Asus

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ASUSTeK Computer Incorporated

Type	Public (LSE: ASKD; TSE: 2357)
Founded	April 2, 1989
Headquarters	Taipei, Taiwan
Area served	Global
Key people	Jonney Shih, Chairman; Jerry Shen, CEO; TH Tung, VP and founder; Ted Hsu, VP and founder
Industry	Computer hardware Electronics
Products	Motherboards, graphics cards, notebooks, PDAs and others (see complete list of categories)
Revenue	▲ US$ 22.9 billion (2008 [1])
Net income	▲$0.84 billion USD (2008 [1])
Employees	100,000 (2008 [1])
Website	www.asus.com

ASUSTeK Computer Incorporated (ASUS) (traditional Chinese: 華碩電腦股份有限公司; pinyin: Huáshuo Diànnaǒ Gufen Yǒuxiàn Gōngsī), a Taiwanese multinational company, produces motherboards, graphics cards, sound cards, optical drives, PDAs, computer monitors, notebook computers, servers, networking products, mobile phones, computer cases, computer components, and computer cooling systems. Commonly called by its brand name ASUS (pronounced 'ah-soos' but usually mispronounced as 'ey-sus' in English speaking countries) is listed on both the London Stock Exchange (LSE: ASKD) and the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TSE: 2357). As of 20 June 2009 (2009 -06-20)^[update] 34.3% of PCs sold in 2008 came with an ASUS motherboard.^[2] The company's 2008 revenues reached US$22.9 billion.^[1]

ASUS appears in BusinessWeek’s "InfoTech 100" and "Asia’s Top 10 IT Companies" rankings. It is the number one in quality and service according to Wall Street Journal Asia and leads the IT Hardware category of the 2008 Taiwan Top 10 Global Brands survey with a total brand value of US$1.324 billion.^[3]

ASUS also produces components for other manufacturers, including:

• Apple Inc. (iPod, iPod Shuffle, MacBook)
• Alienware
• Falcon Northwest
• Palm, Inc.
• HP

Contents 1 Corporate information 1.1 History 1.2 Relationship with Intel 1.3 Corporate restructuring 1.4 Open Handset Alliance 1.5 Timeline 2 Manufacturing facilities and service centers 3 Sub-brands 3.1 Eee 4 Corporate responsibility 4.1 Green ASUS 4.2 Green ASUS measures 4.3 Recognition 4.4 Recycling campaign 5 Controversy 5.1 Corporate Policy to Abandon Registered Users 5.2 Pirated Software and Dissemination of Confidential Data 6 See also 7 References 8 External links

[edit] Corporate information

[edit] History

Tung, Ted Hsu, Wayne Hsieh, and MT Liao founded ASUS in 1989 in Taipei, Taiwan — all four founders worked as computer engineers for Acer. The name ASUS originated from Pegasus, the winged horse of Greek mythology.^[4] The first three letters of the word were dropped to give the resulting name a high position in alphabetical listings.

In 2005, shipments from ASUS, ECS, Gigabyte, and MSI totaled 104.86 million units. ASUS led with 52 million units, followed by ECS with 20 million, MSI with 18 million, and Gigabyte with 16.6 million.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Relationship with Intel

In the early 1990s, Taiwan-based motherboard manufacturers had not yet established their leading positions in the computer hardware business. Intel would supply any new processors to more established companies like IBM first, and the Taiwanese companies would have to wait for approximately six months after IBM received their engineering prototypes. ^[5]

When Intel released its 486 as engineering samples, ASUS decided to design its own 486 motherboard without having a 486-processor engineering sample on site, using only the technical details published by Intel and the experience they gained while making the 386-compatible motherboards. When ASUS finalized its 486 motherboard prototype, they took it to Intel's base in Taiwan for testing. Unsurprisingly, they received no formal greeting when they arrived. It turned out that Intel's own 486 motherboard prototype had encountered design flaws, and Intel's engineers were rectifying it. The ASUS founders exercised their experience with the 486 and had a look at Intel's malfunctioning motherboard. Their solution worked, to the Intel engineers' surprise. Intel then tested the ASUS prototype, which functioned perfectly. This marked the beginning of an informal relationship between the two companies – ASUS now receives Intel engineering samples ahead of its competitors.^[5]

ASUS has become one of the main supporters of Intel's Common Building Block initiatives.

