Terak Corporation

Terak Corporation

Company type	Public (from 1983)
Industry	Computer hardware
Founded	1975
Founder	William Mayberry, Dennis Kodimer, Brian Benzar
Defunct	1985
Fate	Acquired by Sanders Associates, integrated into CalComp division
Headquarters	Scottsdale, Arizona , United States
Products	Terak 8510/a graphical workstation, Terak 8600 workstation
Number of employees	100 (1984)

Terak Corporation was a U.S.-based computer manufacturer located in Scottsdale, Arizona. Recognized as an early entrant in the graphical workstation market, its flagship product was the Terak 8510/a, introduced in 1977. After going public in 1983, Terak was purchased by Sanders Associates and integrated into their CalComp division.

Terak 8000 series (1977–1984)

Established in 1975 by William Mayberry, Dennis Kodimer, and Brian Benzar, Terak’s name was inspired by the word "esoteric." Remaining privately held initially, the company expanded to a workforce of 40 employees by 1979. The first product, the Terak 8510, underwent development for over a year before its launch in late 1976. This tabletop system utilized a DEC LSI-11 processor and included an 8-inch floppy drive compatible with IBM 3740 disk formats. Memory could be upgraded from 4 KB up to 20 KB. Optional accessories comprised a 12-inch CRT terminal (Terak 8530) and line printers (Terak 8540 series). Geared towards educational institutions and small business users, it came with software such as a line editor, linker, batch processor, macro assembler, plus Fortran IV and BASIC compilers.

In December 1977, Terak released the graphical Terak 8510/a model, which expanded maximum RAM to 56 KB and incorporated the terminal as a standard feature. It supported monochrome bitmap graphics at a resolution of 320×240 pixels and allowed simultaneous rendering of text alongside graphics. The subsequent Terak 8600 model incorporated dual 16-bit microprocessors, Q-Bus expansion capabilities, and multiple framebuffer cards that enabled up to 64 colors at resolutions reaching 640×480 pixels.

Terak’s revenues increased from $4 million in 1979 to $8 million by 1981. Nevertheless, rapid expansion put pressure on cash flow during the early-1980s economic downturn. To alleviate financial strain, a consortium of five investors contributed $2.5 million in stock in July 1981. The company filed for an IPO with the SEC in August 1983 through Ladenburg Thalmann. By 1984, employee numbers had grown to roughly 100.

Bankruptcy and acquisition (1984–1985)

In December 1984, Terak reduced its salaried workforce by laying off 23 employees, including 16 who were developing a new 32-bit workstation; this move marked the cessation of its research and development efforts. By February 1985, after defaulting on a $600,000 credit line from the Bank of Boston—which subsequently seized $225,000 of deposits—Terak filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Facing significant budget cuts without fresh capital by May of that year, the company pursued acquisition options to continue development of its 32-bit workstation. While under bankruptcy protection, Terak launched Minn-Draft/PC: a three-dimensional training application for CADD software on IBM PCs originally created by the University of Minnesota.

In May 1985, Sanders Associates based in Nashua, New Hampshire agreed to purchase Terak for $3.7 million; this figure later rose to $5.5 million. The transaction closed in July 1985, placing Terak within Sanders’ CalComp division. This acquisition reflected widespread difficulties across the industry as many CAD/CAM companies faced financial hardships during the technology sector downturn in Arizona in 1985.