Mark Smotherman
last updated November 24, 2020
This page is designed to collect information on ACS veterans, how ACS fit into their careers, and what happened to them in the years since the project ended. I'm trying to include short bios and links to any web pages.
Anyone who would like to participate can email me a short bio (say 100 words or so) and I will include it. If anyone sees errors or omissions in their bio or in others, please let me know.
"Joined IBM in Poughkeepsie after graduating from the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss), BSEE in 1960. Worked on the 7080, 7010 projects and in 1964 joined the mod91 project. In 1967 transfered to ACS in California. In 1969 joined the San Jose Development Lab and was engineering manager of the BART project. In 1970 was named Sloan Fellow at the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University. In 1972 returned to the San Jose Lab and managed several development projects and later was Director of the Los Gatos Development Lab. In 1979 left IBM on a two year sailing adventure. In 1981 joined Amdahl Corporation and was VP of Product Development. In 1985 joined Adaptec and for 12 years served as President, COO, CEO and Chairman. Retired to Florida in 1997. Currently serve on the board of Adaptec, MMC Network and The Tech Museum of San Jose."
"Adler's story began in the mid-1950s. The young teenager participated in an uprising against the Communist tyranny in Hungary. When Russian tanks rolled in, Adler and others fled the country. Penniless, he was rescued and brought to the United States. While staying at a camp and studying English, Adler learned of a scholarship offered by the university. He boarded a train and came here from the East Coast in 1956. Upon his arrival, he was warmly welcomed by a group of UM students and administrators. After hearing his story, the Oxford and Ole Miss community made collections in churches and community gatherings to fund a generous scholarship. Adler was immensely moved by this outpouring of love and concern. Earning his bachelor's degree in electrical engineering in 1960, Adler began working for IBM. In 1979, he became manager of the company's high-end disk drive controller laboratory. From 1981 to 1985, Adler held various senior level positions at Amdahl Corp., a key competitor of IBM founded by former IBM employees. He joined Adaptec as president in 1985 and was appointed CEO in 1986. In 1990, he was appointed chairman of the company's board of directors." [from Univ. of Mississippi press release]
From her 2003 biography at IBM:
"Ms. Allen is an expert in the field of optimizing compilers. As a pioneer in compiler organization and optimization algorithms, she has made seminal contribution to the science. Her work on inter procedural analysis and automatic parallelization continue to be on the leading edge of compiler research. She has successfully reduced this science to practice through the transfer of this technology to products such as the STRETCH HARVEST Compiler, the COBOL Compiler, and the Parallel FORTRAN Product.
In the past 40 years of computing, computers have shrunk, networks have expanded and new languages have emerged -- and Fran Allen has watched it all firsthand. Forty years ago, Allen was a math teacher looking to pay off college debt with a job at IBM. Today, she is part of 'one of the most amazing periods in computing ever.' Following completion of her master's degree in math at the University of Michigan in 1957, Allen joined the IBM Research division to teach FORTRAN to other researchers. 'At the time, FORTRAN was revolutionary and a very exciting breakthrough in computing,' she says, amazed at how far computer languages have come. 'Java is fascinating; it's a paradigm that matches the new network computing opportunities.' Since the early 1960s, Allen, a scientist at IBM's T. J. Watson Research Center in Hawthorne, New York, has focused her attention on compilers and high-performance computing systems. Her pioneering compiler work culminated in algorithms and technologies that are the basis for the theory of program optimization today and are widely used throughout the industry. She is now launching a study on compilers with new systems and problems and exploring their uses. According to Allen, 'The convergence of computing, communications, and digitization of information is letting us create new solutions in new ways. Computer languages and their compilers are a key to making this work.'
Allen was not the first woman at IBM Research; in fact, she was one of many. 'Later, as computing emerged as a specialized field, employers began to require engineering credentials, which traditionally attracted few women. But the pendulum is swinging back as women enter the field from other areas such as medical informatics, user interfaces and computers in education.'
When she's not exploring new computing opportunities, Allen's passions are climbing mountains and studying environmental issues. She's a member of the American Alpine Club and the Alpine Club of Canada, particpating in exploratory expeditions to the Artic and on the Chinese/Tibet border."
pages on Fran Allen from other web sites:
Dr. Amdahl was born November 16, 1922. He taught electronics in the U.S. Navy during World War II. He received his BSEP (Engineering Physics) from South Dakota State University in 1948 and his Doctor of Philosophy in Theoretical Physics from the University of Wisconsin in 1952. His thesis described a computer he designed in 1950 called the WISC (Wisconsin Integrally Synchronized Computer), built by EE grad students and now in the Computer History Museum.
Dr. Amdahl joined IBM in June 1952 and headed development of the IBM 704 followed by the complete planning of the IBM 709 and STRETCH (IBM 7030) before leaving IBM in December 1955. After working at Ramo Wooldridge and at Aeronutronic, he returned to IBM in September 1960. He then headed the architectural and data flow planning for the IBM System 360 product line, the Models 20, 30, 40, 55, 65, 75 and 95. He headed the Advanced Computing Systems laboratory in Menlo Park until he left IBM September 1970 to found Amdahl Corporation.
Dr. Amdahl was president and chairman of Amdahl Corporation, during which time the world's first large scale integrated circuitry was developed using ECL, permitting Amdahl Corporation to capture a significant share of the mainframe market with its 470 series followed by its 5800 series. He left Amdahl Corporation in August 1979.
In 1980, Dr. Amdahl co-founded Trilogy Systems Corporation to produce fault tolerant wafer-scale chips and a high-performance CPU. The concepts were proven but the cost projections were excessive, so Trilogy acquired Elxsi in 1985 for its principal computer system entry.
Andor International, Ltd. was founded by Dr. Amdahl in 1987 to continue innovations in technology. Andor specialized in the design, manufacture, and marketing of unique IBM-compatible products designed to improve the efficiency, performance, access, capacity, and protection of programs and data.
In August 1994, Dr. Amdahl co-founded Commercial Data Services, Inc. (CDS). CDS is a development stage company with plans to design a computer with the power and functionality of traditional mainframe at a comparable size and serviceability of smaller personal computers and network servers.
Dr. Amdahl was named an IBM Fellow in 1965, became a member of the National Academy of Engineering in 1967 and was recognized as the Centennial Alumnus of South Dakota State University in 1986. He has numerous awards and patents to his credit and has received Honorary Doctorates from his two alma matters and two other institutions as well.
Perhaps the best of many interesting magazine articles on Amdahl and Amdahl Corporation: "Gene Amdahl Takes Aim at IBM," Fortune, Sept. 1977, p. 106+. (discusses IBM's mainframe pricing policies of the late 60s and tendency of IBM's components division to favor broad need over high-performance; also contains a description and photos of Amdahl LSI circuits)
pages on Gene Amdahl from other web sites:
Dick Arnold was born in Berkeley, California, January 15, 1934. He died at his home in Palo Alto on Mother's Day May 11, 1997, at the age of 63 of pancreatic cancer.
Dick had a BA degree in clinical psychology from UC Berkeley, an MS in statistics from Michigan State University and a PhD in computer science from the University of Michigan. He worked as a computer scientist with IBM in San Jose and at Palo Alto. He was a particularly creative programmer and problem solver and an expert in data base systems.
For his military service he studied Chinese at the US Army language school in Monterey before serving in Japan as an analyst. He was a fervent Bible student, published in the field of genealogy, and was an accomplished Midi Keyboard player.
Dick is survived by his wife of 39 years, Diane, his sons, Richard and James, and grandchildren Elliott, Ashley and Emily.
