Down-home computers.

The small Randolph County town of Winchester may seem like an odd place to manufacture computers, but for X-Bit Inc., the location is ideal.

Winchester's comparatively low cost of doing business helps X-Bit maintain an edge in the computer business. "We stay competitive because we can operate at lower margins than competitors," says John D. Jackson, a founder and vice president of the company that has the capability of producing several thousand computer systems a year.

The firm also has boosted productivity by using a modular workstation manufacturing system, enabling the company to operate with a smaller staff than do competing computer manufacturers. Such savings, Jackson says, allow X-Bit to beef up its computers to make them more competitive in terms of features. "We can offer a higher-quality product at the same price," he says. X-Bit, he claims, shuns the kinds of equipment shortcuts that some competitors follow in order to cut prices.

X-Bit designs and manufactures desktop, tower and laptop computer systems that, like most PCs in the business world, are powered by Intel processors. Standard equipment with each system includes an ergonomically designed keyboard and mouse, and MS-DOS and Windows system software come pre-installed. The company also offers preassembled network and Internet systems.

Why buy X-Bit instead of one of the better-known brands? For one thing, Jackson replies, X-Bit is better able to configure its machines to fit the specialized needs of the customer. Also, X-Bit machines are manufactured in a static-free environment to enhance their reliability, and they are put through an unusually rigorous 24-hour "true burn-in" process designed to detect defects before the units leave the factory. X-Bit also offers training sessions and maintenance assistance.

Founded in 1990, the company first was called P.C. Possibilities and operated out of Muncie and Indianapolis. Later it became known as X-Bit and moved to Winchester under the direction of Michael Short, a Ball State computer science graduate who formerly worked at Muncie's Ontario Systems Corp., and Jackson, a Ball State graduate previously employed by M.E.I. Micro Center in Cincinnati.

Why the name X-Bit? "It came from a combination of ideas," Jackson explains. He and Short wanted to avoid such words as "Micro" and "P.C." because so many other computer firms use them. The letter X, they reasoned, is prominent in popular culture and among mathematicians is the most commonly used letter for random variables. Bit is computerese for a tiny piece of electronic information. Thus, X-Bit.

And why Winchester? The two entrepreneurs were familiar with Eastern Indiana and knew it was a low-cost area with plenty of qualified labor available. Jackson says X-Bit's success has convinced the founders that Winchester will remain the place to be. "All of our long-range goals are to keep us in rural Indiana."