Cleo, CLEO, CL|E|O

The Cleo company's history seems to span four decades, multiple acquisitions, and a number of changes in hardware and software strategies.

I think CLEO originally represented an acronym: “CLuster Environment Operator”* . This seems to cross-check with the stylized trademark, below, which has separators between the letters, as “CL|E|O”. The CLEO software seems to have run on TurboDOS and does represent a play on the name Cleopatra.

ORIGINS

From the publication “Kelly/Grimes IBM PC compatible computer directory”, c. 1985 (link):

“Phone 1 was incorporated in 1976 to manufacture voice data gathering systems, hence the name, Phone 1, Inc. Over the years a support staff of communications software specialists was assembled and software emerged as the forte. Although successful as a hardware manufacturer, Phone 1 directed its expertise to expanding the quality software programs available and so Phone 1 as a software house evolved.

Today, Phone 1 has risen to the forefront in data communications through its offering of 327X and 3780 emulation programs. Its proprietary software, licensed under the trademark CLEO, has gained the approval of many major OEMs and is offered as a software/hardware package by several OEMs.”

In a nutshell, CLEO products helped personal computers, workstations, and midrange computers to talk to IBM-compatible mainframes.

CLEO ADVERTISEMENTS


It’s beautiful....
CLEO advertisement, BYTE magazine’s July 1983 issue (via)

• Synchronous Data Link Control (SDLC)
• Binary Synchronous Communication (BSC or Bisync)
• IBM 3270 green-screen terminal

Magic flying floppy diskette carpets (?) (c. 1985, via)

CLEO HISTORY

• Phone 1, Inc. (Phone1), of Rockford, Illinois, forms in1976:
• From the original chairman’s LinkedIn account: “Startup provided communications software solutions to O.E.M.s. After arrival on the PC, Cleo became a software publisher and manufacturer of high-speed modem cards.” (link)
• Some names of prominent employees: Richard E. Newberry, Jeffrey C. Schneider, Gerald Lombardi, Jack G. Adams, and Carol Delheimer (via)
• Interface Systems, Inc. (ISI) – sometime between 1988-1990, this Ann Arbor, Michigan-based company seems to have acquired Phone1 and/or CLEO Software, making it a division of the company
• Tumbleweed Communications, of Scottsdale, Arizona, acquires ISI in 2000, and, as a condition of the acquisition, divests ISI’s Cleo solutions group (note: this divesture saves CLEO Software from Axway’s 2008 acquisition of Tumbleweed Communications)
• DFI Communications – in 2000, this Rockford, Illinois-based company purchases the newly divested Cleo Communications Solutions...Brian Hampton, of DFI Communications, becomes CLEO Communications Solutions CEO & president
• Globe Equity Partners – in 2012, this California private equity investment firm acquires CLEO Communications...chief principals of Globe Equity Partners, Mahesh Rajasekharan and Sumit Garg, take over as CLEO CEO and president, respectively, with Brian Hampton stays on as advisor

TRADEMARKS OVER TIME - JUST FOR FUN


Circa 1980’s (Phone 1, Inc)...my favorite


Circa 1996 (ISI)


Circa 2001 (DFI)


Circa 2007 (DFI)


Present (Global Equity Partners)

The end.


* Go to the copyright.gov "Search Records" page, select "Search By" value Keyword, enter "Phone 1" in textbox "Search for", select button "Begin Search"...on the results screen, see result, "Cluster environment operator : Cleo 1.01 : user's guide for TurboDos."