A bit of American Nixdorf history

14/5/2011

I had an Email from Charlie in the USA the other day and I've posted his comments here as they provide some usefull background information to early Nixdorf - thanks Charlie for the info.

I worked for Nixdorf Computer for 10 years and sold some of the first 8870s in the US. The first machines sold here were US assembled from purchased components (DCC CPU, Disk, IRIS O/S, etc.). The were too slow for more than 2 or 3 terminals

Nixdorf Computer AG then began manufacturing them in-house in Germany and eventually phased out the US Assembly line in Schaumburg, IL. I also sold the first COMET system (s/w) that was sold as an alternative to NIDAS (original bill, post and inventory package sold to small businesses).

Nixdorf acquired ENTREX (key to disk) about 1977 which led to the 8850 line (Extrex made the 280, 380, 480 and 600 series Data Entry systems). US HQ was moved to Burlington, MA (and later Waltham). Nixdorf added the 8890 (plug compatible mainframe); tried WP for a short time - 8840, Communications boxes - 8860 (competed with IBM 8100) and even PC's -- 8810 --- none were really successful.

It was a fun company to work for, but they never had stable US Management which led to their demise.

8 Comments

Piet van winden

15/4/2012 01:40:14 pm

In 1978 nixdorf sended 70 8870 dcc systems back to the US because they where not satisfactory for the european needs. In Belgium, Netherlands, England and Spain these systems where replaced by the European version hardware. The used systems thrived however with shipping damage in the US. 40 of these systems where sold already and people in the US where not able to repair this a mount within 3 months

Kevin Dowd

15/5/2013 06:45:21 am

I worked for ABD Securities in the 1980s. We were on the Boston Stock Exchange Service Corp for a while and they installed Entrex to send data to the mainframe for processing.

I programmed in Editor for years. We went in house on a System 36 when the service closed and ran the two system connected for ten years. I loved that language. free form.. nouns and verbs with commands like..

GET INDEX USE KEY ELSE GOTO !INSERT...

good times.

Dave Christian

30/9/2013 03:21:46 pm

FYI

I continue to support 2 companies running COMET on SCO platforms here in New Zealand. Both companies originally had 88 series Nixdorf computers. One of the companies has > 100 workstations.

I have developed many extensions which allow COMET to continue to function effectively in the modern environment. Many of the core finac/stocon/opinv/purch functions look little different from back in the 1980's, but they work well.

The only thing I really miss is the old NIROS print-spooler as the Cross-Basic implementation under SCO is a little flawed in this respect.

Rich Batchelder

9/7/2014 07:37:57 am

I worked in shipping and receiving, stockroom and assembly for Entrex in 1974? In Burlington Mass. Everything was pretty much built by hand. I remember assembling keyboards and wiring up the panels. Of course we received in parts from all over the USA. I recall sitting on the back of a truck loaded with about $3you million worth od systems bound for Germany. As we sipped our beers we fantisized about stealing them and buying a sailboat! After Nixdorf bot us, the quality hit the shits! Oh, i also had hot sex with the secretery right on the sock almost every day!!

Ben Greenfield

11/5/2016 03:04:12 pm

I believe I have some form of Nixdorf 820 that was used to manage the inventory of a health food company. If anyone has any info regarding this machine I would love to hear about it.

This site has inspired me to post some pictures.

Ben

David R Nilson

19/1/2022 07:00:25 pm

I worked on 820's in the Boston area. Do you still have the machine? Do you have pics?

Jim Dorris

18/4/2017 08:48:15 pm

I worked for Nixdorf Computer for 11 years from 1986 to 1997. A great company to work for. Too bad they never made it in the US. I thought the Siemens acquisition would save the company but no joy. I enjoyed my time there.

Donna link

15/4/2019 11:00:17 pm

Some great history on vintage computing here, thanks!

A bit of American Nixdorf history

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