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Zeos International, Ltd. (stylized as ZEŌS), was a PC manufacturer based in
Minneapolis Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...
,
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. Originally based in
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, and founded by Gregory E. Herrick, the company incorporated in Minnesota in 1981. Prior to manufacturing PCs, the company was called NPC Electronics. NPC was a contract assembly business best known for developing a transmitter device called Radio Realty. Marketed primarily to
real estate broker Real estate agents and real estate brokers are people who represent sellers or buyers of real estate or real property. While a broker may work independently, an agent usually works under a licensed broker to represent clients. Brokers and age ...
s, this product enabled prospective home buyers to tune in and listen to prerecorded information about a property listing while parked in front of the dwelling. Radio Realty was divested in the early 1980s as NPC started developing, manufacturing, and selling PCs under the Zeos name. The company went public in mid-1985 by self-
underwriting Underwriting (UW) services are provided by some large financial institutions, such as banks, insurance companies and investment houses, whereby they guarantee payment in case of damage or financial loss and accept the financial risk for liability ...
, and officially changed its name from NPC Electronics to Zeos International.


History

The company's first PC related product was the PC Speeder, a device designed to increase the clock speed (and thereby the performance) of the
8086 The 8086 (also called iAPX 86) is a 16-bit microprocessor chip designed by Intel between early 1976 and June 8, 1978, when it was released. The Intel 8088, released July 1, 1979, is a slightly modified chip with an external 8-bit data bus (allo ...
processor. The company then began work engineering a motherboard to retrofit the soon-to-be-introduced Intel
386 __NOTOC__ Year 386 (Roman numerals, CCCLXXXVI) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Honorius and Euodius (or, less frequently, year 1139 ''Ab urbe condita''). ...
processor on their existing 286 platform. The company sold its first PC in November 1987 with its first ad in '' Computer Shopper''. Rapid sales and growth led Zeos to become ''
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s fastest growing public company in America in 1991. Zeos marketed its products primarily through mail order, but also partnered with and distributed PCs to
Sam's Club Sam's West, Inc. (doing business as Sam's Club) is a chain of membership-only warehouse club retail stores in the United States owned by Walmart. It was founded in 1983 and named after Walmart founder Sam Walton as Sam's Wholesale Club. , Sam's ...
stores. Zeos also had two retail outlet stores, located in Arden Hills and
Golden Valley, Minnesota Golden Valley is a western and first-ring suburb of Minneapolis in Hennepin County, Minnesota, Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 22,552 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The city is mostly residential an ...
, where refurbished and customer-returned hardware was resold, often at substantial discounts. The company went public in mid-1985 by self-underwriting, and officially changed its name from NPC Electronics to ZEOS International. Traded on the NASDAQ under the symbol "ZEOS, the company enjoyed rapid sales and growth leading ZEOS to become Fortune’s fastest growing public company in America in 1991. Following a tradition set earlier by
CP/M CP/M, originally standing for Control Program/Monitor and later Control Program for Microcomputers, is a mass-market operating system created in 1974 for Intel 8080/Intel 8085, 85-based microcomputers by Gary Kildall of Digital Research, Dig ...
manufacturers like
Kaypro Kaypro Corporation was an American home and personal computer manufacturer based in Solana Beach, California, in the 1980s. The company was founded by Non-Linear Systems (NLS) to compete with the popular Osborne 1 portable microcomputer. Kaypro ...
and Morrow Designs, Zeos bundled
Lotus 1-2-3 Lotus 1-2-3 is a discontinued spreadsheet program from Lotus Software (later part of IBM). It was the first killer application of the IBM PC, was hugely popular in the 1980s, and significantly contributed to the success of IBM PC-compatibles ...
and Ami Pro with its systems while many competitors still included only operating system software, requiring customers to purchase applications separately and elsewhere. This move eventually forced Zeos' rivals such as
Dell Dell Inc. is an American technology company that develops, sells, repairs, and supports personal computers (PCs), Server (computing), servers, data storage devices, network switches, software, computer peripherals including printers and webcam ...
and Gateway 2000 to also bundle software with their systems. In March 1992, Zeos acquired PC Tech, Inc., a
