Norsk Data - Historical Overview

Historical Overview

The origins of Norsk Data go back to the development of digital computers at the Norwegian Defense Research Establishment at Kjeller, Norway, where several early computers had been designed, such as the SAM and the SAM 2, also known as the FLINK.

The success of this program resulted in the founding of A/S Nordata - Norsk Data Elektronikk on August 8, 1967 by Lars Monrad Krohn, Per Bjørge and Rolf Skår. The company became a significant supplier of minicomputers to many research projects, in particular to CERN in Geneva, Switzerland, where they were chosen to produce the computers for many projects, starting with their Nuclear Accelerator Project, Norsk Data's international breakthrough contract. The other market segments Norsk Data succeeded in were process control, Norwegian municipal administration data centers, newspapers, as well as parts of the educational, health, and university sector.

For a period in 1987, Norsk Data was the second largest company by stock value in Norway, second only to Norsk Hydro, and employed over 4,500 people.

In March 1991, shortly after January Events, Norsk Data donated the first computer to Lithuanian Institute of Mathematics and Informatics. This donation started the development of LITNET - Academic and Research Network in Lithuania. Later that year, the network connection lines, directly connecting Vilnius to Moscow, were shut down. With the help of the hardware, again donated by Norsk Data, Lithuania was able to use its first satellite-based internet connection, which operated at 9,6 kbit/s. This was the first Lithuanian communications line, which was totally independent from former Soviet Union.

After a long period of exceptional success, the Norsk Data "empire" collapsed in the early 1990s, mostly due to not realizing the impact of the PC revolution (as well as the growing competition from UNIX-based workstations). Norsk Data technology was continued by Dolphin. See more about Norsk Data here (Norwegian). Norsk Data was purchased by Telenor and went through several rebrands and relaunches.