Digital Equipment Corporation

DEC's 1998 sale to Compaq ended the minicomputer pioneer that Ken Olsen built. DEC's VAX systems dominated business computing until PCs and Unix workstations disrupted from above and below. Olsen famously said 'there is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home.' The company that connected computing to non-IBM customers couldn't survive when computing connected to everyone. DEC demonstrated that disruption from below eventually reaches every incumbent.