[edit] Corporate restructuring

In January 2008 ASUS started restructuring its operations.^[6] The company will split into three distinct operational units: ASUS, Pegatron, and Unihan.

The ASUS brand will apply solely to first-party branded computers. Pegatron will handle motherboard and component OEM manufacturing. Unihan will focus on non-PC manufacturing such as cases and molding.

In the process of restructuring, the highly criticized pension-plan restructuring effectively zeroed out the current pension balances. The company paid out all contributions previously made by employees.^[7]

[edit] Open Handset Alliance

On 9 December 2008, the Open Handset Alliance announced that ASUSTek Computer Inc. had become one of 14 new members of the organization. These "new members will either deploy compatible Android devices, contribute significant code to the Android Open Source Project, or support the ecosystem through products and services that will accelerate the availability of Android-based devices."^[8]

[edit] Timeline

• 2002: Formed subsidiary ASRock.
• September/October 2003: debuts in the cellphone market with the J100 model.^[9]
• September 2005: releases their first PhysX accelerator card.^[10]
• December 2005: enters the LCD TV market with the TLW32001 model, initially only available on the Taiwan market.^[11]
• January 2006: ASUS announced that it would cooperate with Lamborghini to develop its VX series.^{[12][dead link]}
• March 9, 2006: ASUS announced as one of the producers of the first Microsoft Origami models, together with Samsung and Founder. Samsung and ASUS devices expected by April 2006.^[13]
• August 8, 2006: announced joint venture with Gigabyte Technology.^[14]
• June 5, 2007: ASUS announced the Eee PC at COMPUTEX Taipei 2007.
• September 9, 2007: ASUS started to support Blu-Ray by announcing the release of a BD-ROM/DVD writer PC drive, BC-1205PT.^[15] The release of several Blu-Ray based notebooks followed.
• October 31, 2007: launched a PDA/smartphone range to the UK market.
• January 3, 2008: ASUS formally splits into three companies: ASUSTeK, Pegatron and Unihan.^{[16][unreliable source?]}
• May 2008: Incompatibility of ASUS A8N32-SLI Deluxe motherboard with Windows XP SP3 first discovered
• August 2008: ASUS refuses to accept responsibility, or provide support, for the incompatibility between its A8N32-SLI Deluxe motherboard and Windows XP SP3, thereby tacitly refusing to guarantee that any of its manufactured components' will remain compatible throughout the entire lifespan of a given Windows platform (in this case, the widely-used Windows XP operating system).^[17]
• August 12, 2008: ASUS creates a new motherboard (ZT23) capable of clocking a processing speed of 120GHz, a record
• August 22, 2008: details of the N10, a mid-level version of the Eee PC, leaked online^[18]
• December 2008: ASUS quietly, and without apology, releases a beta BIOS update that potentially fixes the Windows XP SP3 incompatibility with the ASUS A8N32-SLI Deluxe motherboard. Registered consumers of the motherboard receive no notification of the release. The company website's software-update service urges users only to update to this version if their systems display relevant symptoms.

[edit] Manufacturing facilities and service centers

As of 2009^[update] ASUS has manufacturing facilities in:

• Taiwan (Taipei, Lujhu, Nankan, Gueishan)
• Mainland China (Suzhou)
• Mexico (Juarez)
• Czech Republic (Ostrava)

Asus claims a monthly production capacity of two million motherboards and 150,000 notebook computers.^{[19][verification needed]}

The ASUS Hi-Tech Park, located in Suzhou, China, covers 540,000 square meters, roughly the size of 82 soccer fields.