(many thanks to Harwood Kolsky for collecting this biography of Dick Arnold)
James Calhoun Beatty, Jr. joined IBM in 1957, and started working at the research division on Boardman Rd, Poughkeepsie, NY. In those early years, he and Fran Allen who had joined IBM there the same year, began collaborating.
He took a leave of absence to travel and study mathematics and philosophy in Germany in 1960. Upon his return, he relocated to the then-new Thomas J. Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights. (In addition, he attended Columbia University Teachers College part-time during the early 1960s.)
Mr. Beatty was assigned to the ACS project based in Menlo Park, CA, in June, 1965. In May, 1968 he shared an IBM Outstanding Contribution Award with John Cocke and Fran Allen for their work developing highly efficient code with applications in super-computing. The award was entitled "Algorithms for Optimizing Compilers."
He studied towards his doctorate in mathematics and computer science at Stanford University from 1965-1972. He was born in Birmingham, AL. Class valedictorian in his high school in Vicksburg, MS, he went on to attend the University of Michigan, where he received his B.S. and M.S. degrees in Mathematics; he was recruited by IBM on the Michigan campus. He died in December 1978, shortly before a planned foreign assignment to Stockholm, Sweden.
A description of his management style and the story of his efforts within the company on behalf the America project (RS/6000) is contained in chapter 9 of Paul Carroll, Big Blues: The Unmaking of IBM, Crown Publishers, 1993, pp. 197-213.
Pugh, 1995, p. 311:
Built under the leadership of John E. Bertram, who had proposed the plan
for shifting from FS [Future System] back to 360-370 architecture, the 3033
lived up to its billing and successfully blocked Amdahl's effort to dominate
the high end of the mainframe computer business.
Pugh, 1995, p. 391, note 23:
In recognition of his contributions, IBM established the internal
John E. Bertram Award for Sustained Technical Excellence. The first
recipient of the award was John Cocke in 1990.
"I worked for Bill Wissick & BJ Mooney at IBM's San Jose Facility prior to the ACS project & transferred there not too long after they joined ACS working for Leon Willette in chip layout.
When the project was closed down I returned to Design Service (board & chip layout) at the IBM San Jose facility.
After IBM bought ROLM Systems, I transfered to their Santa Clara facility (with John Dyson) to work in Product Documentation.
I was sold along with others in the ROLM division when it was sold to Siemens. I worked there for a year or so more before they no longer needed my services. Due to my longevity with IBM prior to going to Siemens, I was able to rejoin IBM for a day so that I could retire from IBM in April 1991.
I have principally worked or consulted with media businesses doing all sorts of computer work to this day. After retiring from IBM, my first such job was 2 years at the Las Vegas Review-Journal & Las Vegas Sun while they were converting to computerized production."
From biography at El Dorado Ventures:
"Fred Buelow was VP of Technology at Hal Computers, a SPARC-based workstation manufacturer. Previously, he was co-founder and Chairman of Aida Corp., which was acquired by Teradyne Corp, and served as President of STC Computer Research and President of Microtechnology Corp. He has also held senior positions with Amdahl Corp. and IBM. Fred received a BSEE from City College of New York."
From biography at Chinese University of Hong Kong:
"Professor Chen Tien Chi is Emeritus Professor in Computer Science and Engineering of The Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Professor Chen obtained the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Physics from Duke University in USA in 1957. Since then he joined IBM in the United States and had rendered over two decades of outstanding service. In 1979, Professor Chen joined the Chinese University's Department of Electronics as Visiting Professor, and took up positions as Professor of Computer Science and Electronics and Chairman of the Department of Computer Science. From 1980 to 1988, he became Head of United College of the University.
Since his retirement in 1992, Professor Chen Tien Chi has remained active in his contribution and service to the Chinese University. Since 1998, the Office of University General Education of the University has been privileged to benefit from Professor Chen's guidance through his capacity as Visiting Professor. Professor Chen taught various courses and advised on the curriculum development for the Office, widening the horizons of students of the University.
A prominent figure in computer research, development and application, Professor Chen is a highly respected member in the professional field. He is Fellow of the Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), member of the Chinese Language Computer Society and the American Physical Society. In addition, Professor Chen has won numerous accolades for his outstanding contributions. He was awarded the Centennial Medal of IEEE, two IBM Outstanding Contribution Awards and five IBM Invention Achievements Awards."
To give you a picture of the way John operates:
-- project member
The above quote undoubtedly overstates the 90%, but it is a testimony to
the respect and fondness that project members had for John Cocke.
John was an eccentric genius, bubbling with ideas. At points in his IBM
career he was assigned handlers to accompany him and try to capture at
least some of the torrent of ideas.
In his Turing Award paper in 1988, he said that ACS "was probably the most
exciting project I have ever been involved in." During the project, "I
learned the importance of not including hardware features that the compiler
could not use and including hardware facilities to allow efficient
compilation." This directly led to his work on the IBM 801 and the RISC
instruction set design philosophy that impacted microprocessors in the
1980s.
You need to understand the absolutely central role of John Cocke.
90% of the ACS machine came out of his head....
John gets a brilliant idea and runs to the appropriate person's
office. Halfway through explaining the idea,
John gets a brilliant idea and runs to the appropriate person's
office.
John Cocke first joined IBM in 1956 after receiving his Ph.D. degree in mathematics from Duke University. He first worked on the IBM Stretch computer under Stephen Dunwell, where he and Harwood Kolsky constructed a crucial simulator that permitted the Stretch team explore organization options. John joined Project Y in (yr.?) and worked with Fran Allen, another Stretch veteran, on an optimizing compiler. He also contributed greatly to the architecture of what became the ACS. After ACS, John went on to work on the streamlined IBM 801 minicomputer and PL.8 compiler, and then to contribute to the IBM Cheetah/America processor designs that lead to the IBM RS/6000 and PowerPC processors. He has received many honors, including IBM Fellow (1972), the ACM/IEEE Computer Society Eckert-Mauchly Award (1985), the ACM Turing Award (1987), Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Medal of Technology (1991), and the National Medal of Science (1994).
See also the Harwood Kolsky interview on memories of John Cocke
pages on John Cocke from other web sites:
"I was a team member working on the ACS project from March of `68 to its conclusion as a Senior Tool & Model Maker. I continued with IBM there in Menlo Park assigned to Head Technology, the Winchester Head/Arm Development which moved to San Jose, then into thin film head/arm development. I then did stints in Cost Engineering, Procurement Manufacturing Engineering, Disk Test Engineering and then into Engineering Management in Circuit Technology Process Engineering. Over the years I became a Certified Manufacturing Engineer with SME and a Registered Professional Engineer with the State of California. I left IBM in July of `82 as a Cofounder and the Manager of Manufacturing of Lanx Corporation. Subsequently I have been involved in the formation and development of a number of other businesses. I still am actively involved in five businesses and in the development of an Industrial Park with an integrated Trade School."
"I was very fortunate to have had the opportunity to join "Project Y" at IBM Research when I was just out of grad school at Columbia. Working on the ACS architecture team was an incredible intellectual experience for me. For such a junior person, the chance to work with John Cocke, Fran Allen, Herb Schorr, Ed Sussenguth, Dick Arnold, Charlie Freiman, Don Rozenberg and all the other talented people was thrilling for me. The stimulating interactions and the high level of creativity of that team still stand out vividly in my memory. For a few years, it was as intense a place to be as the one I found later in my career: Xerox PARC.
