Informer Computer Terminals
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Technology, Computer terminals |
| Founded | 1971 in Los Angeles, California, United States |
| Founder | Donald Allen Domike |
| Defunct | 2007 |
| Headquarters | Garden Grove, California , United States |
Area served | United States, Canada |
Key people | Donald Allen Domike (founder), Bryon Cole (president, mid-1970s), Wilfred "Will" R. Little (VP marketing, later president), Malcolm K. Green (president and CEO, mid-1980s), Bradley Little (president, 1990s), Edward P. Dailey (president and CEO, 1990s) |
| Products | Data terminals compatible with IBM and DEC mainframes and minicomputers; glass terminals; teleprinters; barcode scanners; batch terminals; Informer 213PT portable terminal; Informer 213AE asynchronous terminal |
Number of employees | 20 (2000) |
Informer Computer Terminals, Inc., initially known as Informer, Inc., and later renamed Informer Computer Systems, Inc., was a privately owned American technology firm that operated from 1971 until 2007. The company specialized in manufacturing data terminals compatible with mainframe and minicomputer systems, predominantly those produced by IBM and Digital Equipment Corporation. Originally headquartered in Los Angeles, California, Informer relocated to Laguna Beach during the early 1980s before moving again to Garden Grove in the late 1980s.
Corporate history
Founded in Los Angeles in 1971 by entrepreneur Donald Allen Domike (1927–2017), Informer began its operations in West Los Angeles. By 1976, the company had expanded into a 20,000-square-foot facility located in Westchester, which served as its central office, manufacturing site, and research and development center. During the mid-1970s, Bryon Cole took on the role of president while Wilfred "Will" R. Little was appointed vice president of marketing; by 1981, Little had advanced to the presidency.
In 1976, Informer developed glass terminals equipped with cathode-ray tubes (CRTs), alongside teleprinters designed for both keyboard send-and-receive functions and receive-only operations. That year, the company achieved $1 million in sales and anticipated doubling this figure in the following fiscal year. By 1981, annual revenues had surpassed $10 million. Informer broadened its national footprint by establishing ten branch offices across the United States and launched a Canadian subsidiary based in Richmond, British Columbia during the mid-1980s.
The product lineup in the early 1980s encompassed glass terminals, teleprinters, barcode scanners, and batch terminals utilized for data entry, monitoring tasks, remote job entry, and programming applications. Following sales difficulties in the mid-1980s, Malcolm K. Green—formerly with Emulex—was named president and CEO, coinciding with the relocation of headquarters to Garden Grove.
Entering the 1990s, the enterprise rebranded itself as Informer Computer Systems, Inc. In 1994, it divested its local area network and dial-up networking security software segment into a separate entity called Informer Data Security, Inc., appointing Bradley Little as president. During the mid-1990s, strategic realignment focused on serving state emergency services by developing terminals and call-tracking solutions for 9-1-1 dispatch centers while continuing to offer general-purpose terminals. Edward P. Dailey succeeded Little as president and CEO during this era. By the year 2000, Informer maintained a workforce of roughly 20 employees at its Garden Grove location.
Operations concluded in 2007.
Notable products
In May 1990, Informer released the Informer 213PT—a portable terminal that also functioned as an IBM PC-compatible device featuring an i386 processor running DOS version 3.3 embedded in ROM. This model included a 9,600-bit-per-second V.32 modem enabling connectivity to IBM mainframe computers via the 3270 terminal protocol. Users could effortlessly toggle between terminal mode and PC mode using a single keystroke. Lacking internal drive bays for mass storage devices, the 213PT relied on a host server to run DOS applications. It was equipped with 1 MB of RAM plus an additional 4 MB of RAM serving as solid-state storage preserved by an internal battery for up to one month. The device featured an active-matrix electroluminescent screen with resolution comparable to EGA standards.
The following year, Informer introduced the Informer 213AE—a cost-effective asynchronous terminal that utilized an emulator to translate DEC VT100 protocol into the 3270 protocol format. Unlike its predecessor, the 213AE did not support PC compatibility but retained the electroluminescent display technology.