Orchid Technology

{{Infobox company

| name = Orchid Technology

| logo =

| type = Private Company

| industry =

| fate = Acquired by Micronics Computers, Inc.

| predecessor =

| successor =

| founded = {{Start date and age|1982}}

| founder = Le Nhon Bui

| defunct = {{End date|1994}}

| hq_location_city =

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| key_people =

| products = {{unbulletedlist|

Fahrenheit Video3D graphics accelerator
GameWave 32 capture card
Kelvin 64 graphics accelerator
PCNet 1mbs LAN card
ProDesigner IIS graphics card
Righteous 3D graphics accelerator
SoundWave 32 capture card
Vidiola capture card}}

| owner =

| num_employees =

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}}

File:ET4000AX.JPG

Orchid Technology was a privately held company founded by Le Nhon Bui in 1982.[https://books.google.com/books?id=rCqwCwAAQBAJ&dq=%22Le+Nhon+Bui%22&pg=PA155 Sector 5: Computing : Orchid Technology Inc.], Page 155, Stoy Hayward Unlisted Securities Market Year Book, Contributor:Cecil Parkinson, Publisher:Springer, 1990, {{ISBN|1349112852}}, 9781349112852[https://books.google.com/books?id=My8EAAAAMBAJ&dq=%22Le+Nhon+Bui%22&pg=PA26 Add-on Boards compete for slot space], By Stephen Outing, InfoWorld, 2 Dec 1985, Page 26, ...says Le Nhon Bui, president of Orchid Technology, a Fremont, California, board maker. Orchid was one of the early pioneers in LAN technology...[https://books.google.com/books?id=WYnHD9WSWdAC&dq=Orchid+Technology+PCNet&pg=RA2-PA203 Advert: Orchid Technology], PC Mag, Aug-Oct 1982, Page 203

History

=1982 to 1984=

The company's original flagship product was its PCNet card, a 1 megabit-per-second LAN (networking) card for IBM PCs and clones.[https://books.google.com/books?id=q8fwTt09_MEC&dq=Orchid+Technology+PCNet&pg=PA107 Getting Hooked On PCnet], By Ron Jeffries, PC Mag, Nov 1983, Page 107 Notably, the acronym LAN (Local Area Networking) is the Vietnamese word for "Orchid". Hence, the origin of the company name.

Also in 1982, it introduced the Orchid Graphics Adapter, a graphics board for IBM PC compatible computers.{{cite journal |date=1991-06-11 |title=Orchid's Baby AT-Sized System Board Uses AMD's 40-MHz AM386 |url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_LNhQLiJ8TgQC |journal=PC Magazine |publisher=Ziff Davis, Inc. |page=57 |issn=0888-8507}}{{Cite web |date=October 11, 1982 |title=InfoWorld |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CzAEAAAAMBAJ&dq=Orchid+Graphics+Adapter+1982+-wiki&pg=PA5 |publisher=InfoWorld Media Group, Inc. |via=Google Books}} It was intended to provide high resolution (at the time) monochrome graphic abilities to computers limited to text displays. It was aimed at the business market and one of the three first third party graphic boards for PCs.

After this successful product, the company embarked on introducing high-performance add-in cards, most notably the LIM (Lotus, Intel Microsoft standard) which extended DOS out to 1M, Multi-purpose network cards that included RAM, clock, serial printer ports and Network COAX TCP-IP capabilities. Orchid developed its own operating system as well as one of the first 5 OEM's of Novell. Other products included PC Turbo, TinyTurbo and TurboVGA enhancement cards that included 186 and 286 processors. As the operating systems took on more resources Orchid made a switch back to its roots as PC board manufacturer.

=1984 to 1986=

From 1984 to 1986 the company switched to an Autocad video board manufacturer. Later, a variety of memory and video cards were introduced.

=After 1988=

In 1988, Orchid started designing and selling back-plane motherboards under the Privilege Systems Division. However, Orchid could not garner any significant market-share due to stiff competition from motherboard makers Micronics Computers, Inc., Mylex Corporation and American Megatrends Inc. (AMI), the original motherboard brand names in the industry.

=1994=

In August 1994, Orchid Technology was acquired by motherboard maker Micronics Computers, Inc.[https://books.google.com/books?id=fzgEAAAAMBAJ&dq=%22Orchid+Technology%22++Micronics+Computers&pg=PA39 Micronics merges with Orchid in an $11 million deal], By Tom Quinlan, InfoWorld, 20 Jun 1994, Page 39

Orchid sold their products through Direct to Fortune companies, OEMs, System Integrators and National Distributors such as Gates/FA, Techdata, Ingram and Micro D.

Graphic Cards

File:Orchid Righteous 3D.png]]

Orchid was known for its Righteous 3D,{{Cite web|title=Orchid Righteous 3D - Hardware museum|url=http://hw-museum.cz/vga/11/orchid-righteous-3d|access-date=2021-06-28|website=hw-museum.cz}} Fahrenheit Video3D{{Cite web|title=FAHRENHEIT VIDEO 3D|url=https://th99.infania.net/v/M-O/53547.htm|access-date=2021-06-28|website=th99.infania.net}} and Kelvin 64{{Cite web|title=Kelvin User's Manual for models: Kelvin EZKelvin 64|url=https://www.elhvb.com/mobokive/archive/Micronics/manuals/kel64&ez.pdf|website=www.elhvb.com}} graphics accelerators. They also manufactured an array of multimedia products including SoundWave 32 and GameWave 32 and the award-winning Vidiola line of digital capture and playback systems.