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{{Short description|American computer company}}
{{Essay|date=October 2022}}
{{Infobox company
| name          = Wang Laboratories, Inc.
| image         = File:Cross Point Towers; northeast side; Lowell, MA; 2011-09-11.JPG
| image_caption = Former Wang headquarters in [[Lowell, Massachusetts]]
| logo          = Wang Laboratories wordmark.svg
| type          = [[Public company|Public]]
| fate          = Acquired by [[Getronics]]
| foundation    = [[Cambridge, Massachusetts]], [[United States|US]] (1951)
| location      = [[Tewksbury, Massachusetts]], [[United States|US]] (1963–1976)<br />[[Lowell, Massachusetts]], [[United States|US]] (1976–1995)<br />[[Billerica, Massachusetts]] (1995-1999)
| key_people    = [[An Wang]] (founder)
| industry      = [[Computer hardware]]
| products      = [[Word processor]]s, [[minicomputer]]s, [[microcomputer]]s
| revenue       = $3&nbsp;billion (1980s, peak)
| num_employees = 33,000
| num_employees_year = 1980s
}}
'''Wang Laboratories, Inc.''', was an American computer company founded in 1951 by [[An Wang]] and Ge Yao Chu and operating in the [[Greater Boston|Boston area]].<ref name=AmStockX.Wang/><ref>{{cite web |title=Wang Laboratories |website=Centre for Computing History |url=https://www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/8375/Wang/ |access-date=3 July 2025}}</ref> Originally making typesetters, calculators, and word processors, it began adding computers, copiers, and laser printers.<ref name=WANG.NYT1978>{{cite news |newspaper=[[The New York Times]]
   |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1978/12/06/archives/wang-labs-healthy-survivor-intelligent-printer-is-set-machine.html
   |title=Wang Labs: Healthy Survivor
   |url-access=subscription
   |author=Peter J. Schuyten  |date=December 6, 1978}}</ref> At its peak in the 1980s, Wang Laboratories had annual revenues of [[US$]]3 billion and employed over 33,000 people. It was one of the leading companies during the time of the [[Massachusetts Miracle]].<ref name="futureboston1">{{cite web|url=http://www.futureboston.org/howell.htm |title= Jim Howell on Boston's Economic Development |website=Future Boston |access-date=February 14, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304093146/http://www.futureboston.org/howell.htm |archive-date=March 4, 2016 }}</ref>

The company was directed by An Wang, who was described as an "indispensable leader" and played a personal role in setting business and product strategy until his death in 1990. Over forty years, the company transitioned between different product lines, responding to competitive threats to its early products.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.limitsofstrategy.com/chapters/chapter7.html |title=The Limits of Strategy: Chapter 7 - Defeated in Succession |website=Limitsofstrategy.com |access-date=2016-05-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304040755/http://www.limitsofstrategy.com/chapters/chapter7.html |archive-date=2016-03-04 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The company was successively headquartered in [[Cambridge, Massachusetts]] (1954–1963), [[Tewksbury, Massachusetts]] (1963–1976), [[Lowell, Massachusetts]] (1976–1995), and finally [[Billerica, Massachusetts]]. 

Wang Laboratories filed for bankruptcy protection in August 1992.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/08/19/business/wang-files-for-bankruptcy-5000-jobs-to-be-cut.html |title= Wang Files for Bankruptcy; 5,000 Jobs to Be Cut |author=Adam Bryant |date=August 19, 1992 |url-access=limited |work=New York Times |access-date=August 20, 2014}}</ref> After emerging from bankruptcy, the company changed its name to '''Wang Global'''. It was acquired by [[Getronics]] of the Netherlands in 1999, becoming Getronics North America, then was sold to [[KPN]] in 2007 and [[CompuCom]] in 2008.

==Public stock listing==
Wang went public on August 26, 1967, with the issuance of 240,000 shares at $12.50 per share on the [[American Stock Exchange]]. The stock closed the day above $40, valuing the company's equity at approximately $77 million, of which An Wang and his family owned about 63%.<ref>New York Times, 8/27/1967, p. 51.</ref>{{sfn|Kenney|1992|p=48}}

An Wang took steps to ensure that the Wang family would retain control of the company even after going public. He created a second class of stock, class B, with higher dividends but only one-tenth the voting power of class C. The public mostly bought class B shares; the Wang family retained most of the class C shares.<ref name=AmStockX.Wang>{{cite news
   |publisher=UPI ([[United Press International]])
   |url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1993/03/17/American-Stock-Exchange-delists-Wang-stocks/2976732344400
   |title=American Stock Exchange delists Wang stocks
   |date=March 17, 1993}}</ref> The letters B and C were used to ensure that brokerages would fill any Wang stock orders with class B shares unless class C was specifically requested. Wang stock had been listed on the [[New York Stock Exchange]], but this maneuver was not quite acceptable under NYSE's rules, and Wang was forced to delist with NYSE and relist on the more liberal [[American Stock Exchange]].{{sfn|Kenney|1992|p=74}} After Wang's 1992 bankruptcy, holders of class B and C common stock were treated the same.<ref name=AmStockX.Wang/>

==Products==

===Typesetters===
The company's first major project was the Linasec<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Stevens |first1=Mary Elizabeth |last2=Little |first2=John L |date=1967 |title=Automatic typographic-quality typesetting techniques: a state-of-the-art review |url=https://nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/Legacy/MONO/nbsmonograph99.pdf |journal=NIST Technical Series |publisher=National Institute of Standards and Technology |doi=10.6028/NBS.MONO.99}}</ref> in 1964, an electronic special-purpose computer designed to justify paper tape for use on automated [[Linotype machine]]s. It was developed under contract to [[phototypesetting|phototypesetter]] manufacturer [[Compugraphic]], which retained the manufacturing rights of the Linasec. The success of the machine led Compugraphic to decide to manufacture it themselves, causing Wang to lose out on a million dollars in revenue.{{sfn|Kenney|1992|p=45}}

===Calculators===
The [[Wang LOCI-2]]<ref name="Bensene_2013">{{cite web |author-first=Rick |author-last=Bensene |title=Wang LOCI-2 |date=2013-08-31 |orig-year=1997 |work=Old Calculator Web Museum |location=Beavercreek, Oregon City, Oregon, USA |url=http://www.oldcalculatormuseum.com/wangloci.html |access-date=2016-01-03}}</ref><ref name="Wang_1967_LOCI"/><ref>{{Cite web |title=Wang LOCI-2 Electronic Calculator |url=https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/nmah_334290 |access-date=2022-04-16 |website=National Museum of American History |language=en}}</ref> (Logarithmic Computing Instrument) desktop calculator<ref name="Bensene_2004">{{cite web |author-first=Rick |author-last=Bensene |title=Wang Model 360SE Calculator System |date=2004-10-23 |orig-year=1997 |work=Old Calculator Web Museum |location=Beavercreek, Oregon City, Oregon, USA |url=http://www.oldcalculatormuseum.com/wang360.html |access-date=2016-01-03}}</ref> (the earlier [[Wang LOCI-1|{{nowrap|LOCI-1}}]]<ref>{{citation |publisher=[[Wang Laboratories, Inc.]] |title=Extend your Personal Computing Power with the new LOCI-1 Logarithmic Computing Instrument |date=1964 |pages=2–3 |url=http://www.oldcalculatormuseum.com/a-loci1br-23.html |access-date=2016-01-03}}</ref> in September 1964 was not a real product) was introduced in January 1965. Using ''[[factor combining]]'', it was the first [[desktop calculator]] capable of computing [[logarithm]]s, which was notable for a machine without any [[integrated circuit]]s.<ref name="Wang Ad 1966">{{Citation | last = Wang Laboratories | title = Now you can determine Copolymer Composition in a few minutes at your desk | journal = Analytical Chemistry | volume = 38 | issue = 13 | pages = 62A–63A | date = December 1966 | doi = 10.1021/ac50155a005 }}</ref> The electronics included 1,275 discrete [[transistor]]s. It performed multiplication by adding logarithms, and roundoff in the display conversion was noticeable: 2 × 2 yielded 3.999999999.

