English Homework

BRIEF HISTORY OF THE HP COMPANY

By Kapya MAKEMA

class: 1st literary A

school year 2023-2024

HP (Hewlett-Packard Company) is an American multinational closely linked
to the image of Silicon Valley. Initially positioned in the electronics sector, it
evolved into IT and today offers computers, printers, servers and networks,
software and multimedia offers. It is one of the top 40 most important
companies in the world.

Year of creation: 1939

Founders: William Hewlett, David Packard

Headquarters: Palo Alto, USA

Main products: Desktop computers, laptops, monitors, printers,

calculators…

Famous slogan: “HP invent” (“HP invent”)

the creation :
Hewlett-Packard born in 1939 in a garage as the epinal image of Silicon
Valley dictates, with a share capital of $538. The company was founded by
two engineer friends, William Hewlett and David Packard. They were part of
the class of 1934 at Stanford University. To decide on the name of the
brand and the order in which the names of the founders appeared, they
played a coin toss.
 William Hewlett and David Packard
Founders of HP

The company was initially founded to design, manufacture and sell testing
and measuring instruments. The first device released by HP was an
innovative precision low-frequency oscillator, the 200A. The innovation lay
in the electric bulb used as a temperature-stabilized resistor in the circuit,
which allowed the two engineers to cut prices. They marketed their
oscillator at a price of $54.40 instead of $200 for the other models which,
in addition, were less stable.

HP's first customer was the Walt Disney Pictures studios, which used low-
frequency oscillators for the film Fantasia and developed the Fantasound
system, the ancestor of Dolby Sound. In its first year of existence, HP
launched six measurement electronics products, including a wave analyzer
which met with great success and which built HP's reputation as a reliable,
serious company producing quality items.

HP focused on measurement tools until 1960, but became aware of the

importance of collecting data when carrying out measurements. HP then
developed its first mini-computers and personal computers intended for
data acquisition and processing. In 1966, HP released its first
minicomputer, the HP-2116. It will be followed by the HP-2115 in 1967 and
then the HP-2114 the following year. In 1968 HP also launched its HP-9100
programmable calculators, then the 98xx. HP continued to innovate in
measurement and released the first commercial Cesium133 atomic clock
using semiconductors in 1964.

Towards IT and beyond

If its measurement tools met with commercial success, the company took
the turn towards computing in the 1970s. HP thus gave birth to several
ranges of technical and management computers, personal computers and
scientific calculators of poached.

Thus, in 1971, HP developed the HP-98XXX range of workstations as well

as a series of peripherals which interfaced between measurement tools
and users, then enabled data acquisition and evolved into computers.
techniques. That year, the HP 21000, the HP3000 range, a mini-computer
for multi-task, multi-user and real-time management computing, which
constituted a real innovation, and the HP series arrived on the market. -100,
a technical and scientific mini-computer.

The HP 21000

Then, in 1972, Hewlett-Packard invented the HP35 calculator, its first

pocket scientific calculator model, as well as the HP-300 range, the first
multi-purpose computers. Several dozen copies of these computers will be
sold throughout the world.

In 1978, HP developed a management microcomputer using the same

microprocessors as the HP-98XX desktop computers, the HP-50. The
company also developed the first printer language encoded by a formatted
file, the HP-GL graphics language. It was also that year that the two
founders, William Hewlett and David Packard handed over to John A.
Young, while retaining honorary positions in the company.

Despite the success of the HP-300, it was not until the 1980s that HP really
took off in the computer sector.

HP democratizes consumer computing

In 1980, Hewlett-Packard employed more than 57,000 people and its
turnover reached $3 billion. It sells computers and printers. In 1982, the HP-
9020A workstation entered the market, priced at $28,250. 1984 was going
to be a big year for HP with the first version of Unix, HP-UX, the first HP-110
personal computer, the first Thinkhet thermal inkjet printer and its first
laser printer, the HP LaserJet.

In the following decade, HP continued to release computers and

workstations, HP Integral, then HP 900, a range of multi-user workstations
and servers. Then, in 1989, HP bought Apollo.

But it was not until 1993 that Hewlett Packard entered the PC market for
the general public. The following year, Officejet personal printers, faxes and
photocopiers were launched.
The company bought Compaq in 2002 and increased its development in IT.
It thus becomes one of the major players in the sector by offering a wide
range of personal and professional computers and document printing and
scanning solutions. The company then bought the IT consulting company
EDS in 2008, then 3Com, a network specialist, in 2009. It thus offers an
integrated and efficient hardware and software offering.

Since November 2015, Hewlett-Packard has consisted of two entities, HP

Inc. for personal computing and printing solutions and Hewlett-Packard
Enterprise for the rest of its activities.

Today's hp computers