It was a very big letdown for me when the ACS-1 machine was canceled. For other personal reasons, I had to leave IBM in the fall of '68. Casting about for another company to work for, I joined Memorex Corporation later on in '69, eventually becoming CPU architect for the Memorex 30 System (a System-3 competitor). Then Memorex left the computer business.
In '73 I joined Xerox PARC, initially working on the system architecture of a compound OCR/FAX system. That project was canceled in '75, and so, including ACS, that was now three strikes! I was really wondering where my career was headed!
Then my PARC lab manager Bert Sutherland introduced me to his brother Ivan and to Carver Mead, at Caltech, who were theorizing about the potential of VLSI. Mead and I teamed-up to innovate, simplify and formalize new methods for VLSI system design, publishing it as a text in '80. It sold over 70,000 copies, and had lots of impact on the industry and in the universities. I also invented, prototyped and demonstrated a new infrastructure for QTA chip prototyping that was transferred to USC-ISI to become the MOSIS system. MOSIS has supported university and research chip-design prototyping in the U.S. ever since.
I joined DARPA in '83 to lead the planning of DARPA's Strategic Computing Initiative. Instead of going back to PARC after my DARPA tour, I joined the University of Michigan as Associate Dean of Engineering and Professor of EECS in 1985. Partly this was a move to break out of the Bay Area, and "get a life", which I finally managed to do. I've just stepped down from active faculty status here at Michigan, as Professor Emerita of EECS.
Looking back, it seems as though each of those project cancellations were really blessings in disguise, for me! I've had the chance to move from great team project to great team project, and have worked with, and shared some great adventures with, many wonderful people along the way."
Lynn has won many awards for her work, including the Electronics Award for Achievement, election as a Fellow of the IEEE, the Wetherill Medal of the Franklin Institute, the Pender Award of the Univ. of Pennsylvania, the National Achievement Award of the Society of Women Engineers, the Secretary of Defense Meritorious Achievement Award, recognition as Xerox Research Fellow, an honorary doctorate from Trinity College, the Computer Pioneer Award of the IEEE Computer Society, election to the Electronic Design Hall of Fame, and election to the National Academy of Engineering.
Recent news on IBM awarding Lynn an IBM Lifetime Achievement Award: Jeremy Alicandri, "IBM Apologizes For Firing Computer Pioneer For Being Transgender...52 Years Later," Forbes, November 18, 2020.
For more information about Lynn, see:
pages on Lynn Conway from other web sites:
From 2003 biography at Tessera:
"Philip S. Dauber, Ph.D. has served as a member of our board of directors since August 1999. Since 1989, Dr. Dauber has been an independent consultant who has acted as an interim executive or board member for various technology companies, including Acting Chief Executive Officer for IQI from February 1997 to August 1997, Chief Operating Officer for HAL Computer Systems Ltd from February 1991 to August 1992, Chief Executive Officer for nCHIP Inc. from February 1989 to December 1990, Chief Executive Officer for Key Computer Service, Inc. from April 1988 to February 1989. Dr. Dauber was a Senior Vice President at Unisys Corporation from May 1981 to December 1987 and was Chief Executive Officer of Memorex Products, Inc., a subsidiary of Unisys Corp., from May 1984 to December 1986. He received a B.S.E. in electrical engineering and an M.A. and a Ph.D. in communications sciences from the University of Michigan. "
[Bob] served in the Army both in Europe and Japan during WW2. A graduate of Syracuse University, he began his career with IBM Poughkeepsie in 1951. With the Advanced Computing Team, he was recruited to San Jose in 1965 to work on IBM's defining mainframe project, the System 360. Among his many career achievements, he patented with Bob Lloyd a thin film decoupling capacitor incorporated in an integrated circuit chip and process. Bob was instrumental in one of the 20th century's most famous cases of industrial espionage when Fujitsu and Hitachi illegally obtained IBM's source code (see "The Japanese Conspiracy," Congressional Journal, Jul. 12, 1989 and "How IBM Stung Hitachi," Fortune, Mar. 7, 1983). He was CEO of a startup, partner in Palyn Associates, a consultant, and a venture capitalist before retiring in 2000. [excepts from his obituary]
Charles served in the US Marine Corp. in WWII in the South Pacific. Charles was a mechanical & electrical engineer, he worked for American Standard, GE and IBM the majority of his career. IBM transferred the family to CA in 1965. Charles started his own company, AMACOM that was acquired by Thomas & Betts. Charles has numerous patents. Charles retired working for Rohm, that was acquired by IBM. [excerpt from obituary]
"Up to his retirement in 1996 as Corporate Vice President and General Manager of the Desktop Networks Business Unit of Standard Microsystems Corporation (NASDAQ: SMSC), Paul Duggan had been with this business operation since its inception in 1986 as the Local Area Network (LAN) Business Unit of Western Digital. As General Manager, he brought the business from new product introduction to $ 30 million, $ 60 million, $ 90 million and $ 120 million in four successive years. Prior to its acquisition, it was the most profitable Business Unit of Western Digital (NYSE: WDC). He had profit/loss and direct management responsibility for marketing, engineering, and support, and was responsible for directing worldwide manufacturing.
In mid-1990, Duggan restructured the LAN Business Unit and positioned it for sale to Standard Microsystems Corporation (SMC). He worked with outside consultants and WD's finance organization on valuation, strategy, and identification of prospective acquirers. He also developed and organized the new business entity, and worked to close the deal.
Considered one of those rare mergers/acquisitions which succeeds, SMC's Desktop Networks Business Unit has introduced major new Ethernet, Fast Ethernet and Token Ring product lines, and more than doubled its revenue and profit since October 1991. Staffing and investment have grown by a similar amount. He was promoted to Corporate Vice President of SMC in 1995.
Before joining Western Digital, Duggan was a marketing executive with Sytek, now Hughes LAN Systems, a major local area network manufacturer. At Sytek, he managed their personal computer broadband network products based upon CATV technology. He was an early pioneer of Ethernet on broadband.
Prior to that, he co-founded and for three years managed development and marketing at California Network Systems, a venture-funded start-up focusing on the LAN-IBM mainframe connectivity market. During a twenty year career at I. B. M., he held various management and technical positions in engineering and marketing focusing on LAN server products, computer and storage subsystems development.
Duggan has a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from Texas Tech (1963), a Master of Science degree in Applied Mathematics from Santa Clara University (1970), a Bachelor of Arts degree With Great Distinction in Philosophy and Psychology from San Jose State University (1980), and has completed his academic work toward a Master of Science in Clinical Psychology there.
He currently consults to the computer industry on issues of marketing, venture investment and mergers/acquisitions. He is an officer and board member of Truckee Sunrise Rotary and has served as a volunteer and board member of child abuse prevention agencies. He has extensive experience in counseling and group leadership.
Duggan has two daughters and a grandson. He and his wife, Karen Meyer, reside in Truckee, California."
"I joined IBM in early 1954, and after manufacturing and development engineering assignments in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., I left IBM and re-joined them again in 1959 at San Jose Ca. as a Sr. Engineering Designer specializing in printed-circuits technology and developing that type of support capability for the various projects there.
In 1966 I was invited by Dr. E. Leon Willete to interview for a position doing physical design of VLSI chips for the ACS program. I was accepted and had a hand in all 40 of the ACS chip designs, either as designer or design checker. Other engineers eventually joined the physical design activity, and my role was expanded to include engineering liaison with Advanced Precision Graphics (under W.M. (Bill) Sousa in GPD S.J.) and Motorola IC Engineering and Processing. Souza's group did pioneering work in artwork photo-plotters and the work-product was the actual high precision masks to process the chips thru the manufacturing stages.