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–based ODM whom Zeos had earlier contracted to design Zeos' expansion cards and motherboards. This acquisition allowed Zeos to increase its
vertical integration In microeconomics, management and international political economy, vertical integration, also referred to as vertical consolidation, is an arrangement in which the supply chain of a company is integrated and owned by that company. Usually each ...
in the manufacturing of its computers. During the peak of its desktop business, Zeos sold
386 __NOTOC__ Year 386 (Roman numerals, CCCLXXXVI) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Honorius and Euodius (or, less frequently, year 1139 ''Ab urbe condita''). ...
- and 486-based systems under the Zeos and Discovery brand names. In the mid-1990s, it sold
Pentium Pentium is a series of x86 architecture-compatible microprocessors produced by Intel from 1993 to 2023. The Pentium (original), original Pentium was Intel's fifth generation processor, succeeding the i486; Pentium was Intel's flagship proce ...
-based desktops, branded Pantera, and
laptop A laptop computer or notebook computer, also known as a laptop or notebook, is a small, portable personal computer (PC). Laptops typically have a Clamshell design, clamshell form factor (design), form factor with a flat-panel computer scree ...
s, branded Freestyle, Meridian, and ColorNote. Zeos also was successful in the laptop category, introducing three 486SX based laptops before rival Dell came out with their first. The company also marketed
subnotebook Subnotebook, also called ultraportable, superportable, handtop, mini notebook or mini laptop, is a type of laptop computer that is smaller and lighter than a typical notebook-sized laptop. Types and sizes As typical laptop sizes have decreas ...
s branded Contenda (both 386SL-, 486SL-based) and Zeos Pocket PC (8086-compatible
palmtop A handheld computer, also called a palmtop computer, is a term that has variously been used to describe a small-sized personal computer (PC) typically built around a clamshell design, clamshell form factor and a laptop-like Computer keyboard, keyb ...
, using the
NEC V30 The NEC V20 is a microprocessor that was designed and produced by NEC. It is both pin compatible and object-code compatible with the Intel 8088, with an instruction set architecture (ISA) similar to that of the Intel 80188 with some extensio ...
processor). The Zeos 386SX was once featured on the cover of ''
PC Magazine ''PC Magazine'' (shortened as ''PCMag'') is an American computer magazine published by Ziff Davis. A print edition was published from 1982 to January 2009. Publication of online editions started in late 1994 and continues . Overview ''PC Mag ...
'', rated as Editor's Choice in its January 30, 1990, issue. Late generation Zeos motherboards models were code-named with a
zoological Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the anatomy, structure, embryology, Biological classification, classification, Ethology, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinction, extinct, and ...
theme. Motherboards based on early 486 designs went by classes of birds such as Duck, Goose, Gosling, and Martin. Later 486 and Pentium motherboards used families of serpents (i.e. snakes), such as Rattler, Python, Cobra, Coral, and Boa.


Industry firsts

Among other notable firsts, Zeos was the first computer company to offer
24/7 In commerce and industry, 24/7 or 24-7 service (usually pronounced "twenty-four seven") is service that is available at any time and usually, every day. An alternate orthography for the numerical part includes 24×7 (usually pronounced "twenty- ...
toll-free
technical support Technical support, commonly shortened as tech support, is a customer service provided to customers to resolve issues, commonly with consumer electronics. This is commonly provided via call centers, online chat and email. Many companies provid ...
. The company was also first to capitalize on
e-commerce E-commerce (electronic commerce) refers to commercial activities including the electronic buying or selling products and services which are conducted on online platforms or over the Internet. E-commerce draws on technologies such as mobile co ...
and in 1990, Zeos was the first marketer to use banner ads in online marketing. Subscribers of the Prodigy online service could browse and order Zeos PCs long before the
World Wide Web The World Wide Web (WWW or simply the Web) is an information system that enables Content (media), content sharing over the Internet through user-friendly ways meant to appeal to users beyond Information technology, IT specialists and hobbyis ...
had any significant presence. In later years, the company was first to market pre-configured, ready-to-ship PCs under a campaign called "Computers Now", promising nationwide delivery in under 24 hours. This initiative was successfully achieved through
direct marketing Direct marketing is a form of communicating an offer, where organizations communicate directly to a Target market, pre-selected customer and supply a method for a direct response. Among practitioners, it is also known as ''direct response ...
.


