The brand name of this cooker is Prima Donna (What's in a name?). I bet it's made by one of those Chinese manufacturers, but there is nothing about it's origin on the box, in the manual or on the cooker itself.
I boiled a litre of water and it took 4 1/2 minutes. Not exactly fast, but as I said before it's only 1600 Watts. I bet the 2700 Watts model does it much faster. I also boiled rice tonight on the special rice cycle and the rice came out perfect.
My mother has an electric cooktop with solid burners and it takes indeed forever to heat up and cool off.