ASUS operates 50 service sites in 32 countries and has over 400 service partners worldwide. It provides support in 37 languages.

[edit] Sub-brands

[edit] Eee

Since its launch in October 2007, the Eee PC netbook has garnered numerous awards, including Forbes Asia’s Product of the Year^[20], Stuff Magazine’s Gadget of the Year and Computer of the Year,^[21] NBC.com’s Best Travel Gadget, Computer Shopper's Best Netbook of 2008, PC Pro's Hardware of the Year, PC World's Best Netbook, and DIME magazine’s 2008 Trend Award Winner.

ASUS has since added several products to its Eee lineup, including Eee Box, a compact nettop, Eee Top, an all-in-one touchscreen computer housed in an LCD monitor enclosure, and Eee Stick, a plug-and-play wireless controller for the PC platform that translates users’ physical hand motions into corresponding movements onscreen.

On March 6, 2009, Asus debuted its Eee Box B202, which PCMag saw as "the desktop equivalent of the Asus EeePC".^[22] With its price range between US$269 and US$299, this desktop competes directly with the Apple Mac Mini.^[23]

[edit] Corporate responsibility

[edit] Green ASUS

In 2000 Asus officially launched Green ASUS,^[24] a company-wide sustainable computing initiative overseen by a steering committee led by Jonney Shih, the Chairman of ASUSTek Computer Inc. Green ASUS pursues what the company calls the "Four Green Home Runs", namely: "Green Design, Green Procurement, Green Manufacturing, and Green Service and Marketing".^[25]

[edit] Green ASUS measures

• As of 2009^[update] Green ASUS restricts 37 hazardous substances, 31 more than the 6 stipulated by the European Union RoHS.
• ASUS designs its notebooks to meet Energy Star standards. As of 2009^[update] over 50 ASUS notebooks have Energy Star certification.
• In 2005, ASUS launched Taiwan’s first GPMS (Green Product Management System) information-technology platform.
• In 2006, ASUS became the first computer manufacturer in Taiwan to develop an easy-to-reuse and easy-to-recycle end-of-life "green design" system.
• In September 2006, ASUS initiated a free take-back program for all ASUS-manufactured products in the USA.

[edit] Recognition

In 2006 ASUS obtained IECQ (IEC Quality Assessment System for Electronic Components) HSPM (Hazardous Substance Process Management) certification for its headquarters and all of its manufacturing sites.

In 2007 oekom research AG (an independent research institute specializing in corporate responsibility assessment^{[citation needed]}) recognized ASUS as a "highly environmental friendly company" in the Computers and Peripherals Industry.^{[citation needed]}

In October 2008, ASUS received 11 EPEAT (Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool) Gold Awards for its products,^[26] including four of its N-Series notebooks, namely the N10, N20, N50 and N80. In the following month, it received EU Flower certification for the same N-Series notebooks at an award ceremony held in Prague.^{[citation needed]} In December 2008, Det Norske Veritas conferred the world’s first EuP (Energy-using Product) certification for portable notebooks on these machines.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Recycling campaign

In April 2008, ASUS launched its "PC Recycling for a Brighter Future"^[27][28] program in collaboration with Intel and Tsann Kuen Enterprise. This program collected more than 1,200 desktop computers, notebooks and CRT/LCD monitors, refurbished them and donated them to 122 elementary and junior high schools, five aboriginal communities and the Tzu Chi Stem Cell Center.

