Part of the Sumitomo Group, NEC Corporation provides information technology (IT) and network solutions to businesses, communications services providers and governments.The company used the name Nippon Electric Company, Limited before re-branding in 1983. Kunihiko Iwadare and Takeshiro Maeda established the Nippon Electric Limited Partnership in 1898, using facilities that they had bought from the Miyoshi Electrical Manufacturing Company. The company started with the production, sales and maintenance of telephones and switches. NEC started its radio communications business in 1924, importing broadcasting equipment from Western Electric, before going on to manufacture their own equipment. NEC also developed photo-telegraphic equipment. After the second world war NEC began successfully developing its transistors and computing equipment. NEC built the Earth Simulator Computer (ESC), the fastest supercomputer in the world in its time, from 2002 to 2004.