From 1965 to about 1971, Wang was a well-regarded calculator company. The dollar price of Wang calculators<ref>a used calculator for sale in 1977: {{cite news |newspaper=[[Computerworld]]
   |date=October 10, 1977 |page=82
   |title=Wang 700 Programmable Calculator
   |quote=with 701 output typewriter}}</ref> was in the mid-four-figures.<ref>{{US$|3000}} to {{US$|6000}}</ref> They used [[Nixie tube]] readouts, performed [[transcendental function]]s, had varying degrees of [[Programmable calculator|programmability]], and used [[magnetic core memory]]. The 200 and 300 calculator models were available as time-shared simultaneous (SE) packages that<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.xnumber.com/xnumber/wang.htm |title=Wang Calculators |access-date=March 1, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111104164535/http://www.xnumber.com/xnumber/wang.htm |archive-date=November 4, 2011 }}</ref> had a central processing unit the size of a small suitcase connected by cables leading to four individual desktop display/keyboard units. Competition included [[Hewlett-Packard|HP]], which introduced the [[Hewlett-Packard 9100A|HP 9100A]] in 1968, and old-line calculator companies such as [[Monroe Calculator Company|Monroe]] and [[Marchant Calculator|Marchant]].

Wang calculators were at first sold to scientists and engineers, but the company later became established in financial services industries, which had relied on complicated printed tables for mortgages and annuities.

In 1971, Wang believed that calculators would become unprofitable low-margin [[commodity|commodities]] and decided to leave the calculator business within a few years.{{sfn|Kenney|1992|p=53}}

===Word processors===

===={{anchor|1200|1220|1222}}The Wang 1200====
Wang's first attempt at a [[word processor]] was the Wang 1200, announced in late 1971<ref>
{{cite web   |url=https://www.computerworld.com/article/2492619/top-10-technologies-of-the-past-45-years.html
   |title=Top 10 technologies of the past 45 years
   |quote=Wang 1200 (1971)
   |date=October 22, 2012}}</ref> but not available until 1972.<ref>{{cite web
|url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/social-sciences/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/wang
|quote=began producing its first word processor, the Wang 1200, in 1972   
|title=Wang, An}}</ref> The design consisted of the logic of a Wang 500 calculator hooked up to an OEM-manufactured [[IBM Selectric]] typewriter for keying and printing, and dual cassette decks for storage. [[Harold Koplow]], who had written the [[microcode]] for the Wang 700 and its derivative the Wang 500 rewrote the microcode to perform word processing functions instead of numerical calculations.

The operator of a Wang 1200 typed text on a conventional IBM Selectric keyboard; when the Return key was pressed, the line of text was stored on a cassette tape. One cassette held roughly 20 pages of text and could be "played back" (e.g., the text retrieved) by printing the contents on [[Continuous stationery|continuous-form paper]] in the 1200 typewriter's "print" mode. The stored text could also be edited using keys on a simple, six-key array. Basic editing functions included Insert, Delete, Skip (character, line), and so on.

The Wang 1200 machine was the precursor of the Wang Office Information System (OIS).

====Wang OIS====
Following the Wang 1200, Harold Koplow and David Moros made another attempt at designing a word processor. They started by first writing the user's manual for the product.{{sfn|Kenney|1992|p=68}} A 2002 ''Boston Globe'' article refers to Koplow as a "wisecracking rebel" who "was waiting for dismissal when, in 1975, he developed the product that made computers popularly accessible."

In Koplow's words, "Dr. Wang kicked me out of marketing. I, along with Dave Moros, was relegated to Long Range Planning&nbsp;– 'LRPed'. This&nbsp;... was tantamount to being fired: 'here is a temporary job until you find another one in some other company.'"

Although he and Moros perceived the assignment to design a word processing machine as busywork, they went ahead anyway. They wrote the manual and convinced An Wang to turn it into a real project.{{sfn|Kenney|1992|p=68}} The word processing machine{{snd}}the Wang 1200 WPS{{snd}}was introduced in June 1976 and was an instant success, as was its successor, the 1977 Wang OIS<ref>{{cite web|url=http://community.fortunecity.ws/roswell/goldendawn/232/WangComputers1.htm |title=Wang-Computers1 |website=Community.fortunecity.ws |access-date=2016-05-20}}</ref> (Office Information System).

The OIS was a multi-user system. Each workstation looked like a typical [[computer terminal|terminal]] but contained its own [[Intel 8080]] microprocessor (later versions used a [[Zilog Z80|Z80]]) and 64&nbsp;KB of RAM. [[Disk storage]] was centralized in a master unit and shared by the workstations, and the connection was via high-speed dual [[coaxial cable]] "928 Link".<ref>During the late 1970s and early 1980s Wang Labs Dept. 14, headed by Harold Koplow, was responsible for development of the WANG WPS and OIS Systems, Wang's most successful products. The internal code name for the project was "928" derived from the date of original conception of the product September 28, 1975.</ref>

===Copiers/printers===
Ahead of [[IBM]] and [[Xerox]], Wang captured the lead for "the 'intelligent' printer: a high-speed office copier that can be linked electronically" to PCs "and other automated equipment".<ref name=WANG.NYT1978/> A year later, ''The New York Times'' described the [[IBM 6670]] ''Information Distributor'' as "closer to the standard envisioned".<ref name=NYTre6670.1979>{{cite news
   |newspaper=[[The New York Times]]
   |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1979/04/25/archives/technology-the-intelligent-copier-is-here.html 
   |url-access=subscription
   |title=Technology  |author=Peter J. Schuyten |date=April 25, 1979}}</ref>

===Early computer models===
====Wang 3300====
{{Main|Wang 3300}}
Wang's first computer, the Wang 3300, was an 8-bit integrated circuit general-purpose minicomputer designed to be the central processor for a multi-terminal [[Time-sharing|time-sharing system]]. Byte-oriented, it also provided a number of double-byte operand memory commands. Core memory ranged from 4,096 to 65,536 bytes in 4,096-byte increments.<ref>[http://wang3300.org/docs/3300ComputerReferenceManual.700-0365.10-71.pdf 3300 Computer Reference Manual]</ref>

Development began after hiring Rick Bensene in June 1968.<ref>{{cite web
 |url=http://wang3300.org/index.html
 |title=Wang 3300 Home
 |date=April 9, 2011
 |access-date=March 24, 2019}}</ref>  The product was announced in February 1969<ref>{{cite web|url=http://wang3300.org/docs/3300press.1970.pdf |title=Wang Labs enters mini-computer market}}</ref> and shipped to its first customer on March 29, 1971.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://wang3300.org/docs/WangProgrammerV5N5.5-71.pdf |title=WANG DELIVERS FIRST MINI-COMPUTER}}</ref>

====Wang 2200====
{{main|Wang 2200}}
Wang developed and marketed several lines of small computer systems for both word processing and data processing. Instead of a clear, linear progression, the product lines overlapped and, in some cases, borrowed technology from each other.

