job, although some were also taught at seminars hosted by other ASIC manufacturers. The Electronics Research Service Organization, an agency of the Taiwanese government focused on VLSI circuits, provided funding for this division. Engineers designed the company's chipsets with the use of several EDA tools, including an ECAD Dracula design-rule checker, an ASIX II VLSI checker, a Daisy Logician circuit simulator, a MicroVAX II, and several EGA workstations. Up to four employees shared each workstation. Owing to the company's streamlined nature, new equipment could be delivered in two weeks, compared to two months for Acer, Datatech's domestic competitor.[1]

Unusual for a company of its stature, Datatech also developed its own BIOS for its IBM PC compatibles. Its first PC BIOS clone was developed in 1985; while second source of such BIOSes had already been developed by companies such as Phoenix Technologies in the United States, Datatech feared that they would be sued out of existence by IBM and so developed its own clean-room implementations in 1985.[10] Although Datatech's fears were later assuaged, quality-assurance supervisor David Wang felt that the continued development of in-house BIOSes afforded the company technical expertise that could be applied to other aspects of their R&D lab, as was the case for the company's ASIC division.[1]

Further expansion (1989–1999)

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A DTK Computer system c. 1993

In the United States, DTK Computer expanded to Texas in 1988, leasing a 17,700-square-foot office in the Alief section of Houston.[11] It later opened up production facilities in Elk Grove Village, Illinois; Norcross, Georgia; Miami, Florida; and New Jersey.[12] DTK began manufacturing computers within the United States in Norcross in the early 1990s, leasing a 150,000-square-foot assembly plant near Georgia State Route 141. Computers manufactured there were shipped domestically and abroad, including to Hong Kong.[13] DTK's Miami facility, meanwhile, was particularly conducive to DTK's sales in Latin America.[14]

DTK was among the first companies to have its computers sold via satellite television in 1991.[3] Satellite Market USA, a satellite-only shopping channel, premiered the Satellite Computer Store in 1991, a program on which DTK and several other computer brands were advertised.[3] In 1992, the company also set up two brick-and-mortar computer stores. These stores did not sell to the end users directly but instead targeted resellers, putting their Grafika multimedia PCs on display as well as accompanying promotional material.[15] A Kansas store was opened in January; another was set up in the Metro Center of Nashville in November.[16] DTK posted revenues of $99 million in the United States in 1994, selling 46,000 equipment units that year.[17]

Duke Liao founded Datatech's Hong Kong subsidiary in 1990, naming it Gemlight Computer.[8] Elsewhere in Asia, Datatech expanded into Japan, India, and Mainland China in Shenzhen. In 1996, its Dubai subsidiary DTK Computer FZE, was founded.[18] Japan was the primary market for Datatech's SPARC workstations. Datatech's Taiwanese operation changed its name to Advance Creative Computer in the mid-1990s and began focusing on PowerPC- and UltraSPARC-based machines as well as Java-based internet appliances. Advance Creative abandoned their PowerPC pursuits in 1996, citing Apple's disposition toward open architectures, but continued developing Java appliances and UltraSPARC workstations.[19] In Europe, meanwhile, DTK established subsidiaries in Germany, Austria, Poland, Hungary, and Moscow.[20]

Decline (1999–2009)

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Gemlight of Hong Kong dissolved sometime in 2001.[21] DTK Computer's offices ceased operations in 2002, filing a certificate of dissolution to the Secretary of State in 2005.[22] DTK's Taiwanese website went down in 2009.[23]

As of June 2024, DTK Computer FZE is still operational.[18]

Products

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Explanatory notes
  • Superserver denotes a server with swappable drive bays.
  • Grafika computers, as opposed to their bare-bone counterparts, were fully configured with MS-DOS 5.0 and Windows 3.0 and came shipped with a keyboard and a mouse.[24]

