Education Is a System of Indoctrination of the Young - Noam Chomsky (Mayo 2024)
Ang NEC Corporation, pangunahing korporasyong multinasyunal ng Hapon, tagagawa ng kagamitan sa telecommunication at mga kaugnay na software at serbisyo. Ang mga punong-himpilan ay nasa Tokyo.
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Ang Nippon Electric Company, Ltd. (NEC; opisyal na NEC Corporation noong 1983), ay itinatag noong 1899 na may pondo mula sa Western Electric Company ng Estados Unidos. Ang kasosyo sa Hapon sa bagong pakikipagsapalaran na ito ay si Iwadare Kunihiko, isang dalubhasa sa mga sistema ng telegraphic na nagtrabaho nang 10 taon sa Estados Unidos sa ilalim ng imbentor ng Amerikano na si Thomas Alva Edison. Ang NEC ay ang unang pakikipagsapalaran ng Hapon sa isang dayuhang kumpanya, at binigyan nito ang daan ng Western Electric upang ma-export ang mga kagamitan sa telepono nito sa gobyerno ng Hapon. Habang ang Western Electric ay unti-unting nakakakuha ng tiwala sa integridad ng sistema ng Japan ng pangangasiwa ng mga patente, nag-alok ito ng suportang teknikal na sa paglaon ay gumawa ng NEC sa paggawa, sa halip na magtipon lamang, mga kagamitan sa telepono.
Noong 1924 sinimulan ng NEC ang sariling negosyo sa komunikasyon sa radyo, na tumutulong sa pag-akyat sa Radio Tokyo, ang unang istasyon ng broadcast sa Japan. Noong 1928, ginamit ng NEC ang mga kagamitan sa telephotograpya na binuo nito (isang precursor sa facsimile machine) upang maipadala ang mga litrato ng coronation ni Emperor Hirohito mula sa Kyōto hanggang Tokyo, isang pag-awit na may malaking epekto sa populasyon ng mga Hapon.
Because of its strategic position as the main supplier of equipment to Japan’s Ministry of Communication, the predecessor to Japan’s telephone utility, NEC was involved in efforts to modernize the country’s communications infrastructure. In the 1930s NEC established the first telephone connection between Japan and China, by developing and installing 3,000 km (1,900 miles) of cable and equipment. Government support was also instrumental in NEC’s establishment of its first research and development laboratory in 1939, especially as Japan attempted to wean itself from foreign dependencies in the years leading up to World War II.
By 1954 NEC had embarked on computer research and development, including a project to produce a computer using parametrons, a Japanese switching technology (similar to magnetic cores) that was more stable than vacuum tubes and less expensive than early transistors. In 1958 NEC used this technology to build the NEAC-1101, the first Japanese computer system that was not based on an IBM-compatible design. The next year, NEC built its first fully transistorized computer, the NEAC 2201.
Like other Japanese electronics firms, NEC was encouraged by Japan’s Ministry of International Trade and Industry to collaborate with an American company in order to gain access to technology in exchange for marketing the American company’s goods in Japan. In 1962 NEC signed a 10-year accord with Honeywell Inc. Soon NEC began manufacturing the NEAC 2200 (in essence, Honeywell’s H200) to compete directly with IBM.
A concerted effort at global expansion was initiated in 1964 when Kobayashi Koji became NEC’s president, propelling the company’s growth, which until that time had relied heavily on sales to the Japanese government. Throughout the 1960s and’70s, NEC continued to penetrate the burgeoning global computer market. In the 20 years between 1964 and 1984, NEC’s total sales grew from $270 million to $8 billion, 35 percent of which was in overseas business.
In Europe NEC participated in joint research and development of equipment and operating systems with Honeywell and the French government-controlled computer company Fédération des Equipes Bull, especially after 1970 when Honeywell took over General Electric Co.’s position in Bull-General Electric. In 1987 Honeywell, Bull, and NEC formed Honeywell-Bull Inc., with 42.5, 42.5, and 15 percent ownership, respectively. Although Honeywell had dropped out by the early 1990s, NEC maintained its investment, and, as the French government privatized the company, NEC emerged as Bull’s largest shareholder.
In the United States, Japanese semiconductor companies were overtaking their American counterparts during the 1970s, putting pressure on the U.S. government for protectionist legislation. In response, NEC acquired Electronic Arrays, Inc., in 1978, becoming one of the first Japanese companies to locate some of its semiconductor operations in the United States.
In 1977 NEC announced its “C&C” (computers and communications) campaign, two areas of technology that Kobayashi envisioned as melding into one. As Japan’s preeminent telecommunications company, NEC contributed to developments in mobile telephony, fibre optic networks, private branch exchanges, and microwave, digital, and satellite communications systems. In 2000 NEC reorganized its corporate structure to facilitate Internet-related sales and service.
Besides mainframe computers, NEC was an early developer and marketer of personal computers. In 1997 NEC merged its North American personal computer operations with Zenith Data Systems and Packard Bell to form Packard Bell–NEC, Inc., but the new company was unsuccessful and closed in 1999.
NEC also became a premier supercomputer developer. With billions of dollars in funding from the Japanese government, NEC engineered a custom computer processor for its Earth Simulator. Operational in 2002, the machine used more than 5,000 processors and outperformed its nearest rival, the IBM ASCI White, fivefold. The Earth Simulator was built to model the weather—in particular, to give the government advance warning of typhoon conditions.
In 2002 NEC spun off its semiconductor manufacturing business into a new company, NEC Electronics, which merged with Renesas Techonology in 2010 to form Renesas Electronics. NEC formed a joint venture with the Chinese personal computer maker Lenovo in 2011. The joint venture, Lenovo NEC Holdings, had about 25 percent of the Japanese personal computer market and was almost completely acquired by Lenovo in 2016.
