The Rise and Fall of Philips Data Systems A Major European Computer Industry

Only a handful of European computer industries made it to the world's top position in their market segments - perhaps only one. This is the story of Philips Data Systems in general and its division Philips Terminal Systems in particular, the latter being the world's leading manufacturer of front-office banking systems for many years. It reached the position in the first half of the 1970s, held that for more than a decade until the mid-1980s, and then found itself on a slippery slope downwards because of bad management decisions until it was acquired by Digital Equipment Corporation in 1991, which itself was acquired by Compaq in 1998. By that time, almost nothing remained of the pioneering efforts put into Philips Data Systems by a large number of people over a 20-year period.