Vault Information Services was formed as a Colorado Partnership in October 1992However, "Vault" actually originated a full 7 years earlier in 1985 in the form of "The Vault BBS" in the pre-Internet days of modem communication. VIS consists of the partners Craig Steiner, Ted Ott, and Shawn Rene.

In October 1985, VIS founder Craig Steiner started a Bulletin Board System (BBS) in Denver, Colorado called "The Vault." This BBS was operated using an Atari 8-bit computer and was an important and innovative system in the Denver BBS scene at the time--especially in the Atari sector. Many features and additions were made throughout the life of the Atari-version of the BBS that kept The Vault on the cutting edge in Denver.

As time went on, The Vault BBS evolved and in 1991 migrated to an IBM-based Bulletin Board System. A year later the BBS joined the Fidonet network, a worldwide network of BBS. Fidonet was one of the most important amateur communication networks before the worldwide proliferation of the Internet. By 1993, VIS founder Craig Steiner had been elected the Denver Network Coordinator by Denver-area Fidonet members; essentially the President of the Denver-area Fidonet (Net 104).

In 1992, Vault Information Services was legally formed as a Colorado Partnership. VIS' partners decided to join forces and establish a new business entity. This business was based upon the Vault BBS, using it to promote some of our early software products and consulting services.

In 1994, it became obvious that the Internet represented the future and that the outlook for Fidonet was not particularly appealing. At that time, Craig Steiner resigned as Network Coordinator of Fidonet Net-104, removed The Vault from Fidonet, and migrated the system to form Denver's newest Internet Service Provider (ISP). While VIS remained a relatively small ISP, we provided dial-up access to a number of Denver-area customers, along with web hosting, long before most of today's popular services even existed. Yahoo was only a small search engine and didn't even provide email accounts when VIS went online as an ISP.

In 1997, VIS founder Craig Steiner became very involved in the 8052 microcontroller. This involvement lead to the creation of a new program, 8052 Simulator for Windows which allowed the easy simulation of 8052 programs in the Windows environment. Later that year, VIS further entered the 8052 market when it launched 8052.com, a general informational site targeted at 8052 developers, students, and hobbyists. Since that time, 8052.com has grown to be our #1 website, receiving more than a million hits per month.

Also in 1997, VIS began offering 8052-related consulting services more aggresively. In short order, the newly released 8052 Simulator software led to contracts with TDK, Inc. and Analog Devices. Other 8052 development projects also followed and demonstrated that VIS had found a niche market in 8052 development.

In 1998, VIS made the decision to sell off its dial-up operations. This allowed VIS to better focus its energy and talent on 8052 services as well as web hosting services.

In 2000, VIS furthered its 8052 product line when it released Pinnacle 52. Pinnacle is a full-featured Integrated Development Environment (IDE) for the 8052 and compatible microcontrollers. The product includes an integrated editor, assembler, linker, and simulator. This product has become one of our best selling product lines.

VIS also continued to do consulting work in the 8052 market, continuing to serve TDK and Analog Devices, and also doing 8052/USB development for Texas Instruments.

VIS opened a new informational website, BarcodeIsland.com. This site, in the tradition of 8052.com, provided extensive technical information about barcode symbologies. This site was sold five years later to a third party in an unsolicited offer.

Also in 2001, VIS opened the 8052.com Online Store. The Online Store is a virtual store that allows 8052-related hardware and software providers to market their products in a single, centralized place that can be easily browsed by perspective 8052 developers. The entire online store was custom-developed by VIS to fit the exact needs of 8052.com.

VIS began 2002 by aggresively entering the Palm-based application market. By adding Palm-application services to our list of areas of embedded expertise, VIS is becoming further committed to embedded and portable application development.

In March 2002, VIS releasd Cima World Traveler, a multi-function utility program for the world or business traveler. Useful features include a world, country, and city database, world clock, currency conversion, and measurement conversions.

In April 2003, VIS filed papers with the Colorado Department of State which established VIS as a Colorado Limited Liability Company.

In May 2003, VIS launched the PrismEmail spam filtering service which uses a variety of anti-spam measures to block as much as 99.5% of all spam on POP3 mailboxes.

In 2004, VIS did some R&D related to analyzing the radar images produced by the NEXRAD radar system in the United States. This development allowed an automated system to detect specific characteristics in radar images and catalog them for further review.

In 2005, VIS spent considerable development time working with a client to develop a remote, battery/solar-powered data collection system that would transmit the data it collected throughout the day back to a central Internet server using a cellular GPRS modem. This development was a novel and exciting project that demonstrated VIS' ability to design and develop a completely integrated embedded/Internet system.

This year also saw the publication of The 8051/8052 Microcontroller book which is becoming an increasingly popular book in the 8051 field.

This was an exciting year for VIS which saw projects with clients developing audio metering and control equipment as well as motor control and efficiency-tuning devices. Combined with the data collection system developed in 2005, this further enhanced VIS' experience in the area of analog-to-digital conversion.