The most identifiable Wang [[minicomputer]] performing recognizable data processing was the [[Wang 2200]], which appeared in May 1973. Unlike some other [[desktop computer]]s such as the [[HP 9830]], it had a [[Cathode-ray tube|CRT]] in a cabinet that also included an integrated computer-controlled [[Compact Cassette (data)|compact cassette]] storage unit and keyboard. It was microcoded to run [[Interpreter (computing)|interpreted]] [[Wang BASIC]]. It was widely used in small- and medium-sized businesses worldwide; about 65,000 systems were shipped.

The original 2200 was a single-user system. The improved VP model increased performance more than tenfold and enhanced the language (renamed [[Basic-2|BASIC-2]]). The 2200 VP evolved into a desktop computer and larger MVP system to support up to 16 workstations and utilized commercial disk technologies that appeared in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The disk subsystems could be attached to up to 15 computers giving a theoretical upper limit of 240 workstations in a single [[Cluster (computing)|cluster]].

Unlike the other product lines, such as the VS and OIS (described above), Wang used [[value-added reseller]]s (VARs) to customize and market 2200 systems. One such creative solution deployed dozens of 2200 systems and was developed in conjunction with [[Hawaii]]- and [[Hong Kong]]–based firm [[Algorithms, Inc]]. It provided [[Pager|paging]] (beeper) services for much of the Hong Kong market in the early 1980s.{{Year needed|date=October 2022}}

Overshadowed by the Wang VS, the 2200 languished as a cost-effective but forgotten solution in the hands of the customers who had it. In the late 1980s, Wang revisited the 2200 series one last time, offering 2200 customers a new 2200 CS with bundled maintenance for less than customers were paying at the time just for maintenance of their aging 2200s. The 2200 CS had an [[I386|Intel 386 processor]], updated disk units, and other peripherals. Most 2200 customers upgraded to the 2200 CS, after which Wang did not develop or market any new 2200 products. In 1997, Wang reported having about two hundred 2200 systems still under maintenance around the world. Throughout, Wang had always offered maintenance services for the 2200.

The 2200 BASIC-2 language was ported to be compiled and run on non-Wang hardware and [[operating system]]s by at least two companies. Niakwa Inc<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.niakwa.com/ |title=Niakwa Programming Language - The Development Environment of Choice!!!!!!! |publisher=Niakwa.com |date=2010-02-01 |access-date=2016-05-20}}</ref> created a product named NPL (originally named Basic-2C). Kerridge Computer,<ref>{{cite web|author=CDK Global |url=http://www.kerridge.com/ |title=CDK Global. Dealer Management Systems and services from CDK Global Automatic Data processing |publisher=Kerridge.com |access-date=2016-05-20}}</ref> now a part of [[Automatic Data Processing|ADP]], created a product named KCML. Both products support [[MS-DOS]], [[Windows]], and various [[Unix]] systems. The BASIC-2 language was enhanced and extended by both companies to meet modern needs. Compared to the 2200 Wang hardware, the compiled solutions improved speed, disk space, memory, and user limits by tens to hundreds of times; although there is no Wang support for the 2200, many software applications continue to function.

During the 1970s, about 2,000 Wang 2200T computers were shipped to the [[USSR]]. Due to the [[Soviet–Afghan War|Afghan war]] in the 1980s, US and [[COCOM]] export restrictions ended the shipment of Wang computers. The Soviets were in great need of computers. In 1981, Russian engineers at [[Minpribor]]'s [[Schetmash]] factory in [[Kursk]] [[reverse engineering|reverse engineered]] the Wang 2200T and created a computer they named the [[Iskra 226]]. The "COCOM restrictions" theory, though, while popular in the West, is challenged by some Russian computer historians on the basis that development for the Iskra-226 started in 1978, two years before the Afghan war. It is also different from the Wang 2200 in its internals, being more inspired by it rather than a direct clone.

It used the same BASIC language (named T-BASIC) with a few enhancements.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wang2200.org/iskra-226.html |title=Iskra-226 Computer (Искра-226) |website=Wang2200.org |date=2013-02-27 |access-date=2016-05-20}}</ref> Many research papers reference calculations done on the Iskra 226. The machine's designers were nominated for a 1985 State Prize.<ref>{{cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M2vUopRmnXcC&pg=PA297 |title=Advances in Computers |volume=29 |editor=Marshall C. Yovits |chapter=Soviet Computing in the 1980s |author1=Richard W. Judy |author2=Robert W. Clough |page=297 |isbn=0-12-012129-8 |date=1989 |publisher=[[Elsevier Science]] |access-date=January 2, 2020}}</ref> Later, a somewhat scaled-down [[Unix]] implementation was created for Iskra-226, which was used in the [[Soviet Union]].

==== Alliance ====

Wang had a line called Alliance, which was based on the high-end OIS (140/145) hardware architecture. It had more powerful software than the OIS word processing and list processing packages. The system was [[Tempest (codename)|Tempest certified]], leading to global deployment in American embassies after the Iran hostage crisis.<ref>Broad, William J. "Computer 'whispers' worry Washington"
 The Globe and Mail. Toronto, Ont.:Apr 9, 1983. p. P.10</ref> The Z80 platform on which Alliance ran forced it to remain as an [[8-bit]] application in a 64&nbsp;KB workstation.

==The Wang VS computer line==
The first '''Wang VS''' computer was introduced in 1977, the same year as [[Digital Equipment Corporation]]'s [[VAX]];<ref>"The VAX 11/780 was introduced on October 25, 1977 at the Digital Equipment Corporation's Annual Meeting of Shareholders. It was the first member of the VAX family." {{cite web 
|title=VAX 11/780 
|url=http://www.old-computers.com/history/detail.asp?n=20&t=3 
|access-date=2020-03-22 
|archive-date=2019-10-03 
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191003074921/http://www.old-computers.com/history/detail.asp?n=20&t=3 
|url-status=dead 
}}</ref> both continued for decades.<ref>Wang's VS was desupported in 2014</ref><ref name=VS.End2014/> The VS [[instruction set]] was compatible with the [[IBM System/360]] series, but it did not run any System/360 system software.

===Software===
The VS operating system and all system software were built from the ground up to support interactive users as well as batch operations. The VS was aimed at the business data processing market in general and IBM in particular. While many programming languages were available, the VS was programmed in [[COBOL]]. Other languages supported in the VS [[integrated development environment]] included [[Assembly language|Assembler]], COBOL 74, COBOL 85, BASIC, [[Ada (programming language)|Ada]], [[RPG II]], C, [[PL/I]], [[FORTRAN]], Glossary, MABASIC, SPEED II, and Procedure (a scripting language). [[Pascal (programming language)|Pascal]] was also supported for I/O co-processor development. The Wang PACE (Professional Application Creation Environment) [[4GL]] and database was used from the mid-1980s onward by customers and third-party developers to build complex applications, sometimes involving many thousands of screens, hundreds of distinct application modules, and serving many hundreds of users. Substantial [[vertical application]]s were developed for the Wang VS by third-party software houses throughout the 1980s in COBOL, PACE, BASIC, PL/I, and RPG II. The [[Wang OFFICE]] family of applications and Wang WP were both popular applications on the VS. Word Processing ran on the VS through services that emulated the OIS environment and downloaded the WP software as "microcode" (in Wang terminology) to VS workstations.

