Altair Electronics, based in Canada, is one of the leading manufacturers of medium to high-grade personal computer systems; they also make servers and larger machines for corporate entities, but are less commonly used for these purposes; in particular, they are not popular small business machines.
Anyone who's done some major hackwork has probably done it on an Altair desktop PC (unlike Hollywood hacking, which is typically done on Apples, Dells or Splitbits.) Altairs offer an excellent value for the price, and their desktop computers usually have significant room for aftermarket expansion; their portable computing solutions are typically crammed full of features but often burn through battery life. Altairs sometimes find a calling in the corporate market, either as end-user PCs for companies that do not use dumb terminals, or as servers in satellite offices.
The Altair Electronics computer line is considered acceptable for most moderate-level computer work, and maintains a balance of performance and value. They are neither the best nor the most affordable, but tend to be used as the computers of middle-level administrators and low-level satellite branch servers or fallback systems.
Computer and nanotechnology developers, Altair Electronics is responsible for many mid-grade to high-grade personal computer systems, including quantum computer designs capable of cracking high-level encryption systems. They do not produce much in the way of software (aside from drivers).