Columbia Data Products
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| Industry | Data security |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1976 |
| Founder | William Diaz |
| Headquarters | Altamonte Springs, Florida |
| Website | www |
Columbia Data Products (CDP) is a company that produced some of the first IBM PC clones. It faltered in that market after only a few years, and later reinvented itself as a software development company.
Columbia Data Products was founded in 1976 in Columbia, Maryland.
In 1980, Columbia Data Products made some Z80-based computers, most notably their Commander 900 series, which had several models some of which were multiprocessors and had graphics capabilities.
CDP introduced the MPC 1600 "Multi Personal Computer," designed by David Howse, in June 1982. It was an exact functional copy of the IBM PC model 5150 except for the BIOS which was clean roomed. IBM had published the bus and BIOS specifications, wrongly assuming that this would be enough to encourage the add-on market but not enough to facilitate unlicensed copying of the design.
CDP advertisements stated that the MPC "can use software and hardware originally intended for the IBM Personal Computer". The "Multi" in its name hinted to the fact that it could also run the multi-user operating system MP/M-86. The MPC was the first IBM PC clone and was actually superior to the IBM original. It came with 128 KiB RAM standard, compared to the IBM's 64 KiB maximum. The MPC had eight PC expansion slots, with one filled by its video card. Its floppy disk drive interface was built into the motherboard. The IBM PC, in contrast, had only five expansion slots, with the video card and floppy disk controller taking two of them. The MPC also included two floppy disk drives, one parallel and two serial ports, which were all optional on the original IBM PC. The MPC was followed up with a portable PC, the 32 pound (15 kg) "luggable" Columbia VP in 1983.
In May 1983, Future Computing ranked Columbia and Compaq computers as "Best" in the category of "Operationally Compatible", its highest tier of PC compatibility.PC Magazine in June 1983 criticized the MPC's documentation, but reported that it had very good hardware and software compatibility with the IBM PC.BYTE in November 1984 approved of the portable MPC-VP's PC compatibility, reporting that it ran Microsoft Flight Simulator, WordStar, Lotus 1-2-3, dBASE II, and other popular applications without problems. It concluded that the computer was "one of the best overall bargains on the market today".
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