===Hardware===
The press and the industry referred to the class of machines made by Wang, including the VS, as "minicomputers,"<ref>Berg, Eric N. (1985), "Fast Prime Computer to Make Debut," ''The New York Times,'' January 22, 1985, d1: "The Prime model should also face stiff competition from other new high-speed minicomputers, such as the Data General Corporation's MV 10000, Wang Laboratories Inc.'s VS 300, and the International Business Machines Corporation's 4381 Model 3"</ref><ref>Stein, Charles (1986): "A High-Tech David Faltered as Goliath," ''The Boston Globe,'' November 27, 1989, Business section, p. 1: "the VS-300, a top of the line minicomputer Wang brought out in 1985..."</ref><ref>Rosenberg, Robert (1992): "Company Fumbles Its Alliance with Giant IBM," ''The Boston Globe,'' July 28, 1992, Business section, p. 37: "a steep decline in sales of its VS minicomputer and the recession generally, has pushed the Lowell computer maker to the brink"</ref> and Kenney's 1992 book refers to the VS line as "minicomputers" throughout.<ref>{{cite book | first = Charles C. | last = Kenney | title = Riding the Runaway Horse: The Rise and Decline of Wang Laboratories | publisher = Little, Brown and Company | year = 1992 | isbn = 978-0-316-48919-5 | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/ridingrunawayhor00kenn }}: index entry p. 320, pp. 97–9, and elsewhere</ref> Although some argue that the high-end VS machines and their successors should qualify as [[Mainframe computer|mainframes]], Wang avoided this term. In his autobiography, An Wang, rather than calling the VS 300 a mainframe, said that it "verges on mainframe performance."<ref>{{cite book | first1 = An | last1 = Wang | title = Lessons: An Autobiography |first2=Eugene |last2=Linden | year = 1986 | publisher = Addison-Wesley | isbn = 978-0-201-09400-8 | url=https://archive.org/details/lessonsautobiogr0000wang | url-access=registration}}, p. 206</ref> He went on to draw the distinction between the "mainframes" at the high end of IBM's line ("just as Detroit would rather sell large cars ... so IBM would rather sell mainframes")—in which IBM had a virtual monopoly—with the "mid-sized systems" in which IBM had not achieved dominance: "The minicomputer market is still healthy. This is good for the customer and good for minicomputer makers."{{sfn|Wang|Linden|1986|p=213}} 
* The '''VS7000''' was introduced in 1987.<ref>{{cite web  
   |url=https://www.CBR#onl1ne.com/news/wang_adds_vs7000_cpu_line
   |title=Wang adds VS7000 CPU Line |website=Computer Business Review
   |date=January 14, 1987}}{{dead-link|date=May 2023}}</ref> These were a renumbering of the VS100<ref>{{cite news |newspaper=[[Computerworld]]
   |date=June 18, 1984  |page=27
   |title=State Distributes 40 VS 100 processors}}</ref> and VS300, with their more powerful counterpart upgrades identified as VS7110, VS7120, and VS7130 (for the VS100) as the new high-end machine in this series.

* Later models, the small '''VS5000''' series, launched in 1988, were user-installable, with the smallest being similarly sized to contemporary PCs.
* The largest iteration, the '''VS10000''', supported many users. The VS10000 used "[[emitter-coupled logic|emitter coupled logic]]" (ECL).  ECL is a very fast current-based logic that necessitates the use of 375 amp, 3-volt power supplies, massive heat-sinks, and large squirrel cage blowers. The VS1000 computer drew up to ten kilowatts of power.{{citation needed|date=November 2020|reason=possibly Star Manufacturing staff if they still exist}} The VS1000 was designed to run multiple concurrent operating systems and was piloted with the VS ver7 and a Unix operating system.

==Going after IBM==
An Wang felt a personal sense of rivalry with IBM, partly due to heavy-handed treatment by IBM in 1955 to 1956 over the rights to his magnetic-core patents (this encounter formed the subject of a long chapter in Wang's own book, ''Lessons''). According to Charles C. Kenney, "[[Hill Holliday|Jack Connors]] remembers being in Wang's office one day when the Doctor pulled out a chart on which he had plotted Wang's growth and projected that Wang Laboratories would overtake IBM sometime in the middle of the 1990s. 'He had kept it a long time,' says Connors. 'And he ''believed'' it.'"

Wang was one of the first computer companies to advertise on television and the first to run an ad during the [[Super Bowl]] in 1978. Their first ad literally cast Wang Laboratories as David and IBM as Goliath, several years before the famous 1984 Apple Computer ad.<ref>{{cite web |title=Wang Computers - TV Commercial |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBIOghfWZLM |website=YouTube |access-date=12 July 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=IN QUEST OF A REAL SUPER SUNDAY AD AGENCIES BREAK THE BANK TO MAKE AN IMPACT ON VIEWERS|agency=Boston Globe|date=Jan 28, 1990|author=McKibben, Gordon|page=77}}</ref> A later ad depicted Wang Laboratories as a helicopter gunship taking aim at IBM.<ref name="Braswell">{{cite web|last1=Braswell|first1=Sean|title=Wang Goes 'Gunning' for IBM|url=http://www.ozy.com/flashback/wang-goes-gunning-for-ibm/38623|website=OZY|publisher=OZY Media|access-date=25 January 2017|language=en|date=19 March 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211003131946/https://www.ozy.com/true-and-stories/wang-goes-gunning-for-ibm/38623/ |archive-date=3 October 2021}}</ref>

Wang wanted to compete against IBM as a computer company, selling to [[management information system]] departments. The calculators, word processing systems, and OIS were sold into individual departments, bypassing the corporate data-processing decision-makers. The chapter in Wang's book dealing with them shows that he saw them as "a beachhead in the Fortune 1000." The Wang VS was Wang's entry into IT departments. In his book, An Wang notes that, to sell the VS, "we aggressively recruited salesmen with strong backgrounds in [[data processing]] ... who had experience dealing with MIS executives, and who knew their way around [[Fortune 1000]] companies." As the VS took hold, the word processor and OIS lines were phased out. The word processing software continued, in the form of a loadable-[[microcode]] environment that allowed VS workstations to take on the behavior of traditional Wang WP terminals to operate with the VS and use it as a [[document server]].

Wang made inroads into IBM and DEC markets in the 1980s, but did not have a serious impact on IBM's mainframe market due to self-limiting factors. Even though An Wang wanted to compete with IBM, too many Wang salespeople weren't trained enough on the DP capabilities of the VS. In many instances, the VS ran smaller enterprises up to about {{val|p=$|500 |ul=million|upl=year}} and, in larger organizations, found use as a gateway to larger corporate mainframes, handling workstation pass-through and massive print services.

At [[Exxon Corporation]], for instance, thirteen 1985 top-of-the-line [[VS300]]s at the Houston headquarters were used in the 1980s and into the 1990s to receive mainframe reports and make them viewable online by executives.

At [[Mellon Mortgage]], 18 VS systems from the smallest to the largest were used as the enterprise mortgage origination, servicing, finance, documentation, hedge system and mainframe gateway services (for login and printing). Between Mellon Mortgage and parent Mellon Bank, their network contained 45 VS systems and the Bank portion of the network supported about 16,000 Wang Office users for email, report distribution, and scheduling.

At Kent and KTec Electronics,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/Kent-Electronics-Corporation-Company-History.html |title=History of Kent Electronics Corporation – FundingUniverse |publisher=Fundinguniverse.com |access-date=2016-05-20}}</ref> two related Houston companies, separate VS clusters were the enterprise systems, handling distribution, manufacturing, and accounting, with significant EDI capability for receiving customer forecasts, sending invoices, sending purchase orders, and receiving shipping notifications. Both systems ran the GEISCO EDI package. Kent, which grew to {{val|p=$|600 |u=million|up=year}}, ran the Arcus distribution software in COBOL and KTec, which grew to {{val|p=$|250 |u=million|up=year}}, ran the [[Caelus Memories<!-- or: Caelus Data Products, a spin-off -->|CAELUS]] MRP system for manufacturing in BASIC.