Personal computers

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DTK personal computers
Model Processor Clock speed
(MHz) 		L2 cache
(KB) 		Form factor Date introduced Ref(s).
DATA-1000 Intel 8088 10 0 Desktop 1987 [25]
TECH-1230 Intel 80286 12 0 Mini-desktop 1989 [26]
TECH-1263 Intel 80286 12 0 Slimline 1990 [25]
TECH-1632 Intel 80286 16 0 Mini-desktop 1990 [25]
KEEN-2000D Intel 80386 20 0 Desktop November 1988 [27]
KEEN-2000T Intel 80386 20 0 Tower November 1988 [27]
KEEN-2032 Intel 80386 20 0 Mini-desktop 1989 [28]
KEEN-2500 Intel 80386 25 0 Desktop September 1989 [29]
KEEN-2503 Intel 80386 25 0 Server September 1989 [29]
KEEN-2530 Intel 80386 25 0 Mini-desktop 1990 [30]
KEEN-2531 Intel 80386 25 Desktop January 1991 [31]
KEEN-2561 Intel 80386 25 Mini-desktop 1992 [32][b]
KEEN-3302 Intel 80386 33 64–256 Desktop 1990 [33]
KEEN-3304 Intel 80386 33 64–256 Server 1990 [33]
KEEN-3332 Intel 80386 33 64–256 Tower January 1991 [34]
KEEN-3335 Intel 80386 33 64–256 Tower 1992 [35]
KEEN-3336 Intel 80386 33 64–256 Desktop 1992 [36]
KEEN-4030 Intel 80386 40 64–256 Desktop 1992 [36]
KEEN-4035 Intel 80386 40 64–256 Tower 1992 [37]
KEEN-3362 Intel 80386 33 64–256 Desktop 1992 [35]
PEER-1630 Intel 80386SX 16 0 Mini-desktop 1990 [38]
PEER-1632 Intel 80386SX 16 0 Desktop 1990 [38]
PEER-1660 Intel 80386SX 16 0 Slimline 1990 [39]
PEER-2030 Intel 80386SX 20 0 Mini-desktop 1990 [40]
FEAT-2500 Intel 80486 25 64–256 Desktop January 1990 [41]
FEAT-2502 Intel 80486 25 64–256 Server January 1990 [41]
FEAT-2503 Intel 80486 25 64–256 Superserver January 1990 [41]
FEAT-3300 Intel 80486 33 64–256 Tower January 1990 [42]
FEAT-03 Intel 80486 33 Tower or desktop June 1993 [43][c]
FEAT-38 Intel 80486DX2 66 128 Mini-tower 1994 [44]
FEAT-35 Intel 80486DX2 66 256 Mini-tower 1994 [45]
FEAT-39M Intel 80486DX4 100 Mini-tower 1995 [46]
FEAT-62 Intel 80486DX2 66 128–256 Slimline 1994 [47]
SPAN-3300 Intel 80486 33 Desktop 1990 [48][d]
Grafika 2A Intel 80286 16 0 Desktop December 1991 [24]
Grafika 3A Intel 80386SX 20 0 Desktop December 1991 [24]
Grafika 3B Intel 80386 25 0 Desktop December 1991 [24]
Grafika 3C Intel 80386 33 0 Desktop December 1991 [24]
Grafika 3D Intel 80386 33 0 Tower December 1991 [24]
Grafika 3E Am386 40 0 Tower December 1991 [24]
Grafika 4A Intel 80486 33 64–256 Desktop December 1991 [24]
Grafika 4B Intel 80486 33 64–256 Tower December 1991 [24]
Grafika 4I Intel 80486 66 Mini-tower November 1992 [49][c]
Grafika 4J Intel 80486 66 Mini-desktop November 1992 [49][c]
Grafika 4VI Intel 80486 33 June 1993 [50][c]
Grafika 42VD-S2 Intel 80486SX 25 Desktop 1993 [51][c]
QUIN-32 Pentium 60 256–512 Tower 1994 [47]
QUIN-O2/33 Pentium 60 or 66 256–512 Mid-tower or mini-desktop 1995 [52]
QUIN-34 Pentium 60 or 66 256–1024 Mid-tower or mini-desktop 1995 [52]
QUIN-35 Pentium 75, 90, or 100 256–1024 Mid-tower or mini-desktop 1995 [53]
QUIN-51 Pentium 75, 90, or 100 256 Mid-tower or mini-desktop 1995 [52]
QUIN-52 Pentium 75, 90, or 100 256–512 Mid-tower or mini-desktop 1995 [53]
QUIN-54 Pentium 75, 90, 100, 120, or 133 Mid-tower or mini-desktop 1995 [54]
QUIN-55 Pentium 100, 120, 133, 150, 166, or 200 512 Mid-tower 1995 [55]
QUIN-61 Pentium 75, 90, 100, 120 or 133 Slimline 1995 [56]
APRI-31 Pentium Pro 180 or 200 Tower 1996 [57]
APRI-32 Pentium Pro (dual) 200 Tower 1996 [58]
APRI-74M Pentium II 233, 266, or 300 512 Tower 1997 [59]
APRI-76M Pentium II 233, 266, 300, or 333 512 Tower 1997 [60]
APRI-77M Pentium II (dual) 333 Tower 1998 [61]
APRI-80M Pentium II 400 Tower 1998 [62]
APRI-80M/PIII Pentium III 500, 600 Tower 1999 [63]
APRI-81S Pentium II (dual) 450 Tower 1999 [64]

