Dietz computer systems

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Dietz Computer Systeme in Mülheim an der Ruhr developed, manufactured and sold computers and computer-aided systems for process data processing, for technical-scientific purposes, for commercial-administrative applications ( medium data technology ) and for mechanical construction until 1983 .

history

MINCAL 4 from Dietz-Computer-Systeme at VEB Edelstahlwerk Freital
MINCAL 4 from Dietz-Computer-Systeme at VEB Edelstahlwerk Freital

In 1951, the electrical engineer Heinrich Dietz founded the company in Mülheim an der Ruhr that bore his name and the addition "Industrial Electronics" and which initially produced electronic devices for industrial use.

In 1968, his son Peter Dietz , who had been with the company since it was founded, became the managing director and personally liable partner of the company that has since been converted into a limited liability company and operates under the Dietz Computer-Systeme brand .

Dietz has developed, manufactured and sold minicomputers since 1963. Starting in 1971 in particular, this happened to a rapidly growing extent with the Dietz 621 minicomputer and the Dietz 600 commercial dialog system based on it, as well as the Dietz 6000 multiprocessor system .

In 1982 Dietz was one of the ten largest German computer manufacturers alongside Siemens , Nixdorf , AEG-Telefunken , Triumph-Adler , Kienzle Apparate , Philips and others. Up to this year, over 3,000 Dietz computers have been delivered and installed.

In 1977 the company founded Dietz Technovision GmbH together with the Swiss civil engineer Heinz Hossdorf for the computer-aided design ( CAD ) market segment . The partner and idea provider left in 1979, but the now subsidiary continued to operate successfully due to its own software developments and won a large number of customers, whereby it was not Dietz computers but more powerful US-American super minis that were used.

In 1983, 80% of the company was taken over by the Norwegian computer manufacturer Norsk Data AS and then renamed Norsk Data Dietz GmbH . Peter Dietz resigned as managing director. In 1986 the company was completely taken over, which from then on operated as Norsk Data GmbH , based in Bad Homburg vor der Höhe .

When Norsk Data AS left the market in 1993 in the wake of the general computer crisis, the German subsidiary was also dissolved. The CAD activities were taken over by the US provider Intergraph . Numerous spin-offs emerged from the application software activities. B. in the fields of construction, production planning, library management and CAD, which belonged to former employees and which mostly exist in one form or another to this day.

Development partner

In addition to its own extensive activities, the company has worked with numerous institutions and software houses on system and application software in order to offer customers new functions and to conquer interesting markets. The dealerships for the commercial dialogue systems played an important role. Some operated their own software development.

The company also owed significant contributions to science, including a. in system-related software. So it came about B. at the end of the 1970s to a cooperation with Hans Langmaack from the Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel , whose aim was to establish the programming language Pascal as a system implementation language. This cooperation resulted in the multi-languages ​​multi-machines translation system CAT with the help of the Vienna Development Method and thus additional compilers for Dietz and later for the Norsk data hardware, e.g. B. a C compiler and a compiler for Dietz's own commercial BASIC dialect, which made it possible to adopt application programs without major changes when converting to Norsk Data.

swell

  1. Peter Dietz: Years of Awakening. The golden age of the German computer industry . InnoVatio, Bonn / Friborg / Ostrava 1995, ISBN 978-3-906501-14-7 , pp. 179f. .
  2. In the next four years: Norsk Data wants to buy Dietz-Rest. COMPUTERWOCHE, September 23, 1983, accessed May 26, 2018 .
  3. "Pascal is fun for people - and is also a good thing". COMPUTERWOCHE, June 6, 1980, accessed May 26, 2018 .
  4. ^ Larger Research and Development Projects. Uni Kiel, August 20, 2009, accessed on May 26, 2018 .
  5. CAT Compiler System , VDM '88: VDM, the way ahead: 2nd VDM-Europe symposium, Dublin, Ireland.

literature

  • Peter Dietz: Years of awakening. The golden age of the German computer industry . InnoVatio, Bonn / Friborg / Ostrava 1995, ISBN 978-3-906501-14-7 .

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