Our IC physical design activity required efficient MANUAL device-(transistor element) placement and wiring. In lieu of automated capability (which was always 'coming soon'), all the wiring-path elements and IR drops had to be manually calculated. The work was done at either 1000x or 400x actual size. No commercial workstations or digitizers were in existence then, so the creative people in the department used IBM 1130 control units as processors and rigged up Cal Comp output plotters as input digitizing devices by modifying the wiring and using home-built 'joystick' controllers, to input images thru the 1130's and into an attached IBM keypunch. Over 40 complex designs were successfully completed, assisted by this home grown technology!
A legacy of additional benefit to IBM was realized as a result of the ACS need for extreme precision in the photo-plotter, photo reduction equipment, materials technology and handling. The expertise gained was directly translatable in that it enabled significant advances in IBM Disk File products DENSITY. This legacy provided new support for miniaturized read-write circuitry, thin film heads, and digital servo capability. This kept IBM in a lead position in the very profitable Disk File products business!! I found myself busy in related work in this area, including an assignment bringing surface-mount component technology to ROLM/Siemens telephone systems, until shortly before my return to IBM and eventual retirement!"
John G. Earle graduated from Columbia University in 1958. After a year with Underwood Research Labs, he joined IBM Poughkeepsie in 1959. He held a wide range of technical assignnments primarily associated with unit logic, logic technology, logic automation, and computer system design. He served in the role of an IBM consultant across a wide range of processor and channel designs, leading up to, and including, the IBM S/360 line. He held technical responsibility for the design and implementation of the S/360 Model 91 processor.
In 1965, Mr. Earle was awarded a Sloan Engineering Fellowship at the MIT Center for Advanced Engineering Studies. Subsequently, he was appointed Manager of Technical Planning of IBM Advanced Computer Systems. He was appointed to the position of Computing System Adviser, Center for Scientific Studies, FSD, in March 1969, and he assumed the role of Manager of Architecture and Engineering Development, Special Processor System, in June 1969.
Later, Mr. Earle had overall responsibility for the processor and subsystem design for the Future Systems Architecture.
Mr. Earle was the author of The Logic Design of Transistor Digital Computers, which was published by Prentice Hall in 1963, and which became a classic in its field. He lectured extensively and held numerous Outstanding Contribution and Invention Achievement awards from IBM.
Mr. Earle is perhaps best remembered for developing the Earle latch, a technique in pipelining that adds a latch to existing logic with little overhead and no delay. (J.G. Earle, "Latched Carry-Save Adder", IBM Technical Disclosure Bulletin, Vol. 7, pp. 909-910, March 1965.)
From biography at Graphnet:
"Mr. Yaakov Elkon has led Graphnet for nearly two decades through his focused vision, his strong leadership, an unmatched sense of business & work ethics, and a lifetime of expertise in computer-based telecommunication systems. Mr. Elkon became CEO of the company in 1989 and provided the foundation that has allowed Graphnet to emerge as a global leader in the information transport industry. Under his guidance, Graphnet has come to specialize in systems integrations, developing unique solutions for Fortune 1000 clients over its proprietary voice and data IP network. As a result of Mr. Elkon's dedication, Graphnet's reputation as a well-respected and professional business-solutions provider continues today.
Prior to joining Graphnet, Mr. Elkon served as the Vice President of Messaging for Sprint Corporation. Before joining Sprint, he had a successful career at IBM for over 18 years first as a Senior Architect for large-scale systems then moving onto several managerial roles in Business Development with the Latin America & the Far East division. Mr. Elkon received BSc & MSc degrees in Aeronautics & Astronautics as well as an ScD degree in Computer Science - all from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology."
"I joined IBM in 1957 after graduating from Holy Cross and Columbia Business School. Worked in corporate and headquarters finance and joined ACS in 1966 as Lab Controller until '71 at which time I returned to the New York area and joined IBM World Trade-Americas/Far East. Retired in 1988. Became Development Director for a non-profit 'need base' scholarship fund."
"I was a Sr. Associate Programmer in Poughkeepsie System Manufacturing Division in February 1967 when my manager asked if I would like a 3 month temporary assignment in Menlo Park. Poughkeepsie was to be the PLANT OF MANUFACTURING for the ACS System.
I accepted and was in Menlo Park by Mid-March 1967.
When I arrived the there was one other programmer on board, an SE from CO. Our assignment was to develop the software to control the Chip Placement, Wiring of the modules and drilling the vias and open-short testing of the boards using an IBM 1800 Process Control Computer.
Since I had never seen an 1800, I went to IBM School in SF for 1 month. The SE left the project in disgust over technical problems when the 1800 arrived.
I recruited 3 programmers from IBM Service Bureau SBC to do the conversion of Engineering Data to Manufacturing Data. I also recruited 2 more programmers from Poughkeepsie to do the computer controlled 1800 software. In March 1968 I was asked to permanently transfer to the ACS Project and in June 1968 I was appointed first line manager with responsibility for the Manufacturing Software and the Pilot Line. The Pilot Line consisted of the 4 women that did the manual module/board assembly and operated the Pilot Line Equipment.
We had the x-y tables under computer control by Aug. 1967 and running the Drilling and Open Short Testing of boards by Sep. 1967.
The automated Chip Placement/Bonding project was dropped and the wiring remained manual due to problems automating the process. A second shift of assemblers was added in early 1968.
When the project was cancelled the 2nd shift Pilot Line Manager was one of the first to be placed in a new assignment so I inherited the 2nd shift crew. So in addition to the 10 Programmers I had 14 Woman Assemblers to place in new assignments. The re-assignments of the assemblers went quite well. I and the 7 permanent programmers transferred to SAN JOSE with responsibility for developing Computer Controlled Automated Equipment for Magnetic Head/Disk/Read-Write Electronics DEVELOPMENT. I held various positions as a Programming or Microcode Manager. I was staff to Jerry Harries the Lab Director 1979-1981.
Later, I was the Test Systems Manager for the 3990 reporting to Billy Joe Mooney June 1985 - November 1988. I returned to San Jose as Engineering Test Manager from Nov 1988 to March 1991 when I left IBM."
Charlie Freiman was born in New York City to John and Zelma Freiman, who had emigrated to the US from Latvia. Recipient of a Pulitzer Scholarship for which he was always grateful, he graduated from Columbia College in 1954 (BA) and 1955 (BS) and from the Columbia University School of Engineering in 1962 (Eng.Sc.D.) He worked for IBM for 30 years, primarily at IBM Research in Yorktown Heights, NY and Menlo Park, CA. He served as Assistant Director of the IBM Japan Science Institute and Manager of the Computer Science Institute in Tokyo, Japan from 1985-1987. From 1990-2002, he was the Executive Director of The Engineering Foundation which ran interdisciplinary conferences all over the world. He and his wife Margaret moved to Hillsborough, NC, in 2006. He passed away on Nov. 9, 2010. [information courtesy of Lynn Conway]
"I graduated from Newark College of Engineering (now New Jersey Institute of Technology) with a BSEE in 1961 and joined IBM in Poughkeepsie working on RAS and performance of real time systems. On a leave of absence, I attended UC Berkeley and received an MA in mathematical statistics in 1965.
I joined ACS in 1967 working in Herb Schorr's organization. Initially I collaborated with Jake Johnson in a machine timer, later as part of the architecture team I worked on the cache design and contributed to several performance algorithms including register rename. I stayed on after the change to ACS 360. I retired from IBM as a senior technical staff member in 1991 having spent most of my IBM career leading system design and math performance analysis organizations.
During the next 12 years, I participated in several Silicon Valley companies, most notable was HAL with Andy Heller and Fred Bulow and Infineon as architecture manager for the Tricore processor.
