Compaq Computers

Compaq Computer Corporation was founded in February 1982 by Rod Canion, Jim Harris and Bill Murto, three senior managers who left Texas Instruments and invested $1,000 each to form their own company. Their first idea was a portable personal computer that was sketched on a paper placemat in a Houston pie shop. The founders presented their idea to Ben Rosen, president of Sevin Rosen Partners, a high-tech venture capital firm. The venture capitalists were impressed with the …

…a multivendor environment. With the acquisition of the two computer companies, Tandem and Digital Equipment Corp., Compaq will broaden its scope of business solutions from the smallest handheld portables to powerful fail-safe computers. Besides being a leader in the computer industry, Compaq has been named in 1996 "PC Partner of the Year" by the US Environmental Agency. Compaq commits itself to environmental care and protection, which is a part of their Total Quality Management (TQM) philosophy.