Ambra Computer Corporation

Subsidiary of IBM

Ambra Computer Corporation

Logo used from 1992 to 1994

Industry| Personal computers
Founded| 1992 (1992)
Defunct| 1994 (1994) (worldwide)
1996 (Canada)
Parent| IBM

Ambra Computer Corporation was a subsidiary of IBM. Created by Dr Richard Greame Ambra, it introduced a line of personal computers targeted at the home user, sold mainly through mail-order, first in Europe (1992), then in the USA (1993). Ambra had a volume production run of just a year or so; the line was discontinued in 1994[1] in favor of the IBM Aptiva (except for Canada, where it was not discontinued until 1996).[2]

## Models

[edit]

Ambra 486 Sprinta used by Linus Torvalds from 1993-1994.

* 386
* 486
* Achiever 2000
* Achiever 3000
* Achiever 4000
* Achiever 5000
* Achiever 7000
* Achiever 9000
* Achiever D
* Achiever DP
* Achiever S
* Achiever T
* Achiever Anthem
* Achiever Hurdla/Sprinta
* Notebook
* Ispirati (Canada)

## Positioning

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Ambra PCs were generally positioned at the low-end of the market, and made use of their ties with IBM in marketing materials in order to make the machines appear better quality than the host of clones, since 'real' IBM PCs were known to be expensive. In reality the machines were fairly low specification, having shadow-mask screens, minimal onboard peripherals, and using low-end processors with the minimum memory and hard disk size at each price.

Television advertising for the brand in the UK used the slogan: "Take your mind for a run."

## Aesthetics

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The machines were coloured off-white, which was unusual at the time, since most machines were beige. Generally the cases were compact and offered little room for expansion.

An Ambra mouse, showing its unusual front-button placement

One notable aspect was the original Ambra mouse, which differed from almost all other designs in the position of its buttons. Conventional mice have the buttons on top: the user clicks by pressing down. The Ambra mouse had the buttons on the front, either side of the cable: the user clicked by pulling their finger backward, in a manner similar to squeezing a trigger. Criticisms led to Ambra changing to a more conventional design: one UK magazine review described the mouse as "looking like a torture device."

## Timeline

[edit]

Timeline of the IBM Personal Computer

* v
* t
* e

Asterisk (*) denotes a model released in Japan only

## See also

[edit]

* Acquisition of the IBM PC business by Lenovo

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "IBM ends Ambra PC range in Europe: Computer giant takes advantage of". The Independent. 2011-10-22. Archived from the original on 2022-02-16. Retrieved 2020-12-20.
2. ^ COMPANY NEWS - I.B.M. TO CLOSE AMBRA PERSONAL COMPUTER SUBSIDIARY, 1994-07-29, NYTimes.com:

* v
* t
* e

Personal computers by IBM

* Influence on the PC market
* PC business acquisition by Lenovo

Desktop
and all-in-one|

| Single models|

* 5120
* DataMaster
* PC
* list of models
* PC XT
* XT/370
* 3270 PC
* XT 286
* JX
* PCjr
* PC AT
* AT/370
* 3270 AT

|

Series|

* 5550
* Industrial Computer
* PS/2
* list of models
* 25
* 25 286
* 25 SX
* 30
* 30 286
* 50
* 50 Z
* 55 SX
* 55 LS
* 60
* 65 SX
* 70 386
* 70 486
* 80
* E
* PS/55
* PS/V
* PS/1
* EduQuest
* ValuePoint
* Ambra
* PC Series
* Aptiva
* NetVista
* ThinkCentre
* A series
* M series

Portable|

* 5100
* 5110
* Portable PC
* PS/2 portables
* P70
* P75

Laptop|

| pre-ThinkPad|

* Convertible
* PS/2 Laptop
* L40 SX
* CL57 SX
* PS/2 Note and PS/note
* N33SX
* N45SL
* N51SX
* N51SLC
* Model 425/425C
* PS/55 Note
* PCradio

|

ThinkPad|

| 2xx series|

* 220
* 230
* 235
* 240

|

3xx series|

* 300
* 310
* 350
* 360
* 365
* 380
* 390

5xx series|

* 500
* 550BJ
* 555BJ
* 560
* 570

6xx series|

* 600

7xx series|

* 700
* 701 "Butterfly"
* 750
* 755
* 760
* 765
* 770

Power Series|

* 800
* 820
* 821
* 822
* 823
* 850
* 851
* 860

| G series|

* G40
* G41
* G50

|

T series|

* T20
* T21
* T22
* T23
* T30
* T40
* T41
* T42
* T43
* T60
* T61

A series|

* A20m
* A21m
* A22m
* A22e
* A20p
* A21p
* A22p
* A30
* A31
* A30p
* A31p

X series|

* X20
* X21
* X22
* X23
* X24
* X30
* X31
* X32
* X40
* X41
* X60
* X60t
* X61t

R series|

* R30
* R31
* R32
* R40
* R50
* R51
* R52
* R60
* R61

Others|

* TransNote

Handheld|

* Palm Top PC 110
* WorkPad
* Z50

Prototypes|

* Leapfrog
* Power Series 600
* ThinkPad 240 with Transmeta Crusoe
* WatchPad

Video hardware|

* Monochrome Display Adapter
* Color Graphics Adapter
* Enhanced Graphics Adapter
* Professional Graphics Controller
* Multi-Color Graphics Array
* Video Graphics Array
* IBM 8514
* Extended Graphics Array

