Flare Technology was a computer hardware

Computer hardware

Personal computer hardware are component devices which are typically installed into or peripheral to a computer case to create a personal computer upon which system software is installed including a firmware interface such as a BIOS and an operating system which supports application software that...

 company based in Cambridge, United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

. It was founded in 1986 by Martin Brennan

Martin Brennan (engineer)

Martin Brennan is a computer engineer who developed pioneering personal computers such as the Loki and the Atari Jaguar video game console....

, Ben Cheese

Ben Cheese

Ben Cheese was the engineer who got Sinclair's ZX Microdrives to work. Authors Ian Adamson and Richard Kennedy, in their book Sinclair and the "Sunrise" Technology, writes that "it seems only fair to note that it was the tenacity and imagination of R&D staffer Ben Cheese that got the product...

, and John Mathieson

John Mathieson (computer scientist)

John Mathieson is a Computer Science graduate who initially worked for Sinclair Research before going on to found Flare with fellow ex-Sinclair colleagues Martin Brennan and Ben Cheese....

, former engineers at Sinclair Research.

Flare Technology first worked for Amstrad

Amstrad

Amstrad is a British electronics company, now wholly owned by BSkyB. As of 2006, Amstrad's main business is manufacturing Sky Digital interactive boxes....

 before developing a technology-demonstrator system called Flare One. The Flare One was intended as a home computer

Home computer

Home computers were a class of microcomputers entering the market in 1977, and becoming increasingly common during the 1980s. They were marketed to consumers as affordable and accessible computers that, for the first time, were intended for the use of a single nontechnical user...

 or games console with extensive audio and video capabilities. It was related to the Loki

Loki (computer)

Loki was the codename for a home computer under development at Sinclair Research during the mid-1980s. The name came from the Norse god Loki, god of mischief and thieves. Loki was based on the ZX Spectrum, but intended to rival the Commodore Amiga as a games platform. When Amstrad bought out...

project they had worked on previously at Sinclair Research, which in turn was derived from the ZX Spectrum

ZX Spectrum

The ZX Spectrum is an 8-bit personal home computer released in the United Kingdom in 1982 by Sinclair Research Ltd...

 home computer.

The Flare One was used in some arcade game

Arcade game

An arcade game is a coin-operated entertainment machine, usually installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars, and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games, and merchandisers...

 cabinets including a line of video quiz machines produced by Bellfruit. The Flare 1 chipset was further developed into the Konix Multisystem

Konix Multisystem

Konix was a British computer peripheral company primarily known for making joysticks such as the distinctive Speed King during the 1980s. Although this was its primary business for years, its place in videogame folklore was cemented by its ambitious and ultimately ill-fated plans to release its own...

 Slipstream prototype.

In 1989 Martin Brennan was contracted by Atari Corp. to complete and implement the chip design of the unreleased Atari Panther

Atari Panther

The Atari Panther was the 32-bit predecessor to the Atari Jaguar video game console. It was developed by the same ex-Sinclair team Flare Technology who were previously responsible for the Flare One and the Konix Multisystem. It was scheduled to be released in 1991, but Atari Corp...

.

Martin Brennan and John Mathieson went on to design the Flare II, which was purchased by Atari and became Atari Jaguar

Atari Jaguar

The Atari Jaguar is a video game console that was released by Atari Corporation in 1993. It was the last to be marketed under the Atari brand until the release of the Atari Flashback in 2004. It was designed to surpass the Mega Drive/Genesis, Super Nintendo Entertainment System, and the Panasonic...

.