Ai Electronics Advert - June 1981

The ABC24 and ABC26 were Z80 micros which differed only in the size of floppy disk drive they offered - either 620K on dual 5¼" drives, or an impressive 2.3MB on dual 8" drives.

The machines were actually built by Ai Electronics Corporation (Ai Denshi Sokki) of Japan and came with that company's own operating system, called DOSKET, although they could also run standard CP/M, M/PM or UCSD's Pascal.

Up to seven of the machines could be linked together in a primitive multi-terminal network^[1], whilst each ABC micro also provided no fewer than twelve RS232 serial ports, for use with dumb terminals or printers.

Ai was founded in 1962 by Tayayuki Sanada as a designer and manufacturer of minicomputers, with close links with the University of Tokyo. The company started importing IMSAI computers from the US in the latter part of the 1970s^[2], before branching out into its own desktop microcomputers in 1978 with the development of the ABC range.

The ABC machines were initially imported into the UK by Sun Computing Services Ltd of Feltham, which is clearly nothing to do with the other more-famous Sun Microsystems of Santa Clara, California.

They also came with an extensive range of software, including Fortran IV, COBOL, BASIC-2, PL/3 and many other applications and utilities, including an Arabic word processor^[3] or a bundled office accounts system for £800 plus VAT - that's £4,630 in 2025.

First launched in 1979, by 1981 the ABC24 was retailing for £3,350 plus VAT - about £19,400 in 2025 - whilst the 2MB 8" floppy model went for £4,750 plus VAT - an impressive £27,500 now.

The company was also unusual in that it offered a comprehensive service agreement - after the initial six months' warranty - for around 10% of the initial cost of the machine. This was supported by its subsidiary TEC, which was one of the largest importers of cash registers into the UK.

The trained network of 40 engineers would be able to turn out within four hours of a support call^[4].

The ABC range was apparently reasonably successful, but like most CP/M machines of the era they didn't survive the arrival of the IBM PC.

Ai Electronics itself appeared to survive until the early 1990s, with its R&D department eventually becoming part of Sega, whilst its manufacturning ended up being sold to Tomen Electronics.