519:
511:
396:" mainframes, shipping its first machine in 1975 – the Amdahl 470V/6, a less expensive, more reliable and faster replacement for the System 370/168. By purchasing an Amdahl 470 and plug-compatible peripheral devices from third-party manufacturers, customers could now run S/360 and S/370 applications without buying actual IBM hardware. Amdahl's software team developed VM/PE (Virtual Machine/Performance Enhancement), software designed to optimize the performance of IBM's
33:
296:. However, in 1950, Amdahl and Charles H. "Charlie" Davidson, a fellow PhD student in the Department of Physics, approached Harold A. Peterson with the idea of a digital computer. Amdahl and Davidson gained the support of Peterson and fellow electrical engineering professor Vincent C. Rideout, who encouraged them to build a computer of their unique design. Amdahl completed his
489:, the company now builds software to scan mainframe datasets and database tables for sensitive information such as credit card numbers, social security and other government identification numbers, sensitive medical diagnosis information that can be linked to an individual, and other information such as that needed for electronic discovery.
433:, engaged in a discussion on future architectural trends. Amdahl articulated his arguments, both verbally and in three written pages, on the fundamental physical limitations that he theorized would govern the performance of any special feature or mode introduced to new machines. This set of arguments resulted in two,
348:
Well, what I felt was that with that kind of an organization I'm not going to be in control of what I want to do any time in the future. It's going to be a much more bureaucratic structure. I'll work in one area of it, and that's all I'll get experience in. And I decided that I didn't want to have
480:
in 1996, again in
Sunnyvale, and again developing mainframe-like machines but this time with new super-cooled processor designs and aimed at physically smaller systems. One such machine, from 1997, was the ESP/490 (Enterprise Server Platform/490), an enhancement of IBM's P/390 of the
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Pioneering
Achievement Award. A banquet dinner in his honor featured a short talk by Amdahl on his career, and a panel debate on the future of parallel processing. Panelists included
493:
410:
By 1979, Amdahl
Corporation had sold over US$ 1 billion of V6 and V7 mainframes and had over 6,000 employees worldwide. The corporation went on to distribute an IBM-plug-compatible
457:
for even cheaper mainframes, but the chip development failed within months of the company's $ 60 million public offering; thereafter, the company focused on developing its
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469:, in 1987. Andor hoped to compete in the mid-sized mainframe market, using improved manufacturing techniques developed by one of the company's employees,
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241:(November 16, 1922 – November 10, 2015) was an American computer architect and high-tech entrepreneur, chiefly known for his work on
1240:
577:
566:"in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the design, applications and manufacture of large-scale high-performance computers."
1152:
305:
1205:
465:, a computer maker with its own CPU design. Elxsi also did poorly and Amdahl left in 1989, having already founded his next venture,
453:, together with his son Carl, and Clifford Madden. With over US$ 200 million in funds, Trilogy was aimed at designing a wafer-scale
1168:
349:
that kind of life, basically. It wasn't just
Dunwell. It was the way the structure was set up; I was going to be a peg-in-a-hole.
473:, to make smaller, more efficient machines. Production problems and strong competition led the company into bankruptcy by 1995.
1122:
362:
340:). He quit out of frustration with the bureaucratic structure of the organization. In an interview conducted in 1989 for the
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On the face of the mountain behind Gene and Marian there is a profile of a face, called the "Amdahl troll"
616:
377:
He left IBM again in
September 1970, after his ideas for computer development were rejected, and set up
1039:
581:
1144:
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422:
341:
573:"for his fundamental work in computer architecture and design, project management, and leadership."
588:). The talk and debate were both videotaped, and are available through the SIGDA Web page, and the
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382:
79:
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926:"Validity of the single processor approach to achieving large scale computing capabilities"
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1151:. Amdahl discusses his graduate work at the University of Wisconsin and his design of
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1155:. Discusses his role in the designing of several computers for IBM including the
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332:. He left IBM in December 1955, but returned in September 1960 (after working at
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308:(WISC). He then went straight from Wisconsin to a position at IBM in June 1952.
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in 1986. He has numerous awards and patents to his credit and has received
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Amdahl was born to immigrant parents of
Norwegian and Swedish descent in
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677:
485:
family. Since then, CDS has changed its name and narrowed its focus. As
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532:
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Gene and his wife, Marian, in front of the main house at Amdahl, Norway
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technology and, when that project failed, in 1985, Trilogy merged into
358:
32:
392:
Competing with IBM in the mainframe market, the company manufactured "
1246:
University of
Wisconsin–Madison College of Letters and Science alumni
619: – a term coined by Amdahl to describe IBM's competitive tactics
426:
297:
1114:
1062:"SIGDA sponsors historic event celebrating 40 years of Amdahl's Law"
1021:
1172:
492:
In
November 2004, Amdahl was appointed to the board of advisors of
425:, Amdahl, along with three other computer architects, most notably
333:
1164:
1160:
729:
Anderson, William S. (2007). "An
Interview with Gene M. Amdahl".