Laptops

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DTK laptops
Model Processor Clock speed
(MHz)		 RAM (MB) LCD technology Date introduced Ref(s).
DNB/1 Intel 80386SX 16 1–5 Passive-matrix monochrome August 1991 [48]
DSN-3340C Intel 80486SX 33 4 Passive-matrix color August 1993 [65]
DSN-3340 Intel 80486SX 33 4 Passive-matrix monochrome August 1993 [65]
DTN-5P60A Intel Pentium 60 8–40 Passive-matrix color or monochrome June 1994 [66]
DTN-4T66P Intel 80486DX2 66 4–52 Passive-matrix color June 1994 [67]
DTN-4T66M Intel 80486DX2 66 4–52 Passive-matrix monochrome June 1994 [67]
DTN-4T100P Intel 80486DX4 100 8–40 Passive-matrix color April 1995 [68]
DTN-5P90 Intel Pentium 90 16–40 Passive-matrix color November 1995 [69]
DTM-5A120C Intel Pentium 120 2–? Active-matrix color 1996 [70]
FortisPro Top5A233 Pentium MMX 233 32–144 Active-matrix color 1998 [71]

Workstations and servers

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DTK workstations
Model Processor Clock speed
(MHz) 		Form factor Date introduced Ref(s).
Station M30 MicroSPARC 30 Tower June 1993 [72]
Station M41 MicroSPARC 40 Tower June 1993 [72]
Station Classic+ MicroSPARC 50 Tower June 1993 [72]
Cosmos II NT Server Pentium II Xeon (dual) 450 Tower 1998 [61]
Vista II NT Server Pentium II Xeon (quad) 400 Tower 1998 [61]
Grafika 550 NT Workstation Pentium III 733 Tower 1998 [73]

Notes

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  1. ^ Datatech planned to move the lab to a larger location in Taiwan in late 1989 (Legg 1989, p. 57).
  2. ^ Virtually the same as the KEEN-2531 in specification except the KEEN-2531 has eight expansion slots (one 32-bit, five 16-bit, and one 8-bit), while the KEEN-2561 has five 16-bit slots
  3. ^ a b c d e Equipped with two VESA Local Bus slots
  4. ^ Extended Industry Standard Architecture motherboard

