{{Short description|American technology company}} {{Redirect|Intelligent Systems Corporation|the Japanese video game developer|Intelligent Systems}} {{Redirect|Quadram|British food and drink organization|Quadram Institute}} {{Infobox company | name=CoreCard Corporation | logo=CoreCard Corporation logo.png | former_name={{ubl|Intelligent Systems Corporation|Intelligent Systems Master Limited Partnership}} | founded={{start date and age|1973}} in [[Norcross, Georgia]] | founders={{ubl|Terry Hughey|Charles Muench}} | type=Public | industry=Technology | divisions={{ubl|Datavue Corporation|Quadram Corporation|Princeton Graphic Systems|Intecolor Corporation}} | products={{ubl|[[Portable computer]]s|[[Video terminal]]s|[[Expansion card]]s|[[Peripheral]]s}} | owner=[[Euronet Worldwide]]<br>(2025-present) | website={{URL|corecard.com}} }} '''CoreCard Corporation''' is an American [[financial technology]] company based in [[Norcross, Georgia]]. Before 2021, it was named ''Intelligent Systems Corporation'' and once sold [[portable computer]]s, [[video terminal]]s, [[expansion card]]s, and other [[peripheral]]s through a variety of manufacturing subsidiaries.

Founded in 1973,<ref name=Peters1998>{{cite journal | last=Peters | first=Andy | date=May 8, 1998 | url=https://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/stories/1998/05/11/story7.html | title=Change is constant for Strange | journal=Atlanta Business Chronicle | publisher=American City Business Journals | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20020919134859/https://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/stories/1998/05/11/story7.html | archivedate=September 19, 2002}}</ref> the firm restructured as a [[master limited partnership]] in 1987, becoming ''Intelligent Systems Master Limited Partnership''.<ref name=nyt19870313>{{cite journal | last=Staff writer | date=March 13, 1987 | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/03/13/business/intelligent-systems-master-lp-reports-earnings-for-qtr-to-dec-31.html | title=Intelligent Systems Master L.P. Reports Earnings for Qtr. to Dec. 31 | journal=The New York Times | page=D7 | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150524211031/https://www.nytimes.com/1987/03/13/business/intelligent-systems-master-lp-reports-earnings-for-qtr-to-dec-31.html | archivedate=May 24, 2015}}</ref> In the 1990s, Intelligent Systems pivoted into providing venture capital for start-up technology firms, changing its name back to Intelligent Systems Corporation.

In 2021, the company changed its name to CoreCard Corporation, following another pivot to [[fintech]]. On October 30, 2025, [[Euronet Worldwide]] completed the purchase of the Georgia-based firm for approximately $260 million.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.marketscreener.com/news/euronet-worldwide-inc-completed-the-acquisition-of-corecard-corporation-for-approximately-260-mil-ce7d5cdad089fe24|title=Euronet Worldwide, Inc. completed the acquisition of CoreCard Corporation for approximately $260 million.|work=MarketScreener|access-date=2025-11-03|language=en}}</ref>

==Subsidiaries== Notable subsidiaries included: * Datavue: it manufactures portable computers; * Quadram: it manufactures expansion cards, mostly for the [[IBM Personal Computer|IBM PC]], including memory and video cards ([[Quadram Quadcolor]] I & II); * Princeton Graphic Systems: a maker of [[computer monitor]]s; * Intecolor: it took over the terminal manufacturing operations that were previously handled by Intelligent Systems; and more.<ref name=Peters1998 />

==History== {{plain image with caption|Intelligent Systems Corporation wordmark.png|Former logo of Intelligent Systems Corporation|180px}}