===Aggressive marketing===
In the late 1980s, a British television documentary accused the company of targeting a competitor, Canadian company [[AES Wordplex]], in an attempt to take it out of the market. However, the documentary came to no conclusion regarding this.

Wang's approach was called "The Gas Cooker Program," named after similar programs to give discounts on new gas stoves by trading in an old one. Wang was accused of targeting Wordplex by offering a large discount on Wang OIS systems with a trade-in of Wordplex machines, regardless of the age or condition of the trade-in machine.

Based on its good reputation with users and its program of aggressive discounts, Wang gained an increasing share of a shrinking market. Wordplex was taken over by [[Norsk Data]].

===Word processing market collapse===
The market for standalone word processing systems collapsed with the introduction of the personal computer. [[MultiMate]], on the IBM PC, and MS-DOS PC clones, replicated the keyboard and screen interface and functions of the Wang word processor, and was actively marketed to Wang corporate users, while several other [[Word processor#WYSIWYG models|WYSIWYG word processing programs]] also became popular.

Wang did make one last play in this arena, producing a dedicated Intel-based word processor called the Wang Office Assistant in 1984. This was marketed and sold successfully in the UK to a specific few office equipment dealers who were able to upgrade their clients from electronic typewriters to the Office Assistant. They proved to be very reliable and fast when connected to the Wang bi-directional printer, providing cheap but very fast word processing to small companies (such as [[solicitor]]s). The USA was surprised at the success of this machine in the UK, but could not supply a spell-check programme in time before the PC. The PC, with its flexibility of combining word processors with other programs such as spreadsheets, had rendered such a specific-task machine unsellable. The Wang Office Assistant had a short life span of four years.

==The Digital Voice Exchange==
The '''Wang DVX''' was one of the first integrated [[PABX|switchboard]] and [[voicemail]] systems. In the United Kingdom, it was selected for the [[Department of Trade and Industry (United Kingdom)|DTI]] [[Office Automation]] pilot schemes at the [[National Coal Board]] in about 1980.

Wang, which had added DVX Message Waiting in 1984,<ref>{{cite news |newspaper=[[Computerworld]]
   |date=January 23, 1984 |page=56
   |title=Message Waiting Unit announced}}</ref> named their 1989 announcement DVX II.<ref>{{cite news |newspaper=[[Network World]]
   |author=Jim Brown  |date=November 13, 1989  |page=19
   |title=Wang DVX II improves links}}</ref>

Internal research on speech recognition was carried out and implemented for discrete word recognition but was never released to the field. At one point there were 50 members of the Voice Engineering Department.

Lawrence E. Bergeron was instrumental in managing the Voice Engineering Department at Wang Labs.{{citation needed|date=May 2012}} He promoted the purchase of a VAX-11/780 for 'real-time' signal processing research and created the Peripheral Signal Processor board (PSP). The PSP was placed into 16 racks to handle 128 phone lines for the DVX (Digital Voice Exchange). Wang's Digital Voice Exchange supported the renting of voice mailboxes.<ref>{{cite news |newspaper=[[Computerworld]]
   |date=October 15, 1984
   |title=voice mailboxes on Wang's Digital Voice Exchange (DVX)}}</ref> Voice prompts were created by a hired voice specialist to give a melodic presentation for the DVX. To avoid false triggering of touch-tones by the prompts (due to input/output cross talk), notch filters were created to remove the touch tone frequencies from the prompts. Prompt languages supported included German, Spanish, French, British English, American English, and Portuguese.

==PCs and PC-based products==
Despite the release of the 2200 PCS (Personal Computer System) and 2200 PCS-II models in 1976, the history of computing regards the earliest PC as one which contained a [[microprocessor]], which the 2200 PCS did not. However, the self-contained PCS-II<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gaby.de/ewang.htm |title=Wang 2200 PCS-II |website=Gaby.de |access-date=2016-05-20}}</ref> incorporated many of the innovations that would later be seen in PCs, including the first 5.25-inch floppy drives that were designed for the PCS-II by [[Shugart Associates]].<ref name = "Computer July 1977">{{Cite journal | last = Michalopoulos | first = Demetrios | title = New Products: Wang's new "deskette" computer brings direct-access processing to small user | journal = Computer | volume = 10 | issue = 7 | page =81 | date = July 1977 | doi = 10.1109/C-M.1977.217790 }} "The PCS II makes use of minidiskette storage devices initially conceived by Wang and developed by an independent disk manufacturer, Shugart Associates."</ref><!--"deskette" is a play on desktop computer with floppy disks.-->

===The original Wang PC===
The original Wang PC was released in April 1982 to counter the IBM PC, which had been released the previous August and which had gained wide acceptance in the market for which Wang traditionally positioned the OIS system. It was based on the [[Intel 8086]] microprocessor, a faster CPU than the IBM PC's 8088.<ref>The Intel 8088 processor is a slightly modified version of the earlier 8086. Its external data bus is 8 bits wide as compared to the 8086's 16, thus requiring two bus cycles to transfer a 16-bit value. This resulted in slower execution time for some instructions.</ref> A hardware/software package that permitted the Wang PC to act as a terminal to the OIS and VS products was available. The first version of the hardware component was made of two large add-in boards called the WLOC (Wang Local Office Connection). It contained a Z-80 processor and 64 KB of memory. The original PC-VS hardware used the 928 terminal emulator board; the WLOC boards were used in the subsequent 80286 machines.

These PCs later formed the basis for the system console on VS7000 and later series of the Wang mid-frame series, being used for the initialisation of the boot process. One of the distinguishing features of the Wang PC was the system software. Similar to the Wang VS minicomputer, the command line was not evident. Everything could be run from menus, including formatting a disk. Furthermore, each item on a menu could be explained by hitting a [[help key]] on the keyboard. This software was later sold in MS-DOS-compatible form for non-Wang hardware. The Wang word processing software was also very graphical. The keyboard had 16 function-keys and, unlike [[WordStar]] (the popular word processor of the day), control key combinations were not required to navigate the system. The F-keys had the word processing functions labeled on them.<ref>This may be where the designers of [[WordPerfect]] got the idea of stickers with alt/ctrl/shift colors for the f-keys.{{Weasel inline|date=April 2018}}</ref>

Despite being a compliant MS-DOS system, it was not [[PC compatible#Compatibility issues|compatible]] with the IBM PC at the hardware level, because MS-DOS was used as a simple program loader. Complex software (spreadsheets, Flight Simulator, etc.) could obtain acceptable performance by direct manipulation of the hardware. Wang used a 16-bit data bus instead of the 8-bit data bus used by IBM, arguing that applications would run much faster since most operations required I/O (disk, screen, keyboard, printer). With this 16-bit design, Wang used peripheral hardware devices, such as the Wang PC display adapter, that were not compatible with their counterparts in the IBM PC line. This meant that the vast library of software available for the IBM PC could not be directly run on the Wang PC. Only those programs that were either written for the Wang PC or ported from the IBM PC were available. [[Lotus 1-2-3]] and [[DBase|dBase II]] were also available. This lack of application software led to the original Wang PC's end, and it was replaced by an Intel 80286-based product that was [[plug compatible]] with the IBM PC. The unique system software was available at extra cost.

Most Wang PCs were released with a monochrome graphics adapter that supported a single video mode with text and graphics planes that could be scrolled independently. A color graphics adapter and Wang-branded color monitor were also available.

An ergonomic feature of the Wang PC was the monitor arm that clamped to the desk and held the monitor above and a system clamp that attached to the side of the desk and held the rather large computer box. By using these, there was nothing on the desktop except the keyboard.