Citations

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  1. ^ a b c d e Legg 1989, p. 57.
  2. ^ Smith 1992, p. 73.
  3. ^ a b c McCormick 1991.
  4. ^ Marouani 1991, p. 9.
  5. ^ McLeod 1993, p. 10.
  6. ^ Staff writer 1989, p. 109.
  7. ^ Wang & Lee 2004.
  8. ^ a b Liao 1997, p. 2.
  9. ^ Deady 1993, p. 36.
  10. ^ Legg 1989, p. 57; Wang & Lee 2004.
  11. ^ Staff writer 1988a, p. 8.
  12. ^ Arney 1992, p. A3; Murray 1997; Campbell 1992, p. 6.
  13. ^ Murray 1997.
  14. ^ Pereira 1994, p. 139.
  15. ^ Campbell 1992, p. 6.
  16. ^ Staff writer 1992, p. 14; Campbell 1992, p. 6.
  17. ^ Raskin 1995, p. 284.
  18. ^ a b DTK Computer Middle East n.d.
  19. ^ Burns 1997, p. 8.
  20. ^ Lee 2004; Staff writer 1995.
  21. ^ Staff writer 2021.
  22. ^ US Fed News Service 2013; OpenCorporates n.d..
  23. ^ DTK Computer 2009.
  24. ^ a b c d e f g h i Brownstein 1991, p. 28.
  25. ^ a b c DTK Computer 1990, p. 4.
  26. ^ Microtex Distribution 1989, p. 677; DTK Computer 1990, p. 4.
  27. ^ a b Staff writer 1988b, p. 15.
  28. ^ DTK Computer 1989, p. 59.
  29. ^ a b Varhol 1989, p. 73; DTK Computer 1990, p. 3.
  30. ^ Smith 1992, p. 108; DTK Computer 1990, p. 3.
  31. ^ Skillings 1990, p. 19; Smith 1992, p. 110.
  32. ^ Smith 1992, p. 110.
  33. ^ a b Boudette 1991, p. 21; DTK Computer 1990, p. 3.
  34. ^ Skillings 1990, p. 19; Staff writer 1991, p. 110; Boudette 1991, p. 21.
  35. ^ a b Smith 1992, p. 114.
  36. ^ a b Chen et al. 1992, p. 4.
  37. ^ Smith 1992, p. 116.
  38. ^ a b DTK Computer 1990, p. 3.
  39. ^ Garza et al. 1991, p. 54; DTK Computer 1990, p. 3.
  40. ^ Brown 1990, p. 160; DTK Computer 1990, p. 3.
  41. ^ a b c Grossman 1989, p. 15; DTK Computer 1990, p. 2.
  42. ^ Boudette 1991, p. 21; Smith 1992, p. 128.
  43. ^ Quinlan 1993.
  44. ^ Farrance 1994a, p. 152.
  45. ^ Farrance 1994b, p. 196.
  46. ^ Hastings & Hamilton 1995, pp. 144, 148.
  47. ^ a b Yegyazarian 1994b, pp. 190, 194.
  48. ^ a b Boudette 1991, p. 21.
  49. ^ a b Burke 1992, p. 31.
  50. ^ Quinlan 1993, p. 32; Staff writer 1993, p. 35.
  51. ^ Hastings 1993, p. 208.
  52. ^ a b c DTK Computer 1995a.
  53. ^ a b Anthony 1995a, p. 146; DTK Computer 1995a, p. 86.
  54. ^ Anthony 1995b, p. 212; DTK Computer 1995b, p. 122.
  55. ^ Metz 1996, p. 135; DTK Computer 1996, p. 30.
  56. ^ Quain 1995, p. 154; DTK Computer 1995b, p. 122.
  57. ^ Staff writer 1996, p. 98.
  58. ^ Enck 1997.
  59. ^ Campanale 1997, p. 99; DTK Computer 1997, p. 44.
  60. ^ Tanner 1998, p. 119; DTK Computer 1997, p. 44.
  61. ^ a b c DTK Computer 1998, p. 198.
  62. ^ Spiwak 1998, p. 36.
  63. ^ Hill 1999, p. 137.
  64. ^ Speir 1999, p. 37.
  65. ^ a b Quinlan 1993, p. 32.
  66. ^ Lee 1994, p. 34.
  67. ^ a b Lee 1994, p. 34; Yegyazarian 1994a, p. 203.
  68. ^ Farrance & Desmond 1995, p. 196.
  69. ^ Hastings & Grimes 1995, p. 234; Anthony 1996, p. 159.
  70. ^ Brown 1997, pp. 147, 149.
  71. ^ Metz 1998, pp. 192, 230.
  72. ^ a b c Staff writer 1993, p. 35.
  73. ^ Forman 1999, p. 62; Maestri 2000, p. 67.

References

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