Merger with Micron Technologies

In 1996, Zeos acquired Micron Computer, Inc., and Micron Custom Manufacturing Services, Inc., two business units of
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-based Micron Technologies. The
reverse takeover A reverse takeover (RTO), reverse merger, or reverse IPO is the acquisition of a public company by a private company so that the private company can bypass the lengthy and complex process of going public. Sometimes, conversely, the public compa ...
resulted in Micron Technologies taking a controlling interest in Zeos. The Zeos brand was quickly phased out, and the combined company known as Micron Electronics Inc. began trading under the symbol MUEI. The company was sold twice after the original Zeos/Micron transaction, with the final iteration,
MPC Corporation MPC Corporation was a computer-hardware company based in Nampa, Idaho, United States. It was best known as a provider of desktops, notebooks, servers and services to customers in the federal, state and local government, education, small and ...
, ceasing business operations December 31, 2008.


Zeos Pocket PC (PPC)

Manufactured around 1991–1992 and selling for $595, the Zeos Pocket PC was a
palmtop A handheld computer, also called a palmtop computer, is a term that has variously been used to describe a small-sized personal computer (PC) typically built around a clamshell design, clamshell form factor and a laptop-like Computer keyboard, keyb ...
which ran MS-DOS 5.0 and was broadly similar in form and function to the Poqet PC. The device was also available as Tidalwave PS-1000,
Vobis Vobis Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung, GmbH (formerly Vobis Aktiengesellschaft, AG) is a German computer hardware company and reseller of computer systems. During its tenure under Metro AG in the 1990s, it was the largest retailer of per ...
Highscreen Handy Organizer, and Peacock Palmtop PC in other countries. It was bundled with
Microsoft Works Microsoft Works is a discontinued office suite, productivity software suite developed by Microsoft and sold from 1987 to 2009. Its core functionality includes a word processor, a spreadsheet and a database management system. Later versions have a ...
and RacePen. Its dimensions were 4.5" × 9.7" × 1.0" and it weighed approximately . The 640x200
monochrome A monochrome or monochromatic image, object or palette is composed of one color (or values of one color). Images using only shades of grey are called grayscale (typically digital) or black-and-white (typically analog). In physics, mon ...
LCD A liquid-crystal display (LCD) is a flat-panel display or other electronically modulated optical device that uses the light-modulating properties of liquid crystals combined with polarizers to display information. Liquid crystals do not em ...
screen was about 2.75" × 7" and was not backlit. The keyboard was 9" wide (compared to 11" for a standard keyboard), making typing slightly tedious for many people. The unit featured two
PCMCIA The Personal Computer Memory Card International Association (PCMCIA) was an industry consortium of computer hardware manufacturers from 1989 to 2009. Starting with the PCMCIA card in 1990 (the name later simplified to ''PC Card''), it created v ...
card slots, as well as a serial and a parallel port located on the rear which used proprietary mini-connectors and custom cables, which were included with the unit. The unit powered on instantly using two standard
AA batteries The AA battery (or double-A battery) is a standard size single cell cylindrical dry battery. ANSI and IEC battery nomenclature gives several designations for cells in this size, depending on cell features and chemistry. The IEC 60086 system c ...
and one lithium backup battery. It was manufactured in
Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...
and sold by mail-order.


References

{{Minnesota Corporations American companies established in 1981 American companies disestablished in 1995 Computer companies established in 1981 Computer companies disestablished in 1995 Defunct companies based in Minnesota Defunct computer companies of the United States Defunct computer hardware companies Defunct computer systems companies Micron Technology