EDB’s history dates back more than 40 years, and is a history of technology and innovation. EDB’s solutions represent the culmination of a major part of Norwegian IT history, and many of the products and services it has developed have played a central role in the development of today’s information-based society.
EDB, or Elektronisk Databehandling AS, began its life in 1961. The purpose was to set up a data centre for the insurance companies Sigyn AS, Norsk Alliance and Norden. Over the company’s 48-year history, some 50 other IT-related businesses have been incorporated into EDB.
The IT solutions that now serve major areas of today’s IT-based society in everything from agriculture to local government and banking can trace their history back to one or more of the many companies that have become part of EDB.
Over the course of the years, EDB has progressed from being a supplier of data centre services, punch cards and banking applications to become one of the largest Nordic IT groups, offering solutions that cover the entire range of business critical IT services from application services and industry-specific solutions through to IT operating services and network solutions.
Over the period 2004 to 2008, EDB has carried out almost 20 acquisitions of businesses in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, the Ukraine and India in order to strengthen the company's market position. Many of these businesses have been integrated into EDB, while others continue to operate as separate subsidiaries.
Businesses acquired by EDB over this period include Telenor’s Operating Services Division, Cap Gemini’s outsourcing business in Norway and Sweden, IBM’s business unit for the public sector in Norway, TAG Systems, Cekab, Spring, TeamR3, Guide, Avenir, DropIT, STI, Span Systems, Infopulse, Miratech, Datarutin and Tre60. EDB carried out the largest acquisition in the company's history in early 2008 when it agreed to acquire IS Partner from Statoil.
Following this transaction, EDB's annual turnover is in the order of NOK 8 billion, and the EDB group has almost 6,000 employees in the Nordic countries and a number of other countries around the world. The acquisition of IS Partner has given EDB world-leading technological expertise for oil and gas related businesses and for other industrial businesses.