Asus
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ASUSTeK Computer Inc. (Chinese: ) is a Taiwan-based company that produces motherboards, graphics cards, optical drives, PDAs, notebook computers, networking products, mobile phones, computer cases, and computer cooling systems. Commonly called by their brand name ASUS (pronounced [ˈeɪsʊs] or [ˈeɪsəs]) it is listed on London Stock Exchange and Taiwan Stock Exchange.
History
Origin of the name
ASUS was founded in 1989 in Taiwan by TH Tung, Ted Hsu, Wayne Hsieh and MT Liao. Then Jonney Shih joined ASUS in 1994. According to the ASUS sales manager Alexander Kim [Russian-language interview with Alexander Kim, October 2003]) the name ASUS originated from Pegasus, the winged horse of Greek mythology, seen as symbol of success and revival. The first three letters were dropped to give the resulting name a high position in alphabetical listings, then the company name was completed to "ASUSTeK Computers Incorporated".In 2004, ASUS was reported to sell more motherboards than three other leading companies combined, ["First-tier motherboard shipments increase 4.9% in October", Digitimes, 11 November 2004] reaching 30 million. This number, however, includes rebranding contracts.
In 2005, shipments from ASUS, ECS, Gigabyte, and MSI totaled 104.86 million units. ASUS led with about 52 million units, followed by ECS with 20 million, MSI with 18 million and Gigabyte with 16.5 million. MSI revised its motherboard shipments from an estimate of 16.7 million units to 18 million, according to the company.
ASUS also produces components for other corporations, including Sony (PlayStation 2), Apple Computer (iPod, iPod Shuffle, MacBook), Alienware, Falcon Northwest, HP and Compaq.
Timeline
- September/October 2003: debuts in the cellphone market with the J100 model.[J100 Phone from ASUS]
- September 2005: realizes their first PhysX accelerator card[ASUS PhysX Card Ready] (currently expected in May 2006)[Asus PhysX boards coming in May]
- December 2005: enters the LCD TV market with the TLW32001 model, initially only available on the Taiwan market.[ASUS enters LCD TV market with TLW32001 32" LCD TV]
- March 9 2006: ASUS is announced to be one of the producers of the first Microsoft Origami models, together with Samsung and Founder. Samsung and ASUS devices expected by April 2006.[Microsoft Unfolds Origami] at the 2006 CeBIT expo
Manufacturing facilities
As of January 2006, ASUS has manufacturing facilities in Taiwan (Taipei, Luchu, Nankan, Kweishan) and in mainland China (Suzhou), with a monthly production capacity of two million motherboards and 150,000 notebook computers (Source: ASUS official site)Product categories
In alphabetical order:
- Barebone PCs
- Broadband
- Graphic cards
- LCD monitors and TVs
- Mobile phones
- Motherboards
- Multimedia
- Computer networking
- Notebooks
- Optical storage
- PC cases and PSUs
- PDAs
- Servers
- Thermal solutions
- Wireless networking
| Name | Year of Introduction | Product | Description | Patented | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AI NET2 | YYYY | Motherboards | Diagnoses LAN connection problems before starting the OS | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| AI NOS | YYYY | Motherboards | Non-delay Overclocking System. A dynamic overclocking technology | Yes | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| AI Proactive | YYYY | Motherboards | | AI Quiet
| YYYY
| Motherboards
| Controls speed of fan and processor for a more quiet operation.
| Audio DJ
| YYYY
| Motherboards and notebooks
| Allows playing Audio CDs without turning the computer on. Notebooks supporting this feature normally have play/pause, stop and other control buttons on the front, where they are accessible even when the notebook is closed.
| BIOS EZ Flash
| YYYY
| Motherboards
| Allows to update the BIOS through a non-boot floppy which just contains the new BIOS image. Built-in with the BIOS firmware and can be accessed by pressing ALT+F2 during the power-on self-test
| C.P.R. | (CPU Parameter Recall) YYYY
| Motherboards
| Automatically restores default CPU settings at reboot when the system fails due to overclocking.
| ASUS CrashFree BIOS2
| YYYY
| Motherboards
| If the BIOS becomes corrupted, CrashFree BIOS 2 allows the user to perform a recovery using the motherboard support CD.
| Color Shine (or Colour Shine), Crystal Shine
| YYYY
| Laptop LCDs
| ASUS marketing names for the anti-reflective LCD technology.
| GameFace Live
| 2004?
| Graphics Cards
| A multi-player audio and video chat solution allowing online gamers to see and talk each other while playing. As of 2006, it is limited to DirectX games and allows up to eight simultaneous players.
| GameLiveShow
| YYYY
| Graphics Cards
| Allows gamers to broadcast
| |
References
External links
- [Official Site]
- The [Top 100 information technology companies of 2005] according to BusinessWeek
- [Linux on Asus Laptops (user experiences)]
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