===IBM-compatible Wang PCs===
{{More citations needed|section|talk=Wang Laboratories|date=October 2022}}
Wang released an emulation board for Wang PC that enabled operation of many PC-compatible software packages. The board accomplished this by monitoring all I/O and memory transactions (visible in those days before [[Northbridge (computing)|North]]/[[Southbridge (computing)|South]] bridge chips to any board plugged into a slot on the expansion bus) and generating a [[non-maskable interrupt]] (NMI) whenever an operation was deemed to involve an incompatible device, requiring emulation.

For example, the floppy controller circuitry on the Wang PC was similar to that of the IBM PC but involved enough design differences that PC-compatible software attempting to manipulate it directly would fail. Wang's PC emulation hardware would detect I/O and memory operations involving the addresses associated with the floppy controller in the IBM PC and generate an NMI. The NMI handler would be activated (the exception vector having been appropriated during system init to point to ROM routines on the emulation board instead of the NMI routine in the PC BIOS) and would then update an internal representation of the IBM PC floppy controller and manipulate the real controller to reflect its state. Reads were satisfied in a similar way, by forcing an NMI, decoding the machine code indicated by the instruction pointer at the time of the fault, and then obtaining the desired info and updating the CPU registers accordingly before resuming the executing program.

IBM PC-emulation on the 8086-based Wang PC was working well when IBM released their 80286-based PC-AT, so Wang made the 80286-based '''Wang APC''' (Advanced Professional Computer).

Further iterations of the PC line were released commencing with the model number PC-240. They booted into MS-DOS or another compatible operating system, and supported [[Industry Standard Architecture|ISA]]-standard expansion cards.

This PC-240 was still not IBM PC-standard, as the keyboard, although a standard PC/AT device, supported VS-compatibility with 24 function keys rather than the normal 12, and had a number of Wang VS-specific keys. There was also a slight difference in CPU interrupts from IBM standard, so some software had compatibility issues.

VS connectivity was via an ISA-based VS-terminal card, or via LightSpeed, the networked VS Terminal Emulator, over an [[IPX]]-based Ethernet connection. The PC-240 came with a Wang-specific [[Hercules Graphics Card]] and compatible screen, which also acted as a keyboard extension, so that the base unit could be kept some distance from the screen. This was later replaced with an [[Enhanced Graphics Adapter|EGA]] card and screen.

Around 1991, Wang released the PC350-16 and PC350-40, which were Intel [[80386]]-based, clocked at 16&nbsp;MHz and 40&nbsp;MHz. They used the same VS-compatible keyboard as the PC-240, had a maximum of 4&nbsp;megabytes of RAM, and came with VGA screens as standard. They were supplied by Microsoft with MS-DOS and Windows 3.0.

The 350-16 had a bug where the machine would freeze and not boot up if power-cycled at the mains. Although it would power on, the BIOS would not start. The solution was to turn on the machine at the mains and hold down the power button for 30 seconds, at which point it would start. It was suggested{{by whom|date=November 2013}} that this was due to an under-valued capacitor in the power circuit. This problem appeared to be resolved in the 350–40, which had a different [[power supply|PSU]].

In 1992, Wang marketed a PC-compatible based on the Intel [[80386SX]] processor, which they called the Alliance 750CD. It was clocked at 25&nbsp;MHz and had a socket for an [[80387]] math coprocessor. It came with 2&nbsp;megabytes of installed RAM, and was expandable to 16 megabytes using [[SIMM]] memory cards. It had a 1.44 megabyte floppy disk drive, an internal 80 megabyte hard disk, and a CD-ROM drive. Five expansion slots were built-in. It came with MS-DOS and Windows 3.1 operating systems.

In 1994, Wang released the slimline Alliance 750CD [[80486]] based PC in the United Kingdom. These machines used standard PC/AT keyboards and were IBM compatible, shipping with MSDOS 5.0 and Windows 3.11 as standard. System [[Nonvolatile BIOS memory|BIOS settings]] and the [[real-time clock]] were maintained by four standard [[AA batteries]] instead of a specialty battery pack or [[lithium battery]]. While offered with a 33&nbsp;MHz [[80486DX]], the 750CD could be upgraded to later [[Socket 3]] processors such as the [[80486DX2]] through the use of third party CPU upgrade adapters or [[interposer]]s. This allowed upgrading to speeds beyond 50&nbsp;MHz without [[overclocking]], or more than 100&nbsp;MHz with overclocking, dependent on the processor used.

===Wang Freestyle===
'''Wang Freestyle'''<ref name="usc">{{cite web|url=http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0CMN/is_n3_v27/ai_8245288 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060320224824/http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0CMN/is_n3_v27/ai_8245288 |url-status=dead |archive-date=2006-03-20 |title=CBSi |publisher=FindArticles.com |access-date=2016-05-20 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ascilite.org.au/aset-archives/confs/olnt90/foks.html |title=OLNT'90 Proceedings: Foks - technology and open learning |access-date=May 22, 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060831151033/http://www.ascilite.org.au/aset-archives/confs/olnt90/foks.html |archive-date=August 31, 2006 }}</ref> was a 1988<ref name=FSty.NYT>{{cite news
   |newspaper=[[The New York Times]]
   |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/11/01/business/wang-offers-new-system-for-offices.html
   |title=Wang Offers New System For Offices
   |url-access=subscription
   |author=John Markoff  |date=November 1, 1988}}</ref> product consisting of:
* A touch-sensitive tablet and a special stylus for written annotation of any file that could be displayed on the PC.<ref name=FSty.NYT/>
* A phone handset for voice annotation, but not voice communication. Demonstrated with the tablet for explaining the text annotations.
* Email, via [[Wang OFFICE]], of the resulting document set.

The pricing of the low-end product at {{US$|long=no|2000}} precluded the important features such as "facsimile and voice options" (priced at {{US$|long=no|12000}}). ''Freestyle'' was not a success in anything except marketing terms. A description of the system at the [[University of Southern California]] (USC) shows the symptoms of the failure<!-- The comment below doesn't even explain how the Freestyle was a failure. -->:

<blockquote>''The {{US$|long=no|1.2 million}} USC system includes a VS 7150 mid-range computer; 30 image workstations, 25 with Freestyle capabilities; a laser printer; five endorsers; and five document scanners. Initial storage for document images is eight gigabytes of magnetic disk storage.''<ref name="usc" />

25 of the stations were Freestyle stations. The Freestyle was only affordable for highly specialized or very senior staff in Wang Laboratories. It was sold as a C-Level<ref>C-Level refers to "Chief level" officers in an organization</ref> tool for C grades to communicate with other C Grades. This reduced the marketplace immediately from the mass market, where the system would have been effective.<ref>Assume 10 C-level officers per [[Fortune 1000]] organization. Market size is 10,000 units. Assume 1000 ordinary clerical workers in the same organization. Market size is 1,000,000 units.</ref></blockquote>

==Decline and fall==
Wang Labs was one of a large number{{Quantify|date=October 2022|reason=What do you mean a large number of companies? Like tens, or hundreds?}} of New England–based computer companies that faltered in the late 1980s and 1990s, marking the end of the [[Massachusetts Miracle]]. For instance, the struggling [[Digital Equipment Corporation]] also downsized in the 1990s and was acquired by [[Compaq]].<ref name="futureboston1"/>

A common view within the PC community is that Wang Labs failed because it specialized in computers designed specifically for [[word processing]] and did not foresee and could not compete with general-purpose [[personal computer]]s with word-processing software in the 1980s. Word processing was not actually the mainstay of Wang's business by the time desktop computers began to gain in popularity. Although Wang manufactured desktops, its main business by the 1980s was its VS line of minicomputer and "midframe" systems. The market for these minicomputers was conquered by enhanced microcomputers like the [[Apple Macintosh]] and the [[Wintel]] PC and [[Sun Microsystems|Sun]], [[IBM]], and [[Hewlett-Packard]] servers.

