Centara was established by six computer professionals in June 1984 and grew to a group of 25 engineers, system analysts and programmers.
It started with a mixture of products for IBM 4xxx, System 3x, DEC VAX’s and PC’s. In the early years the company targeted only for the domestic market, but it soon began to look to markets abroad for possibilities for exporting its knowledge.
The first widely exported package, HBX-PAD, was introduced in November 1990 and marked the first steps of international distribution. This package is now in use by small firms as well as large international companies around the world in over 60 countries.
In 1993 Centara started to market a retail application for PC based Point-of-Sale systems in Europe. This package had then been in use in Iceland for four years and proven to be superior in speed and features. This package, HB-GPoS, is now in use in several countries. Centara is also distributing packages for various niche markets to supplement it.
In 1996 Centara started development of an ARTS compliant Windows based version of the Point-of-sale system called CENTARA.
Detailed timeline:
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1981: Company founded
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1984: Company incorporated
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1984-1988: Marketing of Icelandic Word Processing software
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1985: Distribution of Autodesk products started in Iceland
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1985-1987: Development of a Weather Data Collection System
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1985-1988: Development of a Financial Transaction System for VISA Iceland
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1987: Development of a Stock-Broker Database System
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1989: HB-GPoS marketed in Iceland
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1989-1997: Development of a Flight Data Processing System with CAE Electronics and ICAA
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1990: Development of an Air-Ground Communication System
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1990: Distribution of Corel products started in Iceland
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1990: HBX-PAD marketed world-wide
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1993: HB-GPoS marketed in Europe
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1993-1996: Development of a Road Information Database System
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1995: Australian Office established
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1995: HB-Chef marketed in Iceland
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1996: Development of CENTARA started
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1998: First installations of CENTARA
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2000: Centara installed in several locations in Europe and North America
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2003: Fast-Food version of Centara
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2005: Centara inventory system released
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2008: Enterprise version of Centara with data replication
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2009: Enhanced Kitchen Display System for Restaurants and Fast Food
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2010: Giftcard system with store credit support released
- 2012: New ownership structure
- 2013: New management and headquarters relocated
- 2014: HBI comes ISV with Wise as the business partner for Iceland
- 2015: New shareholders – increased share capital
- 2016: Centara 6