[edit] Controversy

This section has been nominated to be checked for its neutrality. Discussion of this nomination can be found on the talk page. (July 2009)

[edit] Corporate Policy to Abandon Registered Users

Following discovery, in May 2008, that the ASUS A8N32-SLI Deluxe motherboard was incompatible with Windows XP (the Service Pack 3 update) ---- an operating system in wide use at the time ---- ASUS informed paying customers that it would refuse to provide any support to the thousands of users who had purchased this popular motherboard.^[17] This corporate treatment of an entire class of registered buyers of ASUS products, left these buyers in the position of having motherboards that could never be updated beyond SP2. This situation was unique in the industry: The release of SP3 had actually caused completely unrelated boot-crash problems for other hardware (e.g. AMD-based computers with OEM images, primarily HP Desktops^[29]), but the manufacturers of the affected machines set to work on fixing the problem immediately with a simple software update, while ASUS, on the other hand, informed their users that it would provide no assistance of any kind to paying customers, leaving them stranded. Although the blogosphere provided work-arounds that were effective for many users, these events presented a corporate policy towards users, unambiguously indicating that ASUS products are not guaranteed to work for the entire lifespan of a given Windows Operating System.

There was considerable outcry by users abandoned by ASUS as a result of this corporate policy, which continued for over six months. Many users were unable to make the work-around tactics work for them. Finally, in December 2008, ASUS quietly released a BIOS update that purportedly fixed the problem. In doing so, ASUS neither admitted fault nor provided any explanation. The release was not publicised and registered users were not notified, delaying even further users' ability to discover and implement a repair.

[edit] Pirated Software and Dissemination of Confidential Data

In September 2008, PC Pro discovered through a reader^[30] that ASUS had shipped laptops that contained cracked and pirated software. Both physical machines and recovery CDs contained confidential documents from Microsoft and other organizations, internal ASUS documents, and sensitive personal information including CVs.

At the time, an ASUS spokesperson promised an investigation at "quite a high level", but declined to comment on how the files got on the machines and recovery media.^[31]

The blogosphere provides details of how an unattended installation of Windows Vista accidentally copied material from a flash drive due to a parameter in the "unattend.xml" file on the personal flash drive used to script the installation.^[32][33]

[edit] See also

• List of companies of Taiwan
• ASUS Eee PC
• ASUS Media Bus
• Asus routers

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: ASUS

• Official Asus website
• Linux on ASUS Laptops (user experiences)
• Asus Wl 500 premium Open WRT Howto: WiFi router for the Huawei E220
• ASUS FTP in Taiwan - for the most up-to-date drivers. (Asus does not always update its subsidiary sites (such as the site in Germany) in a timely fashion, so check here)
• ASUS Forum Troubleshooting and Reviews
• ASUS launches ‘ASUS CEO Program’ in five pioneer universities
• Open firmware forum for ASUS Routers with oleg firmware
• Pegatron Official Website
• ASUS P565 Review: Fastest Mobile Phone in the World!
• ASUS N81Vp Gaming Notebook Review
• ASUS Product Reviews (Turkish)

v • d • e S&P Asia 50 companies Asus • AU Optronics • Bank of China • Cathay United Bank • Cheung Kong Holdings • China Communications Construction • China Construction Bank • China Life Insurance Company • China Mobile • China Steel • Chunghwa Telecom • CLP Group • CNOOC • DBS Bank • Esprit Holdings • Formosa Chemical & Fiber Group • Formosa Plastics • Hang Seng Bank • HTC Corporation • Hon Hai Precision Industry • The Hong Kong and China Gas Company • Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing • Hutchison Whampoa • Hyundai Heavy Industries • Hyundai Motor Company • Industrial and Commercial Bank of China • Keppel Corporation • KB Financial • Korea Electric Power • KT&G • LG Electronics • Li & Fung • MediaTek • Nan Ya Plastics • Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation • PetroChina • POSCO • Samsung Electronics • Samsung Group • Shinhan Financial Group • Singapore Airlines • Singapore Telecommunications • SK Energy • SK Telecom • Sun Hung Kai Properties • Swire Pacific • TSMC • United Microelectronics Corporation • United Overseas Bank • Wilmar International

Your a fagget :)^{[citation needed]}