Humble beginnings. Harry Zarek develops an interest in computers while finishing his PhD in physics at the University of Toronto. He starts a business building PCs in the basement of his Toronto home and calls it Compugen, short for computer generation.

IBM launches its first personal computer, the PC 5150. Built from off-the-shelf components, it has a 5¼ inch disk drive and 40K of read-only memory, and runs the MS-DOS operating system from Microsoft. Users discover the backslash key.

Apple starts selling the Lisa, the first computer with a graphical user interface.

Compugen becomes an authorized Hewlett-Packard reseller and starts selling LaserJet printers.

The Commodore SX-64 is released. It is the first commercial portable computer with a colour screen. It boasts a five-inch monitor, a built-in floppy drive, and weighs 23 lbs.

SETI, the Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence, is founded. The search for life on Mars begins in earnest.

Microsoft releases Windows 1.0, which has a multi-tasking graphical user interface and introduces features like the trashcan for deleted files.

Compugen buys a Compaq reseller in Ottawa and turns it into the first branch office.

Sir Tim Berners-Lee develops hyperlinking and a graphical user interface for the web. The internet as we know it is born.

Microsoft release Windows 3.0 – the first release of Windows suitable for PC users. PCs can now support large graphics and run multiple programs for the first time.

Mosaic web browser is released free-of-charge to the public. The internet’s popularity grows. Businesses start using personal computers for services that used to be handled by larger mainframe computers, and servers become an essential part of IT.

Netscape Navigator is introduced, the browser wars begin.

Compugen hosts the first annual 10K road run to raise money for Frontier College’s computer labs.

ICQ becomes the first internet-wide messaging service, changing the way people communicate with each other and becoming a model for text messaging. Hotmail becomes the first publicly available email service.

Larry Page and Sergey Brin start Google as a grad school project; it quickly overwhelms Stanford University’s servers.

The internet takes off. The dancing baby becomes the world’s first internet meme, Netflix is founded, and AltaVista releases Babel Fish, an online translator. The Wall Street Journal introduces the first paywall and Microsoft releases Windows 98.

Business is booming. Between 1989 and 1998, branches open in British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario, Montreal, and Quebec City.

The word “spam” is added to the Oxford English Dictionary. Tom Hanks & Meg Ryan star in You’ve Got Mail, a movie about two rivals who fall in love over email.

Telecom company Norigen acquires a significant part of Compugen. Compugen broadens its offering and introduces network infrastructure and storage services to enterprise customers.

The first commercial blade server is invented by RLX Technologies.

Compugen’s eMerge management software solution for customers wins the Branham Group’s eBusiness Enablement of the Year Award.

Harry buys back Compugen and focuses on independent growth.

HP buys Compaq for US$25 Billion, making it one of the biggest IT companies in the world and a direct competitor for Sun Microsystems and IBM.

Microsoft releases Windows Mobile, its first operating system for mobile devices. Skype becomes the first company to offer VoIP services to the public.

IBM gets out of the commodity hardware market and sells its computing division to Lenovo. The sale makes China-based Lenovo the third-largest PC company in the world after Dell and HP.

Compugen builds a software team, adds a financing and disposition arm (Compugen Finance Inc.), and introduces its award-winning Green4Good program.

Compugen is a double-award winner at the Microsoft Impact Awards, winning in the Marketing Innovation and Advanced Infrastructure categories.

Apple introduces the iPhone, launching the BYOD era. Employees everywhere demand to use their own smartphones at work, prompting organizations to overhaul their security infrastructures to accommodate for the demands.

In April, Compugen reaches half a million service calls.

Service800 recognizes Compugen as one of the world’s top service providers, and Compugen is listed as 1 of 8 top companies from around the world.

Thanks to lower bandwidth costs and widely available internet access, application virtualization becomes common practice.

Compugen outgrows its office and moves into a new building in Richmond Hill.

Apple launches the iPad and employees everywhere insist on access at work. The mobile and wireless user becomes a significant part of the corporate communications makeup.

It’s awards season. Compugen wins five prestigious awards in one calendar year, including a special honour at the HP Americas Partner Conference with an award for Ecological Initiative for our Green4Good program.

Compugen logs its millionth service call.

Compugen wins three awards this year and takes the #1 spot in the Canadian Top 100 IT Solutions Providers by Computer Dealer News.

Cloud computing takes hold opening up new possibilities for major offline data storage and on-demand services such as SaaS (software as a service).

Compugen President and CEO Harry Zarek awarded Executive of the Year by CRN in their 2013 Solution Provider 500 list