===Intecolor and Compucolor (1973–1980)=== {{Main|Compucolor}} Intelligent Systems Corporation was founded in 1973 by Terry Hughey and Charles Muench of [[Norcross, Georgia]]. Muench was an engineer who founded Integrated Systems, a company that manufactured remote alarm systems and control equipment for the [[electric power industry]]; Muench hired Hughey to be director of research and development at the company. After several profitable years, in 1972 Muench sold the company to the Esterline Corporation and took a brief sabbatical. In 1973, the two decided to found Intelligent Systems as their break into the [[video terminal]] industry, which had seen soaring profits in the early 1970s as [[time-sharing|time-shared]] [[mainframe computer]]s became more accessible to businesses who needed number-crunching power. After three years of development, in February 1976 the company introduced the [[Intecolor 8001]], a [[Electronic kit|kit]] for a smart terminal powered by an [[Intel 8080]] microprocessor and featuring 4&nbsp;KB of [[Random-access memory|RAM]], driving the display capable of rendering 80 columns by 25 rows of text. In December 1976, the company sold the [[Compucolor|Compucolor 8001]], an expanded kit of the Intecolor 8001 that turned it into a full-fledged [[microcomputer]], adding 8&nbsp;KB of RAM, a [[Read-only memory|ROM]] with [[Microsoft BASIC]], and a data tape reader that repurposed [[8-track tape]]s commonly reserved for music. It was the first microcomputer kit with an integrated keyboard and monitor capable of color graphics output.<ref name=Smith2019 />

In October 1976, Muench laid off Hughey with severance so that the latter could pursue the high-end graphics market under his start-up, [[Chromatics Inc.]] Meanwhile Muench was busy leading a team behind a low-cost successor to the Compucolor 8001. Released as the CompuColor II in 1978, this incarnation of the computer replaced the wear-prone 8-track tapes with [[floppy diskette]]s, shrunk the monitor down to a 13-inch-diagonal unit, and completely eliminated the terminal-centric features. While he was able to drive to cost down to a certain point, for a unit with an adequate amount of RAM in 1978 it was still too costly for the average consumer and was pulled off the market in 1980. Intelligent Systems would then refocus on designing high-end terminals for the enterprise world.<ref name=Smith2019>{{cite book | last=Smith | first=Alexander | date=2019 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Cxy_DwAAQBAJ&dq=%22Intelligent+Systems%22+1973+Norcross&pg=PT335 | title=They Create Worlds: The Story of the People and Companies That Shaped the Video Game Industry, Vol. I: 1971–1982 | publisher=CRC Press | page=335 | isbn=9780429752612 | via=Google Books}}</ref> Intelligent Systems' terminal-manufacturing operations were later folded into Intecolor Corporation, an independently run subsidiary.<ref name=Bergheim1984 />

===Growing empire (1983–1990)=== {{plain image with caption|Quadram Corporation logo.svg|Logo of Quadram Corporation post-acquisition|180px}} [[File:Datavue Spark.jpg|thumb|Spark, a laptop by Datavue Corporation released in 1986]] [[File:PC's Limited Turbo PC.jpg|thumb|A Princeton Graphic Systems [[Color Graphics Array|CGA]] monitor sitting on top of a [[PC's Limited]] Turbo PC (the first computer system from [[Dell]])]] In 1983, Intelligent Systems purchased Quadram Corporation, a start-up company that manufactured expansion cards for personal computers, for $35 million in stock.<ref name="pollack19830327">{{Cite news |last=Pollack |first=Andrew |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1983/03/27/business/big-ibm-has-done-it-again.html |title=Big I.B.M. Has Done It Again |date=1983-03-27 |work=The New York Times |access-date=2020-03-16 |page=Section 3, Page 1 |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Quadram was founded by J. Leland Strange, who stayed with Intelligent Systems, eventually becoming its CEO in 1988.<ref name=Peters1998 /><ref>{{cite journal | last=Jones | first=Robert Snowdon | date=January 18, 1988 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Dz8EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA92661 | title=Brown Resigns from Quadram, Cites Differences | journal=InfoWorld | publisher=IDG Publications | volume=10 | issue=3 | page=33 | via=Google Books}}</ref> Shortly after the Quadram purchase, it bought out Datavue Corporation, an early designer of [[portable computer]]s.<ref name=Peters1998 /> Intelligent Systems posted $90&nbsp;million in sales in 1983, and in 1984, the company opened up Prints and Graphics, their marque for [[Computer printer|printer]]s.<ref name=Bergheim1984>{{cite journal | last=Bergheim | first=Kim | date=October 15, 1984 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DS8EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA17 | title=Quadram May Buy Chalkboard | journal=InfoWorld | publisher=CW Communications | volume=6 | issue=42 | page=17 | via=Google Books}}</ref> Quadram was one of the progenitors of the [[enhanced EMS]] standard for [[DOS memory management]], collaborating with [[Ashton-Tate]] and [[AST Research]] to write the standard, which was published in 1985.<ref name="Mendelson_1989">{{cite journal | title=A Slot Full of RAM | date=December 12, 1989 | author-last=Mendelson | author-first=Edward | author-link=Edward Mendelson | journal=PC Magazine | publisher=Ziff-Davis | volume=8 | number=21 | pages=169– | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5CmkZ3THZtwC&pg=PT170 | url-status=live | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200208221014/https://books.google.de/books?id=5CmkZ3THZtwC&lpg=PT171&pg=PT170&redir_esc=y | archive-date=February 8, 2020}}</ref> By March 1986 Quadram had 20% of the [[multifunction card]] market.<ref name="welch19860310p29">{{Cite magazine |last=Welch |first=Mark J. |date=1986-03-10 |title=Corporate Buyers Go With the Leaders |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qy8EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA29 |access-date=March 15, 2026 |magazine=InfoWorld |pages=29, 31-32 |volume=8 |issue=10}}</ref> In December 1985, the Quadram division bought a stake in [[Video Seven]], a computer graphics technology based in [[Milpitas, California]]. A joint venture between Quadram and Video Seven bore the Quad EGA+ and the Vega Card, sold under the Quadram and Video Seven brands respectively; they were both [[Enhanced Graphics Adapter|EGA]]-compatible graphics cards that improved upon standard in a number of ways.<ref>{{cite journal | last=Kallenbach | first=Rolf | date=March 17, 1986 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lC8EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA41 | title=The Vega Card from Video-7 Is Smaller Version of Quad EGA+ | journal=InfoWorld | publisher=CW Communications | volume=8 | issue=11 | page=41 | via=Google Books}}</ref>

