Calma
Encyclopedia
Calma Company, based in Sunnyvale, California
, was, between 1965 and 1988, a vendor of digitizers and minicomputer
-based graphics systems targeted at the cartographic and electronic, mechanical and architectural design markets.
In the electronic area, the company's best known products were GDS (an abbreviation for "Graphic Data System"), introduced in 1971, and GDS II, introduced in 1978. By the end of the 1970s, Calma systems were installed in virtually every major semiconductor manufacturing company.
The external format of the GDS II database, known as GDS II Stream Format, became a de facto standard for the interchange of IC mask information. The use of this format persisted into the 21st century, long after the demise of the GDS II computer system.
In the integrated circuit industry jargon of 2008, "GDS II" referred no longer to the computer system, but to the format itself. Vendors of electronic design automation
software often use the phrase "from RTL
to GDSII" to imply that their system will take users from a high-level logic design to a completed integrated circuit layout
ready for delivery to the mask vendor.
In the mechanical area, the DDM (for "Design Drafting and Manufacturing") product was introduced in 1977. It was later extended, under the name "Dimension III", to address the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) market. By 1983, these two products together accounted for 60% of Calma's revenue. [WEI08]
Dimension III continued to be used as late as the late 1990s. http://www.epmtech.jotne.com/u-s-shipbuilders-and-cad-suppliers-demonstrate-exchange-of-step-shipbuilding-data-among-five-diverse-shipbuilding-environments.524851-72552.html
In 1965 Calma introduced the Calma Digitizer, a device consisting of a table-like surface with constrained cursor, whereby an operator could enter coordinate data from a paper drawing and have it turned into computer readable form.
In about 1969, the company undertook to develop a minicomputer-based graphics system built around a digitizer. This effort was spurred by the arrival of Josef Sukonick, a recent MIT math Ph. D. who had become aware of the market potential for such a system for integrated circuit
(IC) design through his work at the CAD (computer-aided design
) group of Fairchild Semiconductor
in Sunnyvale, CA. The GDS software system was conceived and, in its initial implementation, almost single-handedly built by Dr. Sukonick. The first GDS system was shipped in late 1971 to Intel.
The growth of sales of GDS paralleled that of the nascent integrated circuit industry. By August 1976 there were 121 GDS systems installed at 70 companies. Of these, 43 were installed outside the U.S. [INT76]
In 1978, Calma, which never had a public stock offering, was acquired by United Telecommunications
, Inc., (UTI) of Kansas City, Missouri
, for $17 million in stock. Calma became part of UTI's United Computing Systems (UCS) operating unit. UTI took a hands-off approach to managing its acquisition, allowing Calma to continue largely unchanged on its growth path.
In 1978, Calma introduced GDS II , a modernized replacement for GDS. With its 32-bit database, GDS II met the need for greater capacity and resolution in IC designs. GDS II quickly replaced GDS as the data entry system of choice for many IC design groups. As of late 1980, there were 171 installed GDS II systems. [SCH81]
In December 1980, the sale of Calma by UTI to General Electric
(GE) was announced. The sale price was $110 million, with an additional $60 million contingent on Calma's profits over the next five years. The acquisition was completed in April 1981. [BW80,SJM80]
GE had grander designs for Calma than had UTI. In addition to the hope of maintaining dominance in the IC market, GE aimed for Calma to expand in the architectural, engineering, manufacturing and construction markets -- "factory of the future" was a prominent buzzword. Due partly to excessive expectations, partly to the changing nature of the market and the inherent difficulty of keeping up with rapidly changing technology, these ambitions went largely unrealized.
Beginning in 1988, GE sold Calma. The electronic side of the business was sold to Valid Logic Systems
in April 1988. (Valid in turn was acquired by Cadence Design Systems
in 1991). The remainder of the business (mechanical/architectural) was acquired by Prime Computer
in a sale completed in January 1989. [WEI08] Prime had just completed a hostile take-over of Computervision. Prime basically merged the Calma Mechanical and AEC product lines with Computervision
. Computervision, including the Dimension III product, was acquired by Parametric Technology Corporation in 1998.
At the time of the 1978 acquisition by UTI, the largest shareholder was Calma board chairman Ronald D. Cone. He held 321,706 of Calma's 635,266 outstanding shares. [UT78]
(CV) filed suit in federal court over Calma's hiring of a group of 5 employees from CV in San Diego. (This group developed Calma's DDM product.) The CV suit against Calma and the five employees alleged breach of competition, breach of non-competition agreements, and interference with contractual relations. This draining lawsuit was finally settled out of court in October 1979. In the UTI acquisition of Calma in 1978, 5% of the newly issued stock was held in escrow as a reserve pending the outcome of this litigation. [UT78]
In February 1978, the company relocated to a 67000 square feet (6,224.5 m²) single-story building at 527 Lakeside Drive in Sunnyvale, part of the newly developed Oakmead Village industrial park.
Additional buildings were added as the employee count grew. In 1979, the R&D department moved to a building at 212 Gibraltar Drive (corner of Borregas Avenue) in the Moffett Park area of Sunnyvale. Other buildings were added in the area.
