Company History

R. Linturi Oy / R. Linturi Plc is founded by Kaija and Risto Linturi in 1983 to advance the usage of microcomputers in Finnish organizations. Initially the company offers courses in C-language programming and assembler level MS DOS programming and debugging as the first commercial provider in Finland. Soon the company widens its repertoire to other programming tools, networks and support. In 1985 R. Linturi Oy develops its first Windows programs, starts Windows programming courses and seminars and also buys a majority of Simul, which starts to import the first Windows applications before Windows itself is published. In 1987 the company starts publishing the first professional microcomputer magazine targeted to programmers and network support people in Finland. At the same time a daughter company Yritysmikrot Oy is founded and starts to publish microcomputer-oriented books. During this period the company’s R&D-spending is over 30 percent of total turnover having support from the government and a large business consortium to develop Windows and OS/2 programming tools and methodologies.

In the late 80’s the company widens its scope again and starts to invest in multimedia development and data communications, especially Internet protocols and the networking culture. R. Linturi Oy also enters PC dealer business as a co-founder of Novosys - current daughter of Novo Group. In 1992 the company sells its daughter company Simul and leaves Windows application import/distribution business. Soon after that the former managing director of Simul and a long time minority shareholder of R. Linturi Oy, Mr. Mikko Setälä leaves the company and becomes the founder of Lotus Finland. In 1992 the company purchases the training division of TKN - which by then has consulted and trained IT-professionals for 25 years. R. Linturi Oy also starts application training and becomes rapidly the largest IT-trainer in Finland. In 1993 the company leads another large development consortium and publishes the first multimedia CD-ROM in Finland containing 30 man-years of production effort and an enormous amount of content from the national and corporate archives. Also in 1993 the company celebrates its 10th anniversary and publishes a book of the national history of microcomputers: “Microcomputers in Finland 1973-1993” honoring the pioneering effort of Mr. Erkki Kurenniemi for creating the first commercially manufactured and marketed microcomputer already in 1973 - two years before the American MITS Altair. In 1993 R. Linturi Oy first starts using this domain www.linturi.fi and also starts the development of hybrid CD-ROMs with web-browsers and links to internet-content.

In 1993 training functions are transferred to a daughter company, which gets to use the company name and web domain for three years. The daughter company buys the training department of ICL, which formerly was the Nokia’s IT-training institute. Simultaneously ICL becomes a minority shareholder of the daughter company. The list of training courses becomes extensive and also the first Linux-courses are marketed. By 1995 the daughter company has grown to be five times bigger than the second biggest competitor. The very profitable training company is then sold completely to ICL and the name changed later to Tieturi. During these arrangements Risto and Kaija Linturi purchase the training company’s key employees' shares in the mother company. Company President Veikko Kanerva leaves to become CEO of the former daughter company.

In early 1996 the multimedia development of Yritysmikrot merges with Tietovalta and R. Linturi Oy becomes their minority owner and the first “business angel”. Consulting and future research remain major functions of R. Linturi Oy. During this time Risto Linturi under a consulting relationship acts as the Technology Director of Helsinki Telephone Corporation and initiates Helsinki Arena 2000  project that later wins world fame and is the third large consortium project that R. Linturi Oy gets started. At the same time R. Linturi Oy builds a new home office and residence, which has 300 microprocessors directing the automated functions of the house thus investing heavily into building automation research. Also this project becomes world famous with its many innovations.

In 1997 R. Linturi Oy becomes one of the two lead investors in Arcus Software, which is the developer of the Virtual Helsinki 3D model and the tools for Helsinki Arena 2000  project and other similar models elsewhere. In 1998 the company publishes a futurological book “Sata Ilmiötä 2000 - 2020” (One hundred phenomena 2000-2020) and assists in creating future scenarios for some government projects. The emphasis of company research concentrates towards telecom related futurological concepts including sociological and structural changes catalysed by technology.

In 1999 R. Linturi Oy together with the other owners decides to sell Tietovalta, which by then has grown to be one of the largest new media companies in Finland. R. Linturi Oy decides to invest in FCS Partners headed by several former key employees of R. Linturi Oy and Tieturi and in so doing returns to training computer professionals. Innofactor is the next investment and soon after Venenum which is by now a daughter company of Innofactor. In 1999 R. Linturi Oy also becomes a minority owner in Vistacom - a Finnish pioneer in video telephony and in Lonix, which develops building automation. In 2000 R. Linturi Oy changes corporate structure, becomes a public company and simultaneously makes R. Linturi Oyj and R. Linturi Plc official company names.

In 2000  R. Linturi Plc has made major investments to Moller International, which develops personal VTOL-type flying vehicles and light rotary engines. In 2000 R. Linturi Plc has also invested in Gurusoft, which has developed Websom search algorithms for data mining purposes in the Internet and intranets.