SIC 3575 Computer Terminals

SIC 3575

Companies primarily engaged in manufacturing computer terminals, teleprinters, and multistation cathode ray tubes (CRTs) make up the computer terminal industry. Personal computers, workstations, minicomputers, and other systems that contain central processing units (CPUs) are classified in the electronic computer industry. Establishments primarily engaged in manufacturing point-of-sale, funds transfer, and automatic teller machines are classified in SIC 3578: Calculating and Accounting Machines, Except Electronic Computers.

NAICS CODE(S)

334113

Computer Terminal Manufacturing

A form of so-called thin-client computing, a computer terminal acts as an interface between a user and a system server that has a CPU and storage capacity. Typically, a network of terminals is attached to the server. While some network systems allow terminals to have unimpeded access to the server, most systems require users to share the processor. As a result, such "timeshare" servers can operate more slowly, as more users access the processor. Advanced software on terminal systems can help maintain a minimum standard of service though and can even provide a more stable working environment than some PCs. According to one late 1990s estimate, there were 30 million traditional, non-PC computer terminals in operation worldwide.

Terminals were first used to access large mainframe and minicomputer systems that became popular in the 1970s. As the speed and memory capacity of computers increased, and prices of desktop computers fell during the 1980s, however, the popularity of systems that used terminals declined. By the mid-1990s the market for traditional terminals without CPUs appeared moribund, with demand channeled toward PCs and other devices.

Terminal sales lagged, as corporations began looking to PC-oriented networks to replace so-called dumb terminals. Contrary to the rapid growth most computer hardware companies enjoyed, terminal manufacturers' shipments fell from $2.3 billion in 1988 to about $1.9 billion in the early 1990s. By the early 2000s, the computer terminal manufacturing industry was in a continuing state of decline. The overall value of product shipments fell sharply from about $1.5 billion in 1997 to $415.1 million in 2000. Meanwhile, industry employment—which fell from about 18,000 in 1988 to less than 5,800 in 1997—had dropped to a mere 3,270 by 2000.

Despite these declines, a resurgence was taking...