I currently live in La Quinta, in the southern CA desert, 15 miles east of Palm Springs. Ruth and I continue to enjoy playing competitive tennis and bridge. Summers are spent traveling mostly in the western states and to Hawaii.
We have two married children and two fantastic grandkids. We've had no major illnesses; life has been good to us and we've enjoyed the journey!"
Will A. Hagenlocher passed away March 2005 in Cupertino; "The tool-and-die worker, who was a community volunteer, started his own business, Hagi, manufacturing plastic tweezers for commercial use, and got a job with IBM. He retired after 24 years as a mechanical engineer who learned on the job."
"Robert Raymond Hanko, 78, an early computer engineer and 'moderate residentialist' leader in Palo Alto during the early 1970s, died Dec. 17 [2001] following a year-long illness. ... He joined IBM in 1948 as an engineer, but moved into the company's training program, ultimately becoming manager of the Systems Analysis Program in the San Jose plant. He proposed and designed IBM's pioneering 'Excellence Program,' a precursor to quality-assurance programs throughout the industry."
From biographical note at cap-lore.com:
"My first real job was at Livermore. Thanks mostly to Livermore I encountered a bunch of early computers. Here are notes on some of those machines by Seymour Cray and more from IBM, and how they divided.
Later I was at Tymshare where we did several interesting things such as Tymnet. We also did major enhancements to available operating systems:
Norm was a Senior Programmer for ACS, "concentrating upon operating system design."
Norm's CV.
from 1992:
H. Graham Jones is Executive Director of the New York State Science and Technology Foundation, a government agency that sponsors the development and application of new technology and encourages entrepreneurship in New York State. Mr. Jones earned his bachelor's and master's degrees in the natural sciences from Cambridge University and pursued further graduate work in physics at Cornell. Coming to government from a career of over thirty years in the computer industry, Mr. Jones played a lead role in the development and marketing of IBM's early scientific computers, the System/360, and special-purpose computers for military and space applications. In his present position, he administers programs that sponsor research and development in government and industry and that provide financing and consultation to small technology-based companies in New York.
"Dr. Kolsky is a retired IBM Fellow from the Palo Alto Scientific Center. He is a physicist who became a computer scientist when that field was new. He received his B.S. degree in engineering physics from the University of Kansas and his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in physics from Harvard,
After seven years at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, Dr. Kolsky joined IBM in 1957 in Poughkeepsie as a member of the product planning group for the STRETCH (IBM 7030) computer. He then became assistant manager of an IBM Federal Systems office in Omaha, Nebraska, and later was at FSD headquarters, before being named manager of the systems science department at the San Jose Research Laboratory.
He joined the Palo Alto Scientific Center when it was formed in 1964 as manager of the atmospheric physics group. Later he headed projects in programming languages and digital image processing. Dr. Kolsky was named an IBM Fellow in 1969. He served on the Corporate Technical Committee at Armonk, and for many years headed the board of consultants for the IBM European Scientific Centers.
In 1985 he came to the new University of California, Santa Cruz, computer engineering board of studies as a visiting professor. In 1986 he retired from IBM and began a new career as a full-time professor at UCSC."
He retired from UCSC in 1996.
See also the Harwood Kolsky interview on memories of John Cocke
John was born and raised in New York. After graduating from Albany Academy he served 2 years in the Navy. He played varsity football in 1950 and 1951 and graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He and Marion moved to San Jose in 1959, where he continued his life-long career with IBM. [excerpt from obituary]
Dr. Jan J. Laskowski retired in 2002 as a Senior Technical Staff Member in Storage Subsystems Engineering at IBM in San Jose, CA. He was responsible for the field reliability of High Availability, Disk Storage Subsystems.
ACS involvement was in the area of the prevention of electrostatic discharge from flowing dielectric coolants.
Past technical assignments include storage subsystem project management; hard disk drive development; magnetic recording head development; magnetic head corrosion and environmental interaction; laboratory simulation of air pollution environments; printed circuit card process development; semiconductor packaging development; semiconductor yield modeling and management; magnetic bubble reliability; III-V compounds reliability and lifetime.
Prior to San Jose, Dr. Laskowski worked for IBM in Poughkeepsie, NY, Endicott, NY, and Manassas, VA.
Dr. Laskowski holds a PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Minnesota and a BS in Chemical Engineering from Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute (NY), now the Polytechnic Institute of NYU.
Bill Madden was born in 1931. He graduated from the University of Arkansas at Fayettville in 1956 and joined IBM in June as a junior engineer. He spent eleven years in large systems, beginning with the engineering design of STRETCH, where he worked for a time with John Cocke and Harwood Kolsky. From 1960 to 1963 he helped plan and develop the Harvest project, S/360 Model 91, and the Parallel Network Digital Computer (PNDC).
He began work on the planning and architecture of ACS in 1966, and the planning and evaluation of storage products in 1968. His whole career was at IBM. He was promoted to Senior Engineer in 1968 and managed modeling and evaluation projects. He retired in July 1987.
He died of cancer in April 1990 at the age of 59. He left his wife, Wilma, and two daughters. Later there were four grandchildren that he never saw.
(many thanks to Harwood Kolsky for providing this biography of Bill Madden)
Marjorie was Executive Assistant to Dr. Gene M. Amdahl from 1967 to 1983.
In about 1975 he was the Microcode Manager of the Tape Mass Storage Subsystem MSS, in Boulder CO. He was appointed Product Manager for the 3880 DASD Subsystem Cache in Tucson, AZ in about 1980. In 1985 he was appointed Product Manager of the 3990 DASD Subsystem. He left IBM in about 1990.
"To coordinate his lab move [to Tuscon], Director Philip Dauber had handpicked engineer Billy Joe Mooney, a former program manager for IBM's 1800 computer and a whirlwind of energy from Idabel, Okla. 'I give my best performance when I've got 15 things in the wind,' Mooney says." [from IBM Tuscon history]
Dan passed away ca. 2004 in Arroyo Grande, CA, from complications from ALS disease.
Bill was a longtime associate of Rodney Bittencurt. Bill retired from IBM in July 1986 from the DAS-IV program.
In 1962 I joined the IBM Service Bureau Corporation, where I eventually led a maintenance group for the IBM Fortran IV compiler and related components, and participated in the development of the IBM 7040 Quiktran Timesharing System. I left SBC in 1965 for Computer Applications Inc., where my work included managing the development of the CALL/360 BASIC compiler, under contract to IBM.
In 1969, I returned to IBM and joined ACS, reporting to Fran Allen, and designed the "machine independent" part of the compiler optimizer.
After ACS was cancelled, I shifted to data base work in the Systems Development Division, heading the FS DB tools group, and then collaborating with Bill Kent to develop new data models (in the context of data dictionary ad-tech).
In 1977 I moved to the IBM Los Angeles Scientific Center, where I designed a new programming language based on a single data model, serving to erase the structural/linguistic split between accessing program-local and database data. Then, when LASC re-oriented to an AI focus, I led a small machine translation research effort. I also played a major role in creating 2 ITL (interdivisional technical liaison) organizations, one for Programming Languages and one for Natural Language Processing, both of which held annual internal conferences for purposes of technology transfer.
When LASC closed in 1990, I transferred to the Palo Alto Scientific Center to manage a small compiler tools group, and, when PASC also closed, joined a compiler group at the Santa Teresa lab to build a major component of a high-level Fortran optimizer for the RS6000.
