[3][4] In 1974, IMS was contacted by a client which wanted a "workstation system" that could complete jobs for any General Motors car dealership.

IMS planned a system including a terminal, small computer, printer, and special software.

Full-scale development of the IMSAI 8080 was put into action using the existing Altair 8800's S-100 bus, and by October 1975 an ad was placed in Popular Electronics, receiving positive reactions.

[12] The right to the word mark IMSAI expired on 6 April 2004 because Thomas Fischer did not correctly submit the required documents for renewal.

[13] IMSAI 8080 replicas have entered the market,[14] due in part to the legality of copying hardware designs encouraging amateur technophiles to make backwards compatible machines, with the retro aesthetics.

[15] The color scheme matches the original IMS 1973 "Hypercube" project, but some peripherals such as the floppy are simulated and instead use Wi-fi.