In May 1985, [[Management Science America]] sold their [[Peachtree Software]] division to Intelligent Systems for an undisclosed sum, reportedly $1 million. Peachtree had developed and sold a popular line of accounting software for home and personal computer users, but was losing money.<ref>{{cite journal | last=Staff writer | date=May 13, 1985 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WKyJOEl_vlsC&pg=RA1-PA117 | title=Peachtree sale severs MSA ties to micro software market | journal=Computerworld | publisher=IDG Publications | volume=XIX | issue=19 | page=117 | via=Google Books}}</ref>{{r|lyons19880808}}

On the downslope of its share price peak in 1986,<ref name=peripheralexchange>{{cite web | last=Anonymous | date=2012 | url=http://peripheralexchange.com/aboutus/aboutus2.htm | title=About Us | publisher=Peripheral Exchange | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20121211023304/http://peripheralexchange.com/aboutus/aboutus2.htm | archivedate=December 11, 2012}}</ref> in October that year Intelligent Systems announced the divestiture of many or all of its divisions.<ref name=Martin1986>{{cite journal | last=Martin | first=James A. | date=October 20, 1986 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gvU799ixIbcC&pg=PA117 | title=Small vendors may be eyeing divestiture | journal=Computerworld | publisher=IDG Publications | volume=XX | issue=42 | page=117 | via=Google Books}}</ref> In early 1987, the company's board members restructured Intelligent Systems into a [[master limited partnership]], rechristening the company as Intelligent Systems Master Limited Partnership.<ref name=nyt19870313 /> In September 1987, the company announced it had fully reversed its stance on selling off units of the company,<ref>{{cite journal | last=Morrison | first=David | date=September 1, 1987 | url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A5154399/GPS?sid=wikipedia | title=Intelligent Systems to focus on building, not selling, its divisions | journal=PC Week | publisher=Ziff-Davis | volume=4 | issue=35 | page=163 | via=Gale}}</ref> although in August 1988 Intelligent Systems sold Peachtree Software to the subsidiary's management for $20&nbsp;million in cash.<ref name=lyons19880808>{{cite journal | last=Lyons | first=Daniel J. | date=August 8, 1988 | url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A6887703/GPS?sid=wikipedia | title=Smart deal by Intelligent Systems harvests $20 million for Peachtree | journal=PC Week | publisher=Ziff-Davis | volume=5 | issue=32 | page=105 | via=Gale}}</ref> Nearly a year later, Intelligent Systems agreed to sell the Quadram name and consumer-oriented PC expansions and peripherals to [[National Semiconductor]].<ref>{{cite journal | last=Staff writer | date=July 6, 1989 | url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/427290427 | title=Chip Maker to Buy Quadram Units | journal=The New York Times | page=D4 | id={{ProQuest|427290427}} }}</ref> The rest of Quadram's assets—comprising an accelerator board known as the Quad386XT, a [[Token Ring]] network card, and line of memory expansion boards for the PS/2 known as PS/Q—were then folded into Q/Cor, a marketing arm under Intelligent Systems.<ref>{{cite journal | last=Venditto | first=Gus | date=September 12, 1989 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hEaMhncO06EC&pg=PT64 | title=Changing Times Force Quadram to Split in Two | journal=PC Magazine | publisher=Ziff-Davis | volume=8 | issue=15 | pages=63–64 | via=Google Books}}</ref>{{rp|63}} Although Quadram was perhaps Intelligent Systems' best-known division and brought in $50&nbsp;million in sales in 1986, according to ''[[InfoWorld]]'' the division barely broke even or had been losing money for Intelligent Systems, compared to the thicker margins posted by the $20&nbsp;million and $50&nbsp;million respective sales of Princeton Graphics and Intecolor that year.<ref name=Martin1986 />