In 1995 I retired from IBM and went to work for Xerox PARC. There I returned to natural language processing, working first on their XLE parser/generator, and later developing an alternative, faster parser. I also built a discussion list processing system incorporating new methods for visualizing and summarizing email threads. I retired from PARC in 2004. Since then I have continued NLP research, and also have developed software for a volunteer organization.
I have published 16 refereed papers and have 17 patents.
"I had completed a year and a half of Liberal Arts at Washington University in St. Louis, MO when Uncle Sam decided he needed my services in March 1943. I was sent directly from the induction center to the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, NM to the “B” school for Army Air Force Meteorology Program. I arrived a week after classes began and then caught all the childhood diseases that I didn’t get while growing up so I washed out along with 25 others. They didn’t want to lose us so they transferred all of us to the “C” school Meteorology Program at the University of California in Berkeley, CA. Here we managed to get two years of basic engineering credits in nine months. From there I was sent to Palm Springs, CA to get on the job training as a Weather Observer. The day I took the qualifying test for Weather Observer, I was transferred to the Weather Research Station at UCLA to work on the 'SMOG' problem. After four and a half months, I was sent to Harvard University in Cambridge, MA for four months of electronic training on the RAWIN tracking apparatus and then two months at Chanute Field in Illinois to learn Radiosonde equipment. When the war ended, I was doing Radiosonde tests at Muroc, CA for the bombers who would drop the Atomic bombs on Japan (this I did not know until after the bombs were dropped).
After I was discharged, I re-entered Washington University in St. Louis as an electrical engineering student and got my BSEE in June 1948 and then immediately went to work for IBM as a Customer Engineer in St. Louis. Two years later I was transferred to Endicott, NY to be liaison on the IBM 101 Statistical Sorter with the Census Bureau. That led to an assignment on the Magnetic Drum Calculator and I tested the very first IBM 650 System off the assembly line. After five years in Endicott, I was transferred to San Jose, CA to work on the IBM 305 RAMAC (Random Access Method of Accounting and Control) System where I became RAMAC Final Test Manager. My next assignment was developing the IBM 1620 better known as the CADET (Can’t Add Doesn’t Even Try). This led to the design, build, test, and install of the first three Process Control Computers for IBM. The first 1720 System was installed on a Pipe Still unit at American Oil in Whiting, IN. The second 1720 System was installed on a Catalytic Cracker unit at Standard Oil of California in El Segundo, CA. The third 1720 System was installed on a DuPont Model TNT plant in Gibbstown, NJ. All three Systems remained in operation for over five years.
Other assignments included design and test of the IBM 1620 Mod II, the IBM 1800 System, the simulation work on the BART transaction machines which led to the Automatic Teller Machines (ATMs), the design for the wiring diagrams for the Jubilee Printer Systems, and the design of test equipment for the variable frequency oscillator chips.
My work at ACS in Menlo Park was on the automatic machine generated printing of the wiring diagrams.
Starting with my assignment in Menlo Park, I became involved with our local IBM Credit Union. I was involved with the development of the Field Representative program and then elected to the Board of Directors in 1973. I have held office as Vice-Chairman, Treasurer, Secretary, and Chairman as well as Chairman of the Legislative Committee. I developed the ZIPCODE Project which tells us how many Credit Union members we have in each of the 435 Congressional Districts. This allows us to lobby effectively with these legislators. The National Association of Federal Credit Unions named me 'Volunteer of the Year' in 1983. The California Credit Union League honored me as 'Outstanding Volunteer' in 1997 for work on the ZIPCODE Project.
In 1983 I was elected to the Board of Directors of Concordia Publishing House in St. Louis, MO for a six year term at a national convention. Here I was instrumental in developing a PC program for Lutheran Churches to keep track of their members. In 1995 I was elected to the Board of Regents of Concordia University Irvine for a three year term at a national convention, re-elected in 1998, and re-elected again in 2001 to a six year term. During my 12 years on the board, our graduate numbers grew from about 100 to over 600. In 2008 Concordia University Irvine granted me an Honorary Doctor of Laws Degree for my volunteer work with the University and the Lutheran Church as well as the work for the Credit Union.
In 1985 I was elected as a founding member of the San Jose IBM Retirement Club and became President in 1986. I initiated the first Retirement Newsletter and we have not missed a publication every month since then. I am still actively involved as a Past President."
Max Paley was born in Poughkeepsie, NY, in 1927. After completing WW II military service he received his BS in EE from Penn State University in 1949. He joined IBM and rose rapidly in their Engineering organization. He managed IBM's first transistorized computer project, an experimental IBM 608. He was Engineering Manager of IBM's defining computer mainframe project: the System 360. In this capacity he oversaw the implementation of all of the initial models in the System 360 family. In 1965 he became director of IBM's Advanced Computer Systems Lab in Menlo Park, CA.
Paley resigned from IBM in 1970 to become President of Raytheon Data Systems. In 1972 he left RDS to found Palyn Associates, a computer consulting and design services company, with Mike Flynn. Palyn (a conjunction of the two names) included several other partners at various times. Bob Domenico continues to manage Palyn; other partners at one time or another include Bob McClure, Stockton Gaines, Jerry Popek, Charlie Neuhauser, and George Rossmann. Palyn built the EMMY prototype computer and delivered it to Prof. Flynn at Stanford; the design was later sold to ICL who built a commercial version of EMMY under the label ME 29. The ME 29 was a widely used/sold machine in Europe for small commercial applications. Palyn grew to become a well known name in the field, eventually extending its scope to include venture capital management and strategic market planning.
Max Paley died on September 18, 1998, after a short hospitalization.
(many thanks to Mike Flynn for providing this biography of Max Paley)
(From Bob Evans article:) Approached by a Japanese firm to acquire the designs of IBM's planned 308x series, Paley cooperated with the FBI in a sting operation that led to federal indictments against two Japanese firms as well as an out-of-court settlement favorable to IBM in a civil lawsuit.
"I was working on a computational Ph.D. project in Chemical Engineering at Yale when I was introduced to the IBM 602A. I was so impressed with this fantastic machine that I joined the IBM Hartford sales office in 1956 as an Applied Science Rep. After training and working in the field for three years I became New England Manager of Applied Science. After that additional experience in the field I joined the staff and taught at the Executive Development department at Sands Point L.I. From there, I became an Assistant to A.L. Williams, the President of IBM. In 1966 I joined Graham Jones on the ACS Project. We were the Marketing group. After its demise, the rest of my IBM career was with the Programming group in the General Products Division. I retired in 1987 as Senior Planner and consulted with Amdahl Corporation on computer security in military applications. That was my last contact with the world of computing.
Since then, with our four children grown, Sheila (my wife) and I have been immersed in the art world. I was on the Board of the San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art for several years, and Sheila still is. Our art interests have determined our travels and have taken us to bienales in Venice, Kassel and Muenster in Germany, even Havana, as well as frequent trips to New York and LA, always with the focus on art. Initially we were interested in modern works, mostly on paper. Now we are most interested in conceptual works using innovative materials. I guess you could say we have become art junkies."
"After graduating in Mathematics from Imperial College, London in 1957 Brian Randell joined the Atomic Power Division, English Electric Company Ltd., where by 1964 he was head of the Automatic Programming Section, and responsible for the production of a number of compilers, including the Whetstone Algol compiler described in the book 'Algol 6o Implementation' (co-authored with Lawford Russell). In 1964 he joined IBM and worked mainly at the Thomas J. Watson Research Center on the design of an ultra-high-speed computer, and then on an investigation of the design of both the hardware and software of a large multi-processing system.
