The
Datapoint 2200 was a mass-produced programmable
terminal, designed by
Computer Terminal Corporation (CTC) founders Phil Ray and Gus Roche and announced by CTC in June 1970 (with units shipping in 1971). It was presented by CTC simply as a versatile and cost-efficient terminal for connecting to a wide variety of
mainframes by loading various terminal
emulations from tape rather than being hardwired as most contemporary terminals. However, enterprising users in the business sector (including
Pillsbury Foods) realized that this so-called "programmable terminal" was equipped to perform any task a simple computer could and exploited this fact by using their 2200s as standalone computer systems. Its industrial designer John "Jack" Frassanito has later claimed that Ray and Roche always intended the Datapoint 2200 to be a full-blown
personal computer, but that they chose to keep quiet about this so as not to concern investors and others. Also significant is the fact that the terminal's multi-chip
CPU (processor) became the basis of the
x86 architecture used in the original
IBM PC and its descendants.