Computer industry pioneer and co-founder of the Digital Equipment Corporation Kenneth Olsen has died in Massachusetts aged 84.

Mr Olsen was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut. With undergraduate and graduate degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he founded DEC in 1957 in an old mill.

It grew from three employees to 125,000 workers in 86 countries.

The company pioneered the mini-computer and set industry standards in programme languages, operating systems, networking architectures, applications software, computer peripherals, component and circuit technology, manufacturing processes and business practices.

Compaq Computer acquired DEC in 1998.

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