VOLTek

VOLTek

Industry	Computer hardware, Consumer electronics, Semiconductors, Software, Telecommunications equipment
Founded	15 February 1981
Headquarters	Vien , Volta

VOLTek is a major Voltan technology company based in Vien. It is most well-known within Volta as a manufacturer of computers and smartphones, however it is also the largest semiconductor manufacturer within Volta. It comprises a number of affiliated businesses, most of which operate under the VOLTek brand.

VOLTek was founded on 15 February 1981 as the "Voltan Technology Society" on the orders of Franz Ulbricht, who was the most powerful politician in Volta at the time. He saw that Volta was reliant on foreign imports for much of its technological goods, and considered this to be a potential threat to national security. He ordered the creation of the company and poured a massive amount of state resources into it. Over the following years, the company would successfully develop numerous technological innovations in Volta, though still lagging behind its foreign competitors. The company would fully rebrand itself to VOLTek on 7 June 2003.

Notable VOLTek products include the Kosmo operating system, the Nova line of smartphones, and the VPC computer architecture alongside chips using it. They also produce a number of other consumer electronics.

Name

VOLTek was originally called the "Voltan Technology Society" however they were colloquially called "Voltek" my much of the general population. In 2003, following the creation of a new board, the company formally rebranded to "VOLTek."

History

Early years

In the late-70's and early-80's Volta had begun to lag behind other countries in terms of technological development. This was largely due to an ideological opposition to cybernetics and other computer hardware. However, after then-Chancellor Willi Ebert fell ill, much of the responsibilities of government fell onto the hands of a newly created collective head-of-state known as the State Council. The Chairman of the State Council was Franz Ulbricht, who quickly gained a large amount of power and influence. Franz realized that Volta was lagging behind other countries technologically, and ordered that a massive amount of new investments be made into the information technology sector so that Volta could catch up.

At this point, much of the computer development and research in Volta had been at the direction of the government, with various computers being created by the Ministry of Television and Radio, Voltan Science Academy, and various other initiatives. A not insignificant number of these were clones of foreign computers. Franz Ulbricht ordered the creation of a new enterprise specifically tasked with the development of computers, semiconductors, microprocessors, software, and other computing needs. The greatest computer experts from all over Volta were all joined in this new initiative, which was named the Voltan Technology Society. Their first task was to create a Voltan mass-producible computer and accompanying software. Massive amounts of resources were allocated to the project, to the detriment of other industries.

Their first products were clones of foreign systems. However, there were extensive notes taken in the manufacturing process of these clones. Some have even accused the company of reverse-engineering much of its early designs. However, this provided the company with a steady source of revenue that could be added to the massive state investments in its projects. This allowed the company to grow rapidly, expanding its business and hiring as many skilled computer scientists and programmers as they could. The efforts to clone foreign projects continued for a long while, but as the resources available to the company grew, they began investing increasingly into developing their own hardware and software.

Workers at the company were given a surprising amount of creative freedoms to work on personal projects, and several Voltan computer enthusiasts worked for the company. This did result in some projects that never went anywhere, but other projects were heavily invested in that paid off. Most notably, many workers at the company were interested in developing a personal computer, and they justified this project by arguing that they could use it as an extension of their microprocessor project. The microprocessor project received the most resources, as the government believed such a chip could provide many military and industrial benefits, and the personal computer project was tolerated as an extension of the microprocessor project.

The company's first breakthrough came in 1984 when it produced the K1 microprocessor, Volta's first domestically designed and produced microprocessor. The processor wasn't as powerful or feature-heavy as some of its foreign competitors, but it was cheaper to produce. Sales of the K1 were greatly helped by the Voltan government creating mandates that new Voltan electronics begin to use Voltan microprocessors, alongside attempts to sell some of these microprocessors abroad. The next major advancement came in 1986 when the company released the Astra home computer, based on the K1 microprocessor. The computer came bundled with the KSD, an operating system developed by the University of Köstritz Computer Science division. This home computer sold better than anticipated in Volta as well as affiliated countries, though sales were limited due to not many being able to afford it.

Following this success, the company began investing further in developing computer hardware, microprocessors, semiconductors, and software.