Tandberg Advert - July 1980

Nearly one and a half years before Acorn launched its BBC Micro and ultimately sewed up the UK's educational market for microcomputers comes this advert for Tandberg's TDV-2114, known as the EC10 - or Educational Computer 10 - when it was launched in the UK to target the schools and universities sector.

Formed in Oslo, Norway, in the 1930s by Vebjörn (or Vebjørn) Tandberg, Tandberg Radiofabrikk had become famous for its radios and television, before branching out into tape recorders.

In the early 1970s, it was encouraged by the promise of state support to take over its failed competitor Radionette, a move which ended up contributing to the bankrupting the enlarged group in 1978^[1].

The group was split into Tandberg Data, which was managed by German industrial group Siemens, with the remaining part of the company moving to the minicomputer company Norsk Data, where it was known simply as Tandberg. Tandberg was eventually absorbed by Cisco at the end of 2009^[2].

The EC10, meanwhile, appears to have been based on Intel's 8080 CPU, with a possible later update to the 8085.

It was multi-user, but unlike a new wave of machines which were being launched at around the same time - like Rostronic's OEM-version of the Micromation Z-Series - Tandberg's system ran up to seven connected terminals using the same CPU.

The main EC10 unit could itself be used as a "terminal", giving a maximum of eight users. This was quite a stretch for a single CPU, but it should have at least made the per-user price quite competitive.