An Wang's insistence that his sons, [[Fred Wang|Frederick]] and Courtney, would succeed him contributed to the company's failure.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Book Excerpt: Riding the Runaway Horse by Charles Kenney |url=https://www.familybusinessmagazine.com/wangs-legacy-his-children |access-date=2023-06-21 |website=www.familybusinessmagazine.com}}</ref> Fred Wang was a business school graduate, "but by almost any definition", wrote Charles C. Kenney, "unsuited for the job in which his father had placed him."{{sfn|Kenney|1992|p=299}} His assignment, first as head of research and development, then as president of the company, led to resignations by key R&D and business personnel. Amid declining revenues, John F. Cunningham, an 18-year employee of the firm, resigned as president and [[Chief operating officer|COO]] of Wang Labs to become chairman and chief executive of Computer Consoles Inc. Cunningham resigned due to disagreement with An Wang on how to pull the company out of the slump, as well as being upset that Fred Wang was positioned, [[Nepotism|nepotistically]], as An Wang's successor.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-07-20-fi-6028-story.html|title=Cunningham Resigns as Wang President|work=Los Angeles Times|date=1985-07-20|last1=Day|first1=Kathleen| url-access=limited}}</ref><ref name="funding_universe">{{cite web|url=http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/wang-laboratories-inc-history/ |title=History of WANG LABORATORIES, INC. – FundingUniverse |publisher=Fundinguniverse.com |access-date=2016-05-20}}</ref>

One turning point occurred when Fred Wang was head of R&D. On October 4, 1983, Wang Laboratories announced fourteen major hardware and software products and promised dates of delivery. The announcement was well received, but even at the time, there were warning signs. According to ''[[Datamation]]'', Wang announced "[[wikt:everything but the kitchen sink|everything but the kitchen sink]]. And if you could attach the kitchen sink to a personal computer, they would announce that too."<ref>Stein, Charles (1986): "A High-Tech David Faltered as Goliath," ''The Boston Globe,'' November 27, 1989, Business section, p. 1: "if you could attach the kitchen sink, they would announce that too&nbsp;..."</ref> Very few of the products were close to completion, and many of them had not even been started. All were delivered late, if at all. In retrospect, this was referred to as the "[[vaporware]] announcement," and it hurt the credibility of Fred Wang and Wang Laboratories.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Smith |first=Ernie |date=2017-02-21 |title=The Great Failure of Wang Laboratories, the David to IBM's Goliath |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/the-great-failure-of-wang-laboratories-the-david-to-ibms-goliath/ |access-date=2023-06-21 |website=Vice |language=en}}</ref>

In 1986, Fred Wang, then 36 years old, was installed as president and chief operating officer of Wang Laboratories. However, the company's fortunes continued to decline, although Charles Kenney "did not lay the failure at Fred's feet, but his father's, saying his father leaned too hard on family considering the sophistication of the company", as the market underwent great upheaval where minicomputers gave way to microcomputers.<ref name=":0" /> Unlike most computer companies that funded their growth by issuing stock, An Wang had used debt to avoid further dilution of family control of the company. By August 1989, that debt was causing conflicts with its creditors. On August 4, 1989, An Wang requested Fred's resignation, although Fred remained a member of the board of directors. Harry H.S. Chou, a vice chairman and director of the international computer maker, became acting president and served in that role until [[Richard Miller (executive)|Richard W. Miller]], who had been with the company since 1988, was named president of Wang Laboratories.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Frederick Wang, Son of Wang Laboratories Founder, Resigns as President |url=https://apnews.com/article/6d5f3887ce592021ec08a47b54db3c41 |access-date=2023-06-21 |website=AP NEWS |language=en}}</ref><ref name="funding_universe" /> Fred went on to attend the [[John F. Kennedy School of Government]] at Harvard, planning a new career in public service. While Courtney, An Wang's younger son, still remained with the company and had ambitions to eventually take over, he was only "a 33-year-old branch manager in the Dallas office and hardly a major player", plus Miller's contract "stipulated that he would never be subordinate to anyone at Wang Labs other than Dr. Wang.".<ref>{{Cite web |title=Book Excerpt: Riding the Runaway Horse by Charles Kenney |url=https://www.familybusinessmagazine.com/wangs-legacy-his-children |access-date=2023-06-21 |website=www.familybusinessmagazine.com}}</ref>

Miller announced in December 1989 that the company would start to embrace established software standards rather than use traditional proprietary designs. An Wang died in March 1990, and Miller took on the additional posts of chairman and [[Chief executive officer|CEO]]. The company underwent massive restructuring and layoffs and eliminated its bank debt in August 1990, but it still ended the year with a record net loss.<ref name="funding_universe" />

In November 1990, Wang announced their first personal computers running [[Unix]]. In 1987, Wang developed a new typesetting system in conjunction with Arlington, MA–based Texet Corp. The system used Xerox printers and UNIX workstations from Sun, but the product vanished before coming to market, because few Wang employees could use or support UNIX. UNIX ran on the VS{{snd}}Interactive Systems first ported IN/ix (their IBM 360 version of SYS5 UNIX) to run in a VSOS Virtual machine circa 1985, and then Wang engineers completed the port so that it ran "native" on the VS hardware soon thereafter{{snd}}but performance was always sub-par as UNIX was never a good fit for the batch-mode nature of the VS hardware, and the line-at-a-time processing approach taken by the VS workstations; indeed, the workstation code had to be rewritten to bundle up each keystroke into a frame to be sent back to the host when running UNIX so that "tty" style processing could be implemented. PACE, which offered its [[data dictionary]], excellent [[referential integrity]], and speedy application development, was in the process of being ported to UNIX under the name OPEN Pace. A client-server RDBMS model built on the original product's ideology, OPEN Pace was demonstrated at the North American PACE User Group Conferences in both Boston and Chicago. OPEN Pace, along with a new Windows-based word processor called UpWord (which was at the time considered a strong contender to retake Wang's original market leadership from Microsoft), were touted as their new direction. However, after a marketing study{{Citation needed|date=October 2022|reason=What marketing study? Does it even exist?}} suggested that it would require large capital investments in order to be viable competitors against Microsoft, both products were  abandoned.

[[Ira Magaziner]], who was brought in by Miller in 1990, proposed to take Wang out of the manufacture of computers altogether, and to go big into imaging software instead. In March 1991, the company introduced its Office 2000 marketing strategy, focusing on office productivity.

In June 1991, Wang started reselling IBM computers, in exchange for IBM investing in Wang stock. Wang hardware strategy to re-sell IBM [[RS/6000]]s also included further pursuit of UNIX software.

In August 1991, Wang won a suit against [[NEC]] and [[Toshiba]] claiming violation of Wang's patents on [[single in-line memory module]]s (SIMMs). The company still recorded a net loss for the 1991 fiscal year.

