History
Beginning
In the late 1970’s and early 1980’s the first computers intended and priced appropriately for small businesses became available. Machines such as the Radio Shack TRS-80, Apple II, Commodore 64 and IBM PC opened the possibilities for the automation of business accounting functions for even the smallest of firms.
Company co-founder Scott Hutchinson had a long history of involvement with electronics and computer technology, dating back to the 1950’s and 1960’s. Scott was always intrigued by electronics and spent a good part of his childhood active in hobbies that required engineering skills and electronic knowledge. He enjoyed building and flying radio controlled model airplanes at a time when doing so required building your own transmitter and receiver circuits. In order to troubleshoot things, he built an oscilloscope. After high school, Scott enlisted in the US Air Force and was quickly shifted to work on the Atlas guided missile project.
After 4 years with the USAF, Scott returned to civilian life and went to school earning a degree in Business from the University of Minnesota. He married in 1969 and went to work at Sperry Corporation as a technician on the 1108 mainframe computer system. In 1970, his son David was born.
The Hutchinson family was and is an entrepreneurial bunch. Scott’s father Robert had a series of businesses and by 1970 was focusing on commercial appraisals in and around the St. Paul, MN area. Robert felt that technology would give his appraisal firm a competitive advantage and invested heavily in this area. Scott often visited his father at his office, and David loved to tag along. By the age of 3, one of David’s favorite places to go was grandpa’s office in order to play with the interesting machines of the day. One of these machines was a Wang computer, and this became the first computer that David learned how to operate.
One of the computers purchased by Robert and Scott was a Hewlett Packard 9820A. The 9820A was an algebraic calculator with a single line LED display, magnetic card reader, internal 16-character per line thermal printer, and tape drive. This computer eventually found its way to the basement of Scott’s house. David found this newly placed temptation in the basement irresistible and spent hundreds of hours learning about the machine – especially how to use its programming environment to make the computer do useful things.
There would continue to be a constant flow of interesting computers moving through the Hutchinson household as other family members would purchase, use, and then replace computers in their many businesses. Equipment from DEC, Sperry Corporation, Radio Shack, Commodore, Apple, and Timex all made appearances. Scott and David would work (and play) with each computer learning the nuances of the machines and understanding their strengths and weaknesses. Scott and David observed and participated in the selection, purchase, deployment, decommissioning, and replacement of computer equipment and software in the various family businesses. From these experiences, a unique and thorough understanding of how computers worked and failed in business settings was developed. These observations and experiences formed the foundation of knowledge that would lead to the creation of Symbiant Technologies.