In 1969 he took up his present position as Professor, and Director of Research, at the Department of Computing Science, University of Newcastle upon Tyne. At Newcastle he has been Principal Investigator on a succession of research projects in reliability and security funded by the Science Research Council (now Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council), the Ministry of Defence, and the European Strategic Programme of Research in Information Technology (ESPRIT), leading the team which first investigated the possibility of software fault tolerance, and introduced the 'recovery block' concept. Subsequent major developments have included the Newcastle Connection, and the prototype Distributed Secure System. Most recently he has had the role of Project Director of the ESPRIT Long Term Research Project on Design for Validation, and of CaberNet, the ESPRIT Network of Excellence on Distributed Computing Systems Architectures. Professor Randell is a Fellow of the British Computer Society, and a Chartered Engineer, and a founding member of IFIP Working Group 10.4 (Dependability and Fault Tolerance). He has published nearly two hundred technical papers and reports, and is co-author or editor of seven books."
"I started with IBM in 1956, fresh out of RPI, with a BS degree in Physics. During my 9 years in Poughkeepsie I worked on several machines including the 750, a machine IBM never produced, the 7090 and finally the Model 50 in the 360 Series. In 1965 I joined the ACS Lab in California and was there until 1969 when I left IBM to start a new computer company called Mascor (Multi Access System Corp.) This was a short-lived venture and when the company folded in 1970 I became a founding partner of Idanta Partners, a national venture capital firm. At Idanta I was involved with the seed capital round in Prime Computer and served on the Board for four years. I left Idanta in 1973 and became an independent consultant to computer companies, users of large systems and venture capital firms looking to invest in the computer technology sector. I continued in this endeavor for 14 years before rejoining Idanta Partners in 1988. During my second stint with Idanta I was involved with the firm's investment in Stac Electronics and served on the Board for a number of years. In 1994 I joined InnoCal, a new venture capital firm, funded by the California State Teachers Pension Fund. I continue as a general partner in the firm today."
Sam was born in Forest Park, Illinois, and worked at IBM in San Jose for 35 years. He passed away in November 2009.
"Since 1988 Herbert Schorr has been Executive Director of the Information Sciences Institute of the University of Southern California. He is a graduate of the City University of New York and received his Ph.D in Electrical Engineering from Princeton University in 1963. He joined IBM after a year each at Cambridge University as a post-doctoral fellow and Columbia University as Assistant Professor. Dr. Schorr's career at IBM included development, research, and corporate planning assignments. Specific positions he has held include: Vice President, Product and Service Planning, Advanced Systems Development Division; Vice President, Systems Research Division; and ES Director, Advanced Systems Enterprise Systems. In his last position at IBM he had product, Marketing, and development responsibilities for AI within IBM, and similar responsibilities for image-enhanced systems."
from an earlier bio:
Dr. Herbert Schorr received his B.EE degree from the City College of New York in 1957 in Electrical Engineering. He did graduate work in Electrical Engineering at Princeton University, receiving the M.A., M.S,., and Ph.D. degrees, the latter in 1962. His thesis, "Towards the Automatic Analysis of Digital Computers," was supervised by Professor E.J. McCluskey. He was an Instructor of Electrical Engineering during the 1961 academic year. During 1962-1963 he was a National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow at Cambridge University, Cambridge, England, where he worked with Professor M.V. Wilkes on the design of systems and software. Upon returning from England. Dr. Schorr taught Computer Science as an Assistant Professor at Columbia University for the year prior to joining IBM.
He joined IBM in May 1964, as a member of the Research Division, Yorktown Heights, New York, working under Dr. John Cocke and Dr. J.E. Betram on Project Y. Project Y was incorporated into the Advanced Computer System Project of SDD in August, 1965, and Dr. Schorr became its Architecture Manager. In June of 1966, he assumed responsibility for the software and became Manager of Architecture and Programming. He assumed his present duties [Director, Computer Sciences Department, IBM Research Division, Yorktown Heights, NY] in June, 1968.
Served as a summer student with Fran Allen at the end of the ACS project.
Born in Guines, Cuba, Hugh obtained his BSEE at University of Havana, Cuba, before arriving at Montreal, Canada. Hugh attended graduate courses at McGill University and later obtained his MSEE from Santa Clara University. Hugh spent the majority of his career at IBM. Some of his highlights at IBM include the design, test and release of the Floating Point Arithmetic Feature for the IBM 650 Computer and IBM RAMAC. He designed the Statistical Key Addressing System for Direct Access Storage Devices. He later turned his efforts to Magnetic Recording and Communication Theory and also designed the Equalizer System for the Apollo Direct Access Storage Device and the Magnetic Recording Read Write Channel for the Hilo ("Sunfish") tape. He retired from IBM in 1983 and in 1990 wrote An Introduction to Direct Access Storage Devices, published through Academic Press. Hugh passed away in 2011.
Later became Manager of Computer Architecture for Amdahl Corp. (passed away)
Jim went to work for INFOREX in Massachusetts. He passed away in the 1980s.
"Edward H. Sussenguth was educated at Harvard College (A.B., 1954), the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.S., 1957), and Harvard University (Ph.D., 1964). Immediately after college he served a three-year tour as a naval officer in the Pacific Fleet. He joined IBM in 1959 in its Research Division where he worked with others on formal description languages and information retrieval.
In 1965 he joined the ACS development team was involved in the architecture and design of a very high performance computer. He remained at ACS until its demise in 1969.
In 1970 he joined the newly formed Communications Systems Division as Director of Architecture and Planning, a position he held until 1981. During that time his responsibilities included the architecture and strategic planning of Systems Network Architecture (SNA), which was the most successful set of computer-terminal networking product in the world.
In 1981 he was appointed an IBM Fellow, the highest technical position in IBM. As a Fellow, one is allowed to work on research projects of one's own choosing; Dr. Sussenguth's fellowship was devoted to high-speed (mega- and giga-bit per second) communications and their architectural and product implications.
In 1989, he was appointed to be the first President of the IBM Academy of Technology, a group of IBM's most highly qualified scientists and engineers. He held that position until he retired in 1990.
In addition to his managerial and executive positions, Dr. Sussenguth has published widely in technical journals and holds twelve patents. He has been an advisor to the National Bureau of Standards and several universities. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE). He received the 1988 Data Communications Interface Award and the 1989 IEEE Simon Ramo Medal, both for 'outstanding leadership in computer networking.' In 1992 he was elected to the National Academy of Engineering."
pages on Ed Sussenguth from other web sites: 1997 Data Communications article
"I joined IBM in 1961 in the Los Angeles area in the Field Engineering Division. I was trained on and supported most of IBM's large mainframes in both hardware and software disciplines. I went to ACS in early 1969 but of course it closed not too long after that. I moved to Poughkeepsie to work on the follow-on computer to ACS. After three years it was obvious that was going to be cancelled as well so I was open to a call from Gordon Gagnon. I was hired by Gordon and started with Amdahl in January of 1973. I was Amdahl employee #387. I left Amdahl in 1984. It was quite a ride."
Chung Wang (same as David Wang?, no information)
David Wang (same as Chung Wang?, no information)
"I joined the Circuit Design department of the ACS project as a Junior Engineer in October of 1965, as it was forming up in California in the Kifer Road, Sunnyvale building, and continued with the project until it was canceled. During that time I worked mostly under John Zasio and developed the 1800 software for the chip and module tester. After ACS was terminated I returned to working in disk storage subsystem development, initially on a project in Menlo Park and then in the San Jose site. I worked on the subsystem architecture and microcode development in a range of positions from developer to manager. Amongst other things I established the lab's Subsystem Architecture Department, managed a RAS organization, managed the Planning Organization, and finally moved into Marketing to provide a bridge to development and technical support roles. After 37 years I retired from IBM in 2002."
