NeC Drivers Update

NEC Drivers Update

Company Name: NEC

Description: NEC, one of the world’s provider of information technology products, was established in August 31, 1898. The company provides network solutions, business enterprises solutions, and communication services. It is part of the Sumimoto Group of companies in Tokyo, Japan.

Kunihiko Iwadare and Takesho Maedo founded NEC as Nippon Electric Company Limited (Nippon Denki Kabushiki Gaisha) in Japan. Iwadare and Maedo served as the company’s representative partner and sales director, respectively. In 1899, Nippon Electric Company went into a joint venture with Western Electric Company, represented by Walter Tenney Carleton. After 1983, Nippon Electric Company became officially known as NEC.

During its early years, NEC produced, sold, and maintained telephones and switches. In 1902, the company put up a plant in Mita, Shikokumachi. It started exporting telephones to China in 1904.

NEC changed its policy of using the sub-contracting system after Iwadare returned from his visit of the Western Electric Plant in 1905. The company started putting emphasis on cost controls, time management, and efficiency by giving incentives to employees.

Between the years 1899 and 1907, the company experienced steady growth. Telephone subscribers in Japan almost tripled from 35,000 to 95,000. NEC also began infiltrating foreign markets in China. By that time, in 1908, the company had set up a base office in Korea.

Due to political reasons, however, NEC’s sales dove by sixty percent in 1912 to 1915. Iwadare rectified this problem by importing and selling various household appliances such as washing machines, vacuum cleaners, kitchen appliances, and electric fans. By 1916, the Japanese Ministry of Communications resumed its telephone expansion plan delayed in 1913. NEC then regained its place in the national telephone industry.

1919 saw NEC associating itself with cable manufacturing company Sumimoto Densen Seizosho. NEC became a supplier of equipment for Sumimoto Densen’s manufacturing plant.

NEC was hit by another tragedy when the great Kanto earthquake struck Japan on the morning of September 1, 1923. The earthquake lasted for ten minutes and destroyed four NEC factories, including the Mita plant. 105 of NEC’s workers and engineers perished in the rubble. Telephone and telegraph services, integral parts of NEC’s business, were interrupted.

A year after, NEC managed to recover when the Ministry of Communications accelerated programs to rectify Japan’s condition. The company developed Japan’s first automatic switching system for telecommunications in the wake of the quake. The Mita plant was revived to support the development of this product.

With the launch of Japan’s first broadcast radio station in 1925, NEC began to delve into the business of radio communications. This year also saw the start of NEC’s foray into the development of electron tubes.

After a series of other ‘firsts’ with regards to development and manufacturing, NEC started selling personal computers and computer-related products. The NEC PC-9800 16-bit computer, launched in 1982, was the company’s first.