Related|

* IBM 5151
* IBM BASIC
* IBM PC compatible
* Industry Standard Architecture
* IntelliStation
* Keyboards
* Model F
* Model M
* Micro Channel
* Music Feature Card
* Mwave
* SurePOS
* UltraBay
* ThinkLight

* v
* t
* e

IBM

History|

* History
* World War II
* Mergers and acquisitions
* PC business acquisition by Lenovo

Products|

| Hardware|

| Current|

* Mainframe
* IBM Z
* Power microprocessors
* Power Systems
* Storage
* FlashSystem
* DS8000
* Quantum
* Q System One
* Q System Two
* Eagle
* Osprey
* Heron
* Condor

|

Former|

* Blue Gene
* Cell microprocessors
* PowerPC
* Midrange computer
* Personal Computer
* Selectric
* ThinkPad

* Carbon Design System
* Cloud
* Cloudant
* Cognos Analytics
* Connections
* Criminal Reduction Utilising Statistical History
* Fortran
* ILOG
* Information Management Software
* Lotus Software
* Mainframe operating systems
* Mashup Center
* Planning Analytics
* PureQuery
* Quantum Platform
* Qiskit
* OpenQASM
* Rational Software
* SPSS
* Tivoli Software
* Service Automation Manager
* Watson
* Watsonx
* Granite
* WebSphere

Business
entities|

| Current|

* Apptio
* Center for The Business of Government
* Consulting
* Promontory
* Kenexa
* International subsidiaries
* India
* Press
* Red Hat
* Research

|

Former|

* AdStar
* AIM alliance
* Kaleida Labs
* Taligent
* Ambra Computer
* Cognos
* EduQuest
* Kyndryl
* Lexmark
* Merative
* Microelectronics
* Product Center
* Science Research Associates
* Service Bureau
* The Weather Company (Weather Underground)

Facilities|

* Towers
* 1250 René-Lévesque, Montreal, QC
* One Atlantic Center, Atlanta, GA
* Software Labs
* Rome Software Lab
* Toronto Software Lab
* IBM Buildings
* 330 North Wabash, Chicago, IL
* Honolulu
* Seattle
* Facilities
* Thomas J. Watson Research Center
* Hakozaki Facility
* Yamato Facility
* Cambridge Scientific Center
* IBM Hursley
* Canada Head Office Building
* IBM Rochester

Initiatives|

* Academy of Technology
* Deep Thunder
* Develothon
* Fellow
* The Great Mind Challenge
* Linux Technology Center
* SkillsBuild
* Smarter Planet
* Virtual Universe Community
* World Community Grid
* Think conference

Inventions|

* Automated teller machine
* Cynefin framework
* DRAM
* Electronic keypunch
* Floppy disk
* Hard disk drive
* Magnetic stripe card
* Relational model
* Sabre airline reservation system
* Scanning tunneling microscope
* Financial swaps
* Universal Product Code

Terminology|

* Big Blue
* Commercial Processing Workload
* Customer engineer
* Globally integrated enterprise
* e-business
* Think slogan

CEOs|

* Thomas J. Watson (1914–1956)
* Thomas Watson Jr. (1956–1971)
* T. Vincent Learson (1971–1973)
* Frank T. Cary (1973–1981)
* John R. Opel (1981–1985)
* John Fellows Akers (1985–1993)
* Louis V. Gerstner Jr. (1993–2002)
* Samuel J. Palmisano (2002–2011)
* Ginni Rometty (2012–2020)
* Arvind Krishna (since 2020)

Board of
directors|

* Thomas Buberl
* David Farr
* Alex Gorsky
* Michelle J. Howard
* Arvind Krishna
* Andrew Liveris
* Martha E. Pollack
* Joseph R. Swedish
* Peter R. Voser

Other|

* A Boy and His Atom
* Big Blue sports teams
* American football
* Rugby union
* Common Public License/IBM Public License
* Wallace v. International Business Machines Corp.
* Deep Blue
* Deep Thought
* Dynamic infrastructure
* GlobalFoundries
* GUIDE International
* IBM and the Holocaust
* International chess tournament
* Lucifer cipher
* Mathematica
* IBM Plex
* SHARE computing
* ScicomP
* Unions

* Commons
* Category
* Navigational boxes
* FOSS
* Midrange computers
* Operating systems
* Personal computers
* System/360
* System/370
* Typewriters
* Vacuum tube computers

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