===Post-divestiture and pivots (1990–present)=== Princeton Graphic Systems was purchased by [[World Wide Technology]] in January 1989,<ref>{{cite journal | last=Jones | first=Robert Snowdon | date=January 9, 1989 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nDsEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PT5 | title=Intelligent Systems Sells Princeton Graphics Systems | journal=InfoWorld | publisher=IDG Publications | volume=11 | issue=2 | page=6 | via=Google Books}}</ref> the brand surviving into the next millennium.<ref>{{cite journal | last=Poor | first=Alfred | date=February 2002 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-sSH_3qahG8C&pg=PA127 | title=Flat-Out Brilliant | journal=PC Magazine | publisher=Ziff-Davis | volume=21 | issue=4 | pages=116–130 | via=Google Books}}</ref>{{rp|127}} Datavue meanwhile was sold to a private company, and Intecolor like Peachtree was purchased by its management with help from Muench, after which the company reverted to being privately owned and operated.<ref name=peripheralexchange /> Intelligent Systems pivoted into providing venture capital for start-up technology firms in the 1990s, eventually changing its name back to Intelligent Systems Corporation during the decade.<ref name=Peters1998 /> After pivoting again to the [[fintech]] industry in the mid-2010s, Intelligent Systems changed its name to CoreCard Corporation in 2021, assuming the name of its fintech software subsidiary founded in 2001.<ref>{{cite web | last=Cardoza | first=Edlyn | date=December 16, 2021 | url=https://ibsintelligence.com/ibsi-news/intelligent-systems-announces-name-change-to-corecard/ | title=Intelligent Systems announces name change to CoreCard | work=IBS Intelligence | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20211220044448/https://ibsintelligence.com/ibsi-news/intelligent-systems-announces-name-change-to-corecard/ | archivedate=December 20, 2021}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist|colwidth=30em}}

==Further reading== * {{cite book | last=Traister | first=Robert J. | date=1985 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Vd14AAAAIAAJ | title=The Quadram Connection | publisher=Tab Books | isbn=9780830609567 | via=Google Books}}

==External links== * {{Official website|https://www.corecard.com/}} * {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/19961222135851/http://www.intelsys.com/|title=Official website of Intelligent Systems Corporation|date=December 22, 1996}}

[[Category:2025 mergers and acquisitions]] [[Category:1973 establishments in Georgia (U.S. state)]] [[Category:Computer companies established in 1973]] [[Category:Companies based in Gwinnett County, Georgia]] [[Category:Defunct computer companies of the United States]] [[Category:Defunct software companies of the United States]] [[Category:Defunct computer hardware companies]] [[Category:Financial technology companies]] [[Category:Technology companies established in 1973]]