NEC Corporation's domestic history began in 1963 when the first U.S. office was opened in New York City. In 1977, NEC established NEC Information Systems, a computer software and systems development and marketing operation. In 1981, NEC established NEC Home Electronics, a manufacturer and marketer of home electronics equipment. The two subsidiaries merged in 1989, creating NEC Technologies. The newly formed company integrated its resources to develop, market and manufacture comprehensive lines of computer and peripheral products.
During the summer of 1996, NEC Corporation combined its international PC operations (handheld, notebook and desktop PC and server groups) of NEC Technologies with consumer PC giant Packard Bell, Inc. to create a new company, Packard Bell NEC, Inc. (PBNEC). In July 1998, NEC Corporation made an additional investment to become the majority stockholder in PBNEC.
January 2000 marked the beginning of a new market strategy for NEC computers systems globally. NEC consolidated its PC/server business worldwide and is focusing attention on the commercial marketplace. Through the reorganization, NEC established NEC Computers International B.V. (NEC-CI) as a new company to manage NEC's global PC/server business outside of Japan and China. Based in The Netherlands, NEC-CI is a subsidiary of NEC Corporation and is responsible for operations in Europe, North America, Asia-Pacific and the Middle East. By consolidating operations under a global structure, enterprise customers with operations worldwide will be better served by standardizing on the NEC line of computing products. NEC-CI expects to generate revenues exceeding $2 billion in the year 2000.
As part of the move, the Packard Bell brand was retired in the United States, where the company has exited the retail PC market. NEC Computers Inc. (NEC-CI), a wholly-owned subsidiary of NEC-CI, was created to assume the role of NEC Computer Systems Division, which catered to the commercial PC market in North America. Headquartered in Sacramento, California, the company offers a wide range of global computer products-from mobile PCs to desktop systems for the office, and high-end servers.