General Information

Serial #

3156

Part Number

1

Total Parts

9

AKA

N/A

Patents

N/A

General Description

metal casing with synthetic disk drive slots/ metal and synthetic wotking parts

Dimensions

Note: These reflect the general size for storage and are not necessarily representative of the object's true dimensions.

Length

58.6 cm

Width

42.5 cm

Height

16.5 cm

Thickness

N/A

Weight

N/A

Diameter

N/A

Volume

N/A

Lexicon

Group

Computing Technology

Category

Digital computing devices

Sub-Category

N/A

Manufacturer

AKA

Northern Telecom

Country

United Kingdom

State/Province

Unknown

City

Unknown

Context

Country

Canada

State/Province

Unknown

Period

circa 1985+

Canada

A computer made by or for and used by Canadian telecommunications giant Northern Telecom. This machine carries the Northern Telecom logos and was owned and used by them as witnessed by the Asset Control stickers on the CPU, monitor and keyboard. NT sold this as an AAdvanced Office Computer probably ca. 1985/86 (going by the manuals but these made be later). In 1895 Northern Electric and Manufacturing was founded to supply telecommunications equipment for Canada's fledgling telephone system. Northern Electric was renamed Northern Telecom in 1976 and turned to designing and producing digital switching and transmission equipment. The company became Nortel Networks in 1995, focusing on digital voice, video and data communications technology (Ref. 3).

Function

A programmable machine that accepts and processes data. It contains a microprocessor and is used by individual for personal or business computing purposes. This example was intended to be used as a work station in an office environment.

Technical

Little is known about NTs foray into PC/ office computers. It appears that Northern Telecom bought out Data 100 (ca. 1985?) but soon moved away from computing tech as it was not part of their core business. The mid-1980s was a very highly competitive time in the PC computer business and there were few survivors. According to Ken Lyons of the Nortel Networks Museum, the Vienna was made in the US at Data 100 in Minnetonka, MN and is based on an Intel 80286 processor chip. It doesn't have many unique features as far as we know. There is nothing on the web about this machine (2004/06). The Intel 80286 chip first appeared in the IMB PC-AT in 1984. The Intel 80386 in 1986 in Compaq=s DeskPro 386 computer so the NT Vienna came out near the end of the 286 era. This was a high end machine intended for commercial users not home use. It was equipped with several function cards including one for phone line access, Ethernet and audio/video cards. This computer consists of a CPU (larger than most 286 PCs of the day) with 9 slots for expansion cards. It is equipped with a hard drive and 2 5 1/4" floppy drives and comes with a 14" colour monitor (see the NT label on the bottom of the desk mount). The origin of the keyboard is not known (covered by ANT Unit ID tag). Two manuals are included: User Manual and MS Dos 3 Manual. Floppies with the software were in the manuals binders (now .6 and .7 and stored separately).

Area Notes

Unknown

Details

Markings

raised silver lettering on synthetic plate on front reads in 'VIENNA'/ label on back reads 'nt northern/ telecom/ Northern Telecom/ Data Systems Ltd./ VIENNA AOC SYSTEM UNIT/ MODEL AOC V8P02 PEC & REL NT3O55AK-3 Rel 03/ SER NO. 3156 PART NO. 30550132/ 115 V 60 Hz 5 A/ MADE IN UK'/ label on back reads 'nt northern/ telecom/ UNIT ID./ 6137108'/ label on back reads 'ASSETT CONTROL/ PROPERTY OF/ NORTHERN TELECOM/ No. 830670'; two identical labels read 'No. 830667' and 'No. 830666'

Missing

appears complete

Finish

grey painted textured casing/ black synthetic disk drive slots

Decoration

N/A