"I was a design engineer who worked for Dick McConnell. My group was responsible for designing tooling for ultrasonic bonding of gold plated wires, and gold plated coax. I worked for IBM thirteen years, leaving in June of 1980, taking an engineering position with STC Corp in Louisville, Colorado. I have been living in Redding, Ca for twenty years. I retired in 2000 after working as CEO & Chief Engr. of my Corp (Fara Engineering Inc) since 1989."
Biography from Commercial Data Servers:
Mr. Williams received his undergraduate degree in Industrial Management from the University of Washington and his MBA in Investments and Corporate Finance from the New York University Graduate School of Business in 1968.
After graduation Mr. Williams joined IBM Advanced Computing Systems Group in Menlo Park, California, as the Financial Administrator. Mr. Williams left IBM Corporation to co-found Amdahl Corporation with Gene Amdahl. Since his 1972 departure from Amdahl Corporation, Mr. Williams has founded, co-founded, or was one of the initial investors of over 50 companies in the electronics and health care industries, including Advanced Cardiovascular Systems, Ventritex, Inc., GRID Systems, Viasoft and Netframe.
Mr. Williams currently serves as a Director of the following companies: Retroperfusion Systems, Inc., Neuroperfusion Systems, Image Scans, Inc., and FMX Vision. In addition, Mr. Williams was associated in the founding and financing of two banks: University National Bank and Trust Co. and Silicon Valley Bank.
The combined sales of the 50 companies Mr. Williams has founded, co-founded, or as the initial investor now exceed $2.5 billion. Almost all of the investment activity has been "seed money" or first round financing divided equally between life science and data/information processing.
Of the 50 companies, 15 have failed or were liquidated. Thirteen are now traded on the three national markets as a result of an initial public offering or acquisition. Two more are expected to enter registration during 1995. Discussions are underway which could result in the merger of two others.
Biography from Intellectual Licensing & Capital Group:
"Dr. Wilmuth has been developing software and running his own successful business for over 30 years. Dr. Wilmuth performs management consulting in business and government in the areas of financial analysis, budgeting, human resources, information management, application systems, quantitative analysis and decision-making support. He has developed an extensive corporate financial planning and modeling tool for Silicon Valley companies and performs object-oriented programming in C++, Microsoft SQL Server Database and Windows application development tools. Dr. Wilmuth holds special knowledge in management science in linear/non-linear programming, data analysis, decision analysis, stochastic systems, solution modeling, and related software systems research and development. He earned his Ph.D. in Operations Research from Stanford University and holds a B.S. and an M.S. in EECS from the University of California at Berkeley."
William Wissick received the BSEE and MSEE from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
Bill worked for IBM for 32 years:
Bill then worked for Solectron for ten years (1993 to 2003). He served as Concurrent Engineering Manager with responsibility for program development and sales support and also as Senior Director of Design Engineering at STC with responsibility for design services provided to key US and Canada customers.
Bill retired for good in 2003 and splits his time between Saratoga and Palm Desert, California. In Saratoga he tends an orchard and vegetable gardening, plus various honey-dos. In Palm Desert he volunteers as a math tutor for GED students and as a Coachella for K-6 school programs.
Bill has been married 43 years to the woman he met while at ACS, and they have one son, who is a programmer working on an advanced degree.
From biography at Speeding Edge:
"John Zasio, co-author of 'Right the First Time, A Practical Handbook on High Speed PCB and System Design,' is an industry-recognized expert in high-speed design and serves as a Technical Advisor to Speeding Edge. He has more than 34 years experience in electrical engineering and his expertise spans a broad range of PCB, ASIC, IC, gate array, standard cell, high-speed circuit and power subsystem designs. In addition to serving as a technical advisor to Speeding Edge, Zasio also serves as a Technology Advisor to Caspian Networks where he has been responsible for developing the hardware architecture for the design of a very high-end fiber optics router. He has prepared the technology definition of all PCBs, backplanes, IC packaging, interconnect cables, the power subsystem as well as the electrical design rules. Previously, he served as a Technology Consultant on a number of high speed design projects and was responsible for IC design and packaging, PCB design rules, high-speed circuit design, EMI, power subsystems and testing for a variety of clients including AMP, Hal Computer Systems, Alpine Microsystems, Packetcom and Tyan Computer Systems. His earlier positions include serving as Chief Technologist for Hal Computer Systems; Executive VP of R&D for Aida Corporation; VP of Technology Development for STC Computer Research; VP of Engineering for Microtechnology Corporation; Manager of Electrical Engineering for Amdahl Corp.; Manager of Electrical Engineering for Mascor Corp. and Manager of Circuit Development for IBM Corporation.
Zasio holds a B.S.E.E. from the University of Cincinnati and pursued graduate studies at Syracuse University. He holds 33 patents and also has several pending in the areas of high-speed circuit design, IC design, software design, verification tools, scan-based test methodology, electron beam pattern generation, semiconductor test equipment and hardware simulation accelerators."
from Operational Consulting Group:
"Henry Zauderer President, CEO, and Founder
Before founding the Operational Consulting Group in 1995, Henry Zauderer was a leader at several Fortune 100 companies and was instrumental in critical points of two start-ups. Mr. Zauderer's key focus has been the development of highly profitable products that have generated hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue.
Zauderer was Vice President of Technology and Product Development at Conductus, Inc.; a wireless communications products development company using superconductivity technology.
Prior to Conductus, Zauderer was Director of Storage Products at Compaq Computers, Inc., where teams under his leadership introduced a number of highly profitable and award-winning computer storage products. He also launched a successful storage OEM business which supplied product solutions to other computer manufacturers. Zauderer has also held a number of key management positions at the IBM corporation and at Shugart Associates, a subsidiary of Xerox.
Assignments in his earlier career included founding and leading product assurance, and leading industrial design, components engineering, VLSI development, as well as diagnostic software development.
Zauderer holds a Master's degree in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University and has done advanced studies in strategic planning and technology innovation at the at the California Institute of Technology."
Fran Allen, Gene Amdahl, Stan Anderson, Steve Behman, Bob Blosk, T.C. Chen, John Cocke, Bob Domenico, Norm Hardy, Leo Hasbrouck, Dick Holleran, Merle Homan, Graham Jones, Harwood Kolsky, Robert Litwiller, Bill Madden, Max Paley, Jack Parsons, Gerry Paul, Ralph Pickett, Russ Robelen, Don Rozenberg, Wes Stetler, George Werner, and John Wierzbicki
One National Medal of Science awardee: John Cocke (1994).
One National Medal of Technology awardee: John Cocke (1991).
Two ACM Turing Award winners: John Cocke (1987), Fran Allen (2006).
One ACM/IEEE Eckert-Mauchly Award winner: John Cocke (1985).
At least five IBM Fellows: Fran Allen (1989), Gene Amdahl (1965), John Cocke (1972), Harwood Kolsky (1969), and Ed Sussenguth (1981).
At least four IEEE Fellows: Gene Amdahl (1970), T.C. Chen (1977), Lynn Conway (1985), and Ed Sussenguth (1985),
At least one Sloan Fellow: John Adler (1970).
At least one Fellow of the British Computer Society: Brian Randell (?).
At least five National Academy of Engineering members: Fran Allen (1987), Gene Amdahl (1967), John Cocke (1979), Lynn Conway (1989), and Ed Sussenguth (1992).
At least one National Academy of Sciences member: John Cocke (1993).
Navigation within IBM ACS pages: