Specialist for industrial computers
compmall celebrates 30 years
30 years ago Volker Leu founded compmall in Eichenau. The portfolio at that time included 19" racks, slot CPUs with passive backplanes and workstations with tube monitors. In the meantime, the portfolio has expanded immensely, and compmall also customizes PCs according to customer requirements.
»The first thing I sold was an industrial PC case,« recalls Volker Leu. »Sales increased very quickly, and when we moved to new offices in Munich, we professionalized the company. Albin Markwardt joined us and took over the management in 2002,« Leu looks back. The company grew with the increasing demand for industrial PCs and components. Even at this early stage, customers' needs arose that could no longer be met with standard products. This led to projects with individual industrial PCs at a very early stage.
Customization of hardware and software
The customization options – today called »Make IT customized« – included the integration of the customer's own hardware and software at a very early stage. In addition, operating systems were installed according to customer specifications and tests developed specifically for the application. Mechanical adjustments (shape or interfaces) enabled a better fit, which was due to the modification at the board level. »Unlocking IRQ9 for network cards in the BIOS was almost a daily task back then,« recalls Albin Markwardt.
The name compmall refers to the mall character of the company, which means that the industrial PCs are sourced from various qualified manufacturers. Long-term partnerships were established with the vendors. »We know each other personally and that has many advantages. Whether it's delivery availability or special customer requests, which we discuss directly with the developers,« explains Markwardt.
Active EOL management
Customer relationships are also about partnership. »Most of our customers have been working with us for a very long time and some have actually been with us since the company was founded,« says Markwardt. Today, compmall serves a variety of customers from all industries ranging from plant and mechanical engineering to robotics, automotive and railway, logistics and agricultural technology.
Today's portfolio has expanded to cover embedded boards, embedded PCs, LCD panel PCs, monitors as well as GPU computing in addition to those mentioned above. »Of course, you can conveniently buy our industrial PCs online in the web store. This is usually the start of a long-term project, which is accompanied by us throughout the entire project duration,« says Albin Markwardt. Under the slogan »Make IT customized«, compmall creates individual systems according to customer requirements, takes care of long-term availability and can continue to deliver after the manufacturer discontinues the products through active end-of-life (EOL) management.
