Tektronix Service Solutions history

The redesign took 12 months, but in May of 1947 Tektronix sold the first "portable" oscilloscope to the University of Oregon Medical School.

In 1948 Tektronix also sold its first oscilloscope overseas, to the L. M. Ericcson Telephone Company of Sweden.

By 1950, Tektronix was manufacturing its seventh generation of oscilloscopes, the model 517.

The plug-in oscilloscopes, introduced in 1954, were an instant success.

Despite significant growth under Davis and the formation of the company's first foreign subsidiaries, by 1962, Vollum was persuaded to re-assume control.

In 1964 Tektronix developed a way to retain an image on a cathode ray tube (CRT) for up to 15 minutes, instead of the split second that images normally lasted before they needed to be regenerated.

Unfortunately, the first terminals, introduced in 1970, were over-engineered and costly.

Earnings fell for the first time in fiscal 1971, by a devastating 34.7 percent.

Tektronix also took a successful step into diversification in 1974 when it acquired the Grass Valley Group, a California company that made electronic systems to provide special effects for television.

In 1984 Business Week reported: "Now Tek must come from behind again, in what is likely to be the most critical recoup in its 38-year history," as the company belatedly entered the market for computer-aided engineering (CAE) work stations.

David Friedley, a marketing-oriented Tektronix division manager, succeeded Wantland as president in November of 1987.

In 1988 Tektronix sold its CAE operations for $5 million to Mentor Graphics.

A financial analyst for Prudential-Bache Securities, Inc., told Business Week that meetings with Tektronix "were like watching the grass grow." The anticipated shake-up came in March of 1990, with the company headed toward a $92.5 million loss (largely due to restructuring) for the fiscal year.

But when Meyer reported on the results of his first full year at Tektronix, for fiscal 1992, the company was again in a slump.