503:, from pneumonia, six days shy of his 93rd birthday. He also had
386:
321:
317:
900:"IBM Advanced Computing Systems -- Quote from Computing Surveys"
1171:
and IBM's management of the design process. Mentions work with
1083:
203:
198:
Degrees in theoretical physics from the
University of Wisconsin
1141:
665:
462:
1261:
Members of the United States National Academy of Engineering
210:
The Logical Design of an Intermediate Speed Digital Computer
449:
Amdahl left his eponymous company in August 1979 to set up
847:
A Logical Design of an Intermediate Speed Digital Computer
302:
A Logical Design of an Intermediate Speed Digital Computer
973:"Gene Amdahl, Pioneer of Mainframe Computing, Dies at 92"
397:
246:
108:
809:"On the Death of Professor Emeritus Charles H. Davidson"
539:
in 1967 and was recognized as the Centennial Alumnus of
773:"On the Death of Professor Emeritus Harold A. Peterson"
16:
American computer architect and high-tech entrepreneur
1008:
Cacm Staff (January 2016). "Gene Amdahl, 1922-2015".
818:. May 4, 2009. Faculty Document: 2120. Archived from
782:. May 6, 2002. Faculty Document: 1643. Archived from
1036:"Past recipients for Harry H. Goode Memorial Award"
1107:2007 ACM/SIGDA Dinner and Open Member Meeting on -
983:
576:In November 2007, Amdahl was recognized with the
418:, both jointly developed with Fujitsu engineers.
1187:
965:
558:(DFBCS) in 1979, and in 1983 he was awarded the
435:major and lesser, "laws" of computer performance
353:On his return, he became the chief architect of
668:(Interview). Interviewed by Arthur L. Norberg.
554:Amdahl was elected Distinguished Fellow of the
288:He went on to study theoretical physics at the
857:: The Library of the University of Wisconsin.
277:during World War II he completed a degree in
1271:United States Navy personnel of World War II
991:"Computer pioneer Gene Amdahl dies, aged 92"
731:IEEE Solid-State Circuits Society Newsletter
706:(Interview). Interviewed by William Aspray.
666:"Oral history interview with Gene M. Amdahl"
1054:
722:
300:at UW–Madison in 1952 with a thesis titled
257:, which states a fundamental limitation of
1142:Oral history interview with Gene M. Amdahl
1104:
1007:
444:
306:Wisconsin Integrally Synchronized Computer
264:
31:
1098:
1072:
656:
654:
526:
935:. AFIPS spring joint computer conference
728:
517:
509:
441:. These arguments continue to this day.
249:and later his own companies, especially
1251:Fellows of the British Computer Society
844:Amdahl, Gene Myron (October 11, 1951).
801:
765:
635:
633:
414:(the 4705) as well as high-performance
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897:
883:"Fujitsu Buys Shares Of Amdahl Corp".
843:
698:
692:
660:
651:
837:
569:In 1998, he was made a Fellow of the
372:
363:Advanced Computing Systems Laboratory
1256:South Dakota State University alumni
1236:American people of Norwegian descent
1080:"SIGDA Pioneering Achievement Award"
630:
551:and two other institutions as well.
304:and created his first computer, the
1266:Deaths from pneumonia in California
1231:People from Flandreau, South Dakota
13:
1241:American people of Swedish descent
923:
14:
1282:
1135:
499:He died on November 10, 2015, in
1206:American computer businesspeople
887:. December 22, 1972. p. 10.
535:in 1965, became a member of the
423:Spring Joint Computer Conference
41:Alumni gathering, March 13, 2008
1105:Marculescu, Diana, ed. (2007).
1028:
1001:
947:
917:
816:University of Wisconsin–Madison
780:University of Wisconsin–Madison
537:National Academy of Engineering
507:in the last years of his life.
494:Massively Parallel Technologies
290:University of Wisconsin–Madison
164:National Academy of Engineering
891:
876:
1:
1181:Computer Sciences Corporation
1167:. He discusses his work with
623:
560:Harry H. Goode Memorial Award
541:South Dakota State University
316:At IBM, Amdahl worked on the
283:South Dakota State University
92:South Dakota State University
961:. June 15, 1981. p. 11.
955:"ACSYS - new Amdahl startup"
437:regarding sequential versus
7:
1216:Computer hardware engineers
704:"Amdahl, Gene oral history"
595:
328:project, the basis for the
10:
1287:
743:10.1109/N-SSC.2007.4785613
385:with major financing from
1145:Charles Babbage Institute
1010:Communications of the ACM
670:Charles Babbage Institute
403:when running under IBM's
361:in 1965, and head of the
342:Charles Babbage Institute
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202:
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175:
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139:
131:
115:
87:
68:
46:
30:
23:
556:British Computer Society
1149:University of Minnesota
708:Computer History Museum
645:Computer History Museum
571:Computer History Museum
478:Commercial Data Servers
445:1979–2015: Entrepreneur
273:. After serving in the
271:Flandreau, South Dakota
265:Childhood and education
169:Computer History Museum
135:Marian Delaine Quissell
101:University of Wisconsin
61:Flandreau, South Dakota
702:(September 24, 2000).
