Dell Wyse

1980s

Wyse Technology was founded in 1981 by Garwing Wu, Bernard Tse, and Grace Tse. The company became famous in the 1980s as a manufacturer of character terminals. Most of these terminals can emulate several other terminal types in addition to their native escape sequences. These terminals were often used with library card catalogs such as Dynix. In 1983, Wyse began shipping the WY50, a terminal that was priced some 44 percent lower than its nearest competitor. It became their first big-selling product, and had a larger screen and higher resolution than competitor products at the time. Following the WY50 was the WY60, the best-selling general purpose terminal of all time. In addition to standard character-mode operation, the WY60 supported box graphics that could be used to produce more attractive displays. The Wyse 99GT and 160 terminals added graphical capability through Tektronix 4014 emulation. The WY325 and 375 models added color support with Tektronix graphics.

In 1984, Wyse entered the personal computer marketplace. The first of these was the Wyse 1000, a computer based on the Intel 80186 (which did not see huge volumes due to poor compatibility with the 8088). Next came the WYSEpc, an IBM-compatible computer based on the 8088 processor, which had a good following due to its slim-line design. Later, Wyse introduced personal computers compatible with the IBM AT based on the 80286 and 80386, which were top sellers. Wyse sold through 2-tier distribution, which limited growth in the late 1980s as mail order companies like Dell and Gateway entered the marketplace. In 1984 Wyse became one of the leaders in the general purpose text (GPT) terminal industry and on August 17, 1984 went public on the New York Stock Exchange. In the following years, Wyse added the PC product line Wyse pc3216. The Wyse 3216 was based on Intel’s newest 386 chip. It sold for $1,500 less than a comparable Compaq DeskPro, $2,000 less than an IBM System 80, and performed at a higher speed than both. In 1989 Wyse developed LAN-attached communication devices.

1990s

Wyse was an early innovator in off-shore electronics production, with its products being built in Taiwan in company owned facilities. In 1990 Dr. Morris Chang organized Channel International, a Taiwan consortium, which gathered business owners together and was a booster for Taiwanese individuals owning U.S. companies. In 1990, Channel International acquired Wyse.

From 1990 to 1994 Wyse focused on PCs with CPU upgradability. Wyse created a proprietary upgradability concept called Modular Systems Architecture, or MSA. In October 1992, Wyse became ISO 9001:2000 certified.

In the mid-1990s Wyse Taiwan became the parent company of Wyse Technology. As the PC and server industry became more competitive, in 1994 Wyse management began to focus on making terminals. They worked on enabling them to support the graphics and capabilities needed to display Windows and Internet applications. In late 1994, the company developed two thin client prototypes, and selected Citrix, then a small company, to provide the protocol and server side of the model.

The machines differed from traditional text-mode terminals in that by supporting modern GUI applications using a mouse and windowing systems. The clients are able to access these applications using protocols that send drawing commands or raw pixel data (instead of strings of text characters) over the data connection. Because of the greater bandwidth this requires these machines typically use ethernet connections to the server, rather than the RS-232 links used in the past.

In November 1995, Citrix and Wyse shared a booth at the Comdex tradeshow. Wyse introduced the Winterm windows terminal (now referred to as a thin client) models 2000 and 2500. Citrix introduced WinFrame, the Windows NT-based “Windows mainframe” software it connected to. At the show, the Wyse Winterm was awarded the “Best of Comdex” award. Later, Wyse secured a patent (# 5918039) for the thin client design. In 1997, Microsoft released Windows NT Terminal Service Edition, which supported the Wyse thin clients.

After the thin clients were well received by the market, Wyse introduced several additional models, including stand-alone (Winterm 2300), LCD monitor-integrated (Winterm 2600), and the tablet-shaped mobile Winterm 2900 and 2930 models. In 1997, Wyse introduced the first thin-client remote management software system, Wyse Remote Administrator.

In 1999, Wyse Technology once again went public, but this time on the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TSE).

2000-present

In 2000 Wyse acquired Netier Technologies of Texas, and turned Netier's Rapport thin device management software into the Wyse Device Manager. In 2003 Wyse went private and company shareholders reorganized the company, selling assets such as real estate and company-owned manufacturing facilities in favor of contract manufacturing. In April 2005 the controlling interest of Wyse was acquired by Garnett & Helfrich Capital, a private equity firm specializing in venture buyouts.

In 2005, Wyse, working closely with Citrix, Microsoft, and VMware, expanded thin clients to support the newly introduced virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI). In April, Wyse and IBM signed a Joint Initiative Agreement (JIA).

Tarkan Maner was appointed CEO in February 2007. Under Maner, the company significantly expanded research and development.

In August 2007, Wyse recapitalized, with overseas investors regaining the controlling interest from Garnett & Helfrich Capital. In March 2008 the company formalized a partnership with Novell. In October of that year, Wyse formed a global partnership with IBM under the Global Alliance Agreement.

In August 2010, Wyse created its Mobile Cloud Business Unit with the introduction of Wyse PocketCloud. The mobile cloud app allows users to access their desktop on iOS or Android devices. In the same month, Wyse became ISO 9001:2008 certified, and in November became ISO 14001:2004 certified and announced a "Strategic Collaboration Partnership with Cisco.

The company introduced zero clients in 2010.

According to the IDC, as of 2011 Wyse is an international leader in what are called "enterprise devices" (terminal clients and thin clients combined).

In April 2012, Dell announced an agreement to purchase Wyse for an undisclosed amount. The acquisition was completed on May 25, 2012.

Recent awards

Notable employees

Martin Eberhard began his career as an electrical engineer at Wyse Technology, where he designed the WY-30 ASCII computer terminal as his first product. Eberhard went on to be a founder of Tesla Motors.

David Dix worked first on the very first Wyse terminals and later the high end personal computers. David also worked at HP prior to Wyse. Dix is working at ShoreTel.

Wyse CTO Curt Schwebke and CMO Jeff McNaught prototyped and led the design of the first Winterm products. They are also holders of the first thin client patent. Tarkan Maner was appointed CEO in February 2007.

Competitors

Competitors in the market place include: 10ZiG Technology, HP, SmartFLeX Technology,VXL, NComputing, Devon IT, Fujitsu-Siemens and IGEL Technology, among others.

Facilities

Wyse Technology is headquartered in Silicon Valley in Santa Clara, California. It also has development centers in Bangalore, India, and Beijing, China. It has sales offices around the United States and in:

Environmental initiatives

Wyse has published research on the environmental benefits of cloud client computing. According to the company, to minimize environmental impact, their cloud client computing products are smaller than that of competitors. Up to 90 percent of Wyse products can be recycled, and the hardware meets WEEE recycling process guidelines. The company also has an e-Waste recycling program.

Software

Hardware