Takayoshi Shiina

Takayoshi Shiina founded Sord in 1970 at the age of twenty-six. The company's name joined the words software and hardware, expressing his belief that useful computer systems required both to be designed together.

Sord first wrote software for minicomputers, then moved into its own microcomputer hardware. Under Shiina it produced early Intel-based systems, the M200 business-computer family and PIPS, an integrated package intended to let office users work without conventional programming. The company later expanded internationally with machines such as the M5, M23P and IS-11.

Rapid growth made Sord one of Japan's most prominent independent computer companies, but financial and supply pressures led to its acquisition by Toshiba in 1985. Shiina subsequently founded Proside and continued working in the computer industry.