527:Awards and recognition
523:
515:
367:Menlo Park, California
351:
311:
710:. CHM Ref: X5988.2011
564:IEEE Computer Society
521:
513:
501:Palo Alto, California
383:Sunnyvale, California
346:
344:, he addressed this:
80:Palo Alto, California
1042:on February 19, 2009
997:. November 12, 2015.
979:. November 12, 2015.
531:Amdahl was named an
37:Amdahl addressing a
1211:American physicists
1169:Nathaniel Rochester
825:on December 9, 2011
789:on December 9, 2011
545:Honorary Doctorates
505:Alzheimer's disease
467:Andor International
439:parallel processing
412:front-end processor
405:VM operating system
279:engineering physics
243:mainframe computers
152:Carlton Gene Amdahl
149:Beth Delaine Amdahl
146:Andrea Leigh Amdahl
898:Smotherman, Mark.
855:Madison, Wisconsin
607:Amdahl Corporation
524:
516:
476:Amdahl co-founded
379:Amdahl Corporation
373:Amdahl Corporation
259:parallel computing
251:Amdahl Corporation
121:Amdahl Corporation
1124:978-1-4503-4742-6
592:Digital Library.
357:and was named an
239:Gene Myron Amdahl
236:
235:
177:Scientific career
72:November 10, 2015
57:November 16, 1922
1278:
1157:IBM 7030 Stretch
1129:
1128:
1102:
1096:
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1093:
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1082:. Archived from
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1064:. Archived from
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1038:. Archived from
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401:operating system
253:. He formulated
222:Doctoral advisor
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189:Computer science
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1173:Ramo-Wooldridge
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1115:10.1145/1324499
1103:
1099:
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1086:on May 10, 2019
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1068:on May 9, 2008.
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662:Amdahl, Gene M.
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586:Gustafson's law
529:
487:Xbridge Systems
471:Robert F. Brown
451:Trilogy Systems
447:
431:Daniel Slotnick
394:plug-compatible
375:
334:Ramo-Wooldridge
324:, and then the
314:
294:Robert G. Sachs
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227:Robert G. Sachs
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88:Alma mater
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977:New York Times
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1177:Aeronutronic
1106:
1100:
1088:. Retrieved
1084:the original
1074:
1066:the original
1056:
1044:. Retrieved
1040:the original
1030:
1013:
1009:
1003:
994:
985:
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949:
937:. Retrieved
933:berleley.edu
932:
919:
907:. Retrieved
903:
893:
884:
878:
868:November 10,
866:. Retrieved
846:
839:
829:December 29,
827:. Retrieved
820:the original
803:
793:December 29,
791:. Retrieved
784:the original
767:
737:(3): 10–16.
734:
730:
724:
714:November 15,
712:. Retrieved
699:
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684:December 29,
682:. Retrieved
678:11299/104341
661:
602:Amdahl's law
575:
568:
553:
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498:
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421:At the 1967
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338:Aeronutronic
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255:Amdahl's law
238:
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208:
195:Institutions
186:Entrepreneur
176:
125:Amdahl's law
74:(2015-11-10)
18:
1226:IBM Fellows
1201:2015 deaths
1196:1922 births
1090:January 26,
1046:January 16,
904:clemson.edu
584:(known for
549:alma maters
416:disk drives
25:Gene Amdahl
1190:Categories
624:References
533:IBM Fellow
483:System/390
429:architect
359:IBM Fellow
53:1922-11-16
39:UW–Madison
1016:(1): 29.
751:1098-4232
427:ILLIAC IV
365:(ACS) in
298:doctorate
285:in 1948.
119:Founding
939:June 13,
909:June 13,
863:19918241
759:42621761
680:. OH 107
664:(1989).
596:See also
330:IBM 7030
140:Children
1165:IBM 704
1161:IBM 701
562:by the
387:Fujitsu
336:and at
326:Stretch
322:IBM 709
318:IBM 704
111:, 1952)
98:, 1948)
1179:, and
1163:, and
1121:
861:
757:
749:
320:, the
292:under
215:(1953)
213:
204:Thesis
183:Fields
166:(1967)
160:Awards
132:Spouse
82:, U.S.
63:, U.S.
929:(PDF)
851:(PDF)
823:(PDF)
812:(PDF)
787:(PDF)
776:(PDF)
755:S2CID
578:SIGDA
463:Elxsi
1153:WISC
1119:ISBN
1092:2017
1048:2008
941:2019
911:2019
870:2016
859:OCLC
831:2016
795:2016
747:ISSN
716:2016
686:2016
459:VLSI
275:Navy
69:Died
47:Born
1111:doi
1018:doi
739:doi
674:hdl
617:FUD
590:ACM
398:MVS
381:in
312:IBM
281:at
247:IBM
245:at
109:PhD
1192::
1175:,
1159:,
1147:,
1117:.
1109:.
1014:59
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993:.
975:.
957:.
931:.
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753:.
745:.
735:12
733:.
672:.
653:^
643:.
632:^
496:.
407:.
389:.
369:.
261:.
107:;
105:MS
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