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Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems
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<p>Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems, Inc. (MITS), was an American electronics company founded in <a href="/facts/Albuquerque%2c_New_Mexico/SATmBfJb">Albuquerque, New Mexico</a> that began manufacturing electronic <a href="/facts/Calculator/eeLfRS8L">calculators</a> in 1971 and personal <a href="/facts/Computers/SQe1aK05">computers</a> in 1975. </p><p><a href="/facts/Ed_Roberts_(computer_engineer)/q7K4vVe3">Ed Roberts</a> and <a href="/facts/Forrest_Mims/NSPPBsL6">Forrest Mims</a> founded MITS in December 1969 to produce miniaturized <a href="/facts/Telemetry/Mz9czXTl">telemetry</a> modules for model rockets such as a roll rate sensor. In 1971, Roberts redirected the company into the electronic calculator market and the MITS 816 desktop calculator kit was featured on the November 1971 cover of <i><a href="/facts/Popular_Electronics/Yp1H8SE7">Popular Electronics</a></i>. The calculators were very successful and sales topped one million dollars in 1973. A brutal calculator price war left the company deeply in debt by 1974. </p><p>Roberts then developed the first commercially successful <a href="/facts/Microcomputer/ETW22UTv">microcomputer</a>, the <a href="/facts/Altair_8800/6wMGsRlW">Altair 8800</a>, which was featured on the January 1975 cover of <i>Popular Electronics</i>. Hobbyists flooded MITS with orders for the $397 computer kit. <a href="/facts/Paul_Allen/S0euHIKT">Paul Allen</a> and <a href="/facts/Bill_Gates/z16t4m7s">Bill Gates</a> saw the <a href="/facts/Magazine/4CPK1emz">magazine</a> and began writing <a href="/facts/Software/RP79lVSW">software</a> for the Altair, later called <a href="/facts/Altair_BASIC/sVh7yKyt">Altair BASIC</a>. They moved to Albuquerque to work for MITS and in July 1975 started <a href="/facts/Microsoft/nGIDDXdx">Microsoft</a>. </p><p>MITS's annual sales had reached $6 million by 1977 when they were acquired by <a href="/facts/Pertec_Computer/DaV2kVD8">Pertec Computer</a>. The operations were soon merged into the larger company and the MITS brand disappeared. Roberts retired to <a href="/facts/Georgia_(U.S._state)/KKnTDY6F">Georgia</a> where he studied medicine and became a small town medical doctor. </p>