Wang Laboratories filed for bankruptcy protection on August 18, 1992, at a time when the company's attempted concession from proprietary to open systems was deemed by some analysts as "too little and too late."<ref>{{cite news |author=Adam Bryant |date=August 19, 1992 |title=Wang Files for Bankruptcy; 5,000 Jobs to Be Cut |language=English |edition=1st |volume=1 |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |issue=1 |type=Website |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/08/19/business/wang-files-for-bankruptcy-5000-jobs-to-be-cut.html |url-access=subscription |access-date=October 29, 2022}}</ref>

==Final years==
{{plain image with caption|File:Wang Global wordmark.svg|Wang Global wordmark|200px}}
Wang Labs emerged from bankruptcy on September 20, 1993.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/09/21/business/company-news-wang-laboratories-emerges-from-bankruptcy.html |title= Company news; wang laboratories emerges from bankruptcy |date=September 21, 1993 |work=New York Times |url-access=subscription |access-date=August 20, 2014}}</ref> As part of its bankruptcy reorganization, the company's iconic headquarters, [[Wang Towers]] in Lowell, was sold at auction. The complex, which cost $60 million to build and housed 4,500 workers in over a million square feet (100,000 m<sup>2</sup>) of office space, was sold in 1994 for $525,000.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/02/17/business/company-news-wang-headquarters-auctioned-for-525000.html |title=COMPANY NEWS; Wang Headquarters Auctioned for $525,000 |agency=Associated Press |date=February 17, 1994 |work=New York Times |access-date=August 20, 2014 |url-access=subscription}}</ref> The renovated complex, which is now known as Cross Point, was sold in 1998 to a joint venture of Yale Properties and Blackstone Real Estate Advisors for a price reported to be over $100 million.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bizjournals.com/boston/stories/2000/08/14/story7.html?page=all |title=Wang Towers team shifts focus onto development |date=August 14, 2000 |work=Boston Business Journal |access-date=March 1, 2013 |url-access=limited}}</ref>

The company emerged from bankruptcy with $200 million in hand and embarked on a course of acquisition and self-reinvention, eschewing its former role as an innovative designer and manufacturer of computers and related systems. Later in the 1990s, and under the guidance of then CEO [[Joseph M. Tucci|Joe Tucci]], with the acquisition of the Olsy division of [[Olivetti]], the company changed its name to Wang Global. By then, Wang had settled on "network services" as its chosen business.

The most advanced VS system, capable of supporting over 1,000 users{{snd}}the VS18000 Model 950{{snd}}was released in 1999, and smaller models based on the same CPU chip were released in 2000{{snd}}the VS6760 and the VS6780. These were the last VS-based hardware systems.<ref>{{cite web|title=VINTAGE COMPUTER: WANG LABORATORIES |website=horniger |url=http://www.horniger.de/computer/wang/index.html#links |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220121121051/http://www.horniger.de/computer/wang/index.html |archive-date=21 January 2022}}</ref>

[[Kodak]] acquired the Wang Software arm in 1997, strengthening its position in the then-booming document imaging and workflow market.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB920851519832467500|title=Kodak Seeks to Sell Software Unit It Purchased From Wang in 1997|last=Klein|first=Alec|date=March 8, 1999|work=Wall Street Journal|access-date=December 12, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160520190153/http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB920851519832467500|archive-date=2016-05-20|url-status=dead|language=en-US|issn=0099-9660}}</ref>

In 1999, Wang Global, by then back up to $3.5 billion in annual revenues, was acquired by [[Getronics]] of The Netherlands, a $1.5 billion network services company active only in parts of Europe and Australia. Joe Tucci departed Wang after the acquisition. Wang Labs then became Getronics North America.

In 2005, Getronics announced<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.transvirtualsystems.com/getronics-tvs-release.pdf |title=GETRONICS AND TRANSVIRTUAL SYSTEMS DELIVER GETRONICS' NEXT GENERATION OF WANG VS COMPUTER SYSTEMS |website=Transvirtualsystems.com |access-date=2016-05-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160611085842/http://www.transvirtualsystems.com/getronics-tvs-release.pdf |archive-date=2016-06-11 |url-status=dead }}</ref> New VS (VSGX), a product designed to run the VS operating system and all VS software on [[Intel 80x86]] and [[IBM Power microprocessors|IBM POWER]] machines under Linux or Unix, using a [[hardware abstraction]] layer. The product was a joint commercial effort of Getronics and [[TransVirtual Systems]], developers of the Wang VS virtualization technology that makes the New VS possible. VS software can be run under New VS without program or data conversion. The New VS combines configured mainstream [[IBM PC compatible|PC]] or [[PowerPC]] server hardware running virtualization software. It is interoperable with SCSI-based Wang VS tape and disk drives, which provide a means of restoring VS files from standard backup tapes or copying VS disk drives. Wang networking and clustering are supported over TCP/IP.

In 2007, Getronics operations worldwide were divided and sold to companies in respective local geographies. Dutch telecommunications operator [[KPN]] acquired Getronics in North America and some parts of Europe. In July 2008, Getronics North America (now an arm of KPN) announced the ending of support for the legacy VS line as existing contracts expired,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.transvirtualsystems.com/press_release.pdf |title=Getronics Announces End of Support For Legacy Getronics Wang VS Systems |website=Transvirtualsystems.com |access-date=2016-05-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160611085814/http://www.transvirtualsystems.com/press_release.pdf |archive-date=2016-06-11 |url-status=dead }}</ref> and that TransVirtual Systems would be exclusive reseller of the New VS platform. In August 2008, KPN sold Getronics North America to [[CompuCom]] of Dallas, Texas.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.forbes.com/feeds/afx/2008/06/23/afx5141779.html | work=Forbes | title=KPN's Getronics enters partnership with CompuCom, sells North American ops | date=June 23, 2008}}{{dead link|date=January 2022|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>

The Wang VS product line, not actively marketed since the 1993 bankruptcy and a tiny portion of the Getronics business, survived in use into the 21st century; by 2006, about 1,000 to 2,000 systems remained in service worldwide. In 2014, CompuCom announced that all support for legacy VS systems would cease at the end of 2014, while support for New VS systems would continue through TransVirtual Systems.<ref name=VS.End2014>{{cite web |url=http://www.transvirt.com/VSGX-Support.pdf |title=Re: VGSX Ongoing Support |author=Hack Gostl |date=July 1, 2014 |publisher=TransVirtual Systems |access-date=August 20, 2014}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Wang International Standard Code for Information Interchange]]

==References==
{{Reflist|refs=
<ref name="Wang_1967_LOCI">{{cite web |title=Wang LOCI Service Manual |publisher=Wang Laboratories, Inc. |date=1967 |id=L55-67 |url=http://bitsavers.informatik.uni-stuttgart.de/pdf/wang/loci/Wang_LOCI_Service_Manual.pdf |access-date=2018-09-14}}</ref>
}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Wang Laboratories}}
*[http://www.transvirtualsystems.com/ TransVirtual Systems website], TransVirtual being the suppliers of New VS, a Linux-based hardware abstraction that runs VS OS
*[https://www.wangmuseum.nl WANG MUSEUM], showing early products such as the 700 and 2200 series
*[http://www.wang1200.org/ History, pictures, and user manuals for the Wang 1200]
*[http://www.wang2200.org/ Information about the Wang 2200]
*[http://www.oldcalculatormuseum.com/wangloci.html The Wang LOCI-2] at the Old Calculator Web Museum
*[http://gtello.pagesperso-orange.fr/wang_e.htm Wang 452 calculator] with photos and operating and programming instructions
*[http://www.wang2200.org/emu.html Wang 2200 emulator]
*[http://home.planet.nl/~ernest/vs.html Wang VS emulator]
*[http://wangvs.ning.com/ Wang VS news and forums] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140822104325/http://wangvs.ning.com/ |date=2014-08-22 }}
*[http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HBS.Baker.EAD:bak00209 Wang Laboratories, Inc. Records at Baker Library Historical Collections, Harvard Business School]

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