Sirius Systems Technology - Definition and Overview

Sirius Systems Technology, computer company in Scotts Valley, CA, USA. It was founded by Chuck Peddle and Chris Fish. In 1982 Sirius bought Victor Business Systems, known for its calculator and cash register, changing its name in Victor Technologies. It made the Victor / Sirius Series of Personal Computers. Victor seems to have been a subsidiary of Walter Kidde Inc., a three billion dollar conglomerate.

The Victor 9000 (European name: ACT Sirius S1, distributed by British company ACT) was conceived by Chuck Peddle - who had also designed the first Commodore PET - and launched in 1982. This machine was quite innovative and superior in many points to the original IBM PC. It ran CP/M 86 and MS-DOS but was no clone.

It met a certain success in Europe. IBM delayed the European launch of its PC for 18 months and that was ample time for ACT to establish the Sirius as a bestseller and to build up a commanding lead (for a short time).