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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, although it continued to develop new computing products. The TCV-250 video display terminal, designed by Mario Bellini in 1966, is in the Museum of Modern Art's design collection. Olivetti's first 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. Olivetti also manufactured for AT&T as an OEM the Model 6300 * PC (actually a re-badged Olivetti M24). 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. Operations Olivetti today operates in two countries (Italy and Switzerland) and sales associates in 83 countries. Research and development are located in: Total employees in 2003 was 1,755. Products Associated companies | ||||||||||
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