In 1980 a new 210000 square feet (19,509.6 m²) manufacturing facility was opened in Milpitas, California
. [WEI08]
In 1982 a new 109000 square feet (10,126.4 m²) headquarters was opened in Santa Clara, California
. [SJM82]
In 1984 Calma bought a 108000 square feet (10,033.5 m²) facility near Dublin, Ireland, that had originally been built for Trilogy Systems
. [WEI08]
The General Motors Central Foundry Division (GM-CFD) had applied DDM to the design of castings and tooling for automotive components such as engine blocks, cylinder heads and steering knuckles. DDM was run on Calma's proprietary dual monitor workstation hardware connected to Data General Nova and later Digital VAX 11/780-series computers. GM-CFD had DDM installations in Saginaw, MI, Pontiac, MI, Defiance, OH, Bedford, IN, Danville, IL and Massena, NY.
In 2002, the industry organization SEMI
presented the annual SEMI Award for North America to the team of Roger Sturgeon, Carl Smith, Tom Hedges, Tom Schaefer and Mark Zimmer for their contribution to the GDS II interchange format. http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/10-03-2002/0001812197&EDATE=
Sunnyvale, California
Sunnyvale is a city in Santa Clara County, California, United States. It is one of the major cities that make up the Silicon Valley located in the San Francisco Bay Area...
, was, between 1965 and 1988, a vendor of digitizers and minicomputer
Minicomputer
A minicomputer is a class of multi-user computers that lies in the middle range of the computing spectrum, in between the largest multi-user systems and the smallest single-user systems...
-based graphics systems targeted at the cartographic and electronic, mechanical and architectural design markets.
In the electronic area, the company's best known products were GDS (an abbreviation for "Graphic Data System"), introduced in 1971, and GDS II, introduced in 1978. By the end of the 1970s, Calma systems were installed in virtually every major semiconductor manufacturing company.
The external format of the GDS II database, known as GDS II Stream Format, became a de facto standard for the interchange of IC mask information. The use of this format persisted into the 21st century, long after the demise of the GDS II computer system.
In the integrated circuit industry jargon of 2008, "GDS II" referred no longer to the computer system, but to the format itself. Vendors of electronic design automation
Electronic design automation
Electronic design automation is a category of software tools for designing electronic systems such as printed circuit boards and integrated circuits...
software often use the phrase "from RTL
Register Transfer Language
In computer science, register transfer language is a term used to describe a kind of intermediate representation that is very close to assembly language, such as that which is used in a compiler. Academic papers and textbooks also often use a form of RTL as an architecture-neutral assembly language...
to GDSII" to imply that their system will take users from a high-level logic design to a completed integrated circuit layout
Integrated circuit layout
Integrated circuit layout, also known IC layout, IC mask layout, or mask design, is the representation of an integrated circuit in terms of planar geometric shapes which correspond to the patterns of metal, oxide, or semiconductor layers that make up the components of the integrated circuit.When...
ready for delivery to the mask vendor.
In the mechanical area, the DDM (for "Design Drafting and Manufacturing") product was introduced in 1977. It was later extended, under the name "Dimension III", to address the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) market. By 1983, these two products together accounted for 60% of Calma's revenue. [WEI08]
Dimension III continued to be used as late as the late 1990s. http://www.epmtech.jotne.com/u-s-shipbuilders-and-cad-suppliers-demonstrate-exchange-of-step-shipbuilding-data-among-five-diverse-shipbuilding-environments.524851-72552.html
History
Calma Company was incorporated in California on November 13, 1963. Its initial business was as a product distributor, continuing the business of a previously existing partnership of the same name. [UT78] The company took its name from its founders, Calvin and Irma Louise Hefte.In 1965 Calma introduced the Calma Digitizer, a device consisting of a table-like surface with constrained cursor, whereby an operator could enter coordinate data from a paper drawing and have it turned into computer readable form.
In about 1969, the company undertook to develop a minicomputer-based graphics system built around a digitizer. This effort was spurred by the arrival of Josef Sukonick, a recent MIT math Ph. D. who had become aware of the market potential for such a system for integrated circuit
Integrated circuit
An integrated circuit or monolithic integrated circuit is an electronic circuit manufactured by the patterned diffusion of trace elements into the surface of a thin substrate of semiconductor material...
(IC) design through his work at the CAD (computer-aided design
Computer-aided design
Computer-aided design , also known as computer-aided design and drafting , is the use of computer technology for the process of design and design-documentation. Computer Aided Drafting describes the process of drafting with a computer...
) group of Fairchild Semiconductor
Fairchild Semiconductor
Fairchild Semiconductor International, Inc. is an American semiconductor company based in San Jose, California. Founded in 1957, it was a pioneer in transistor and integrated circuit manufacturing...
in Sunnyvale, CA. The GDS software system was conceived and, in its initial implementation, almost single-handedly built by Dr. Sukonick. The first GDS system was shipped in late 1971 to Intel.
The growth of sales of GDS paralleled that of the nascent integrated circuit industry. By August 1976 there were 121 GDS systems installed at 70 companies. Of these, 43 were installed outside the U.S. [INT76]
In 1978, Calma, which never had a public stock offering, was acquired by United Telecommunications
United Telecommunications
United Telecommunications was the predecessor company of two United States telecommunications companies:*Sprint Nextel, a mobile telecommunications company based in Overland Park, Kansas...
, Inc., (UTI) of Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...
, for $17 million in stock. Calma became part of UTI's United Computing Systems (UCS) operating unit. UTI took a hands-off approach to managing its acquisition, allowing Calma to continue largely unchanged on its growth path.
In 1978, Calma introduced GDS II , a modernized replacement for GDS. With its 32-bit database, GDS II met the need for greater capacity and resolution in IC designs. GDS II quickly replaced GDS as the data entry system of choice for many IC design groups. As of late 1980, there were 171 installed GDS II systems. [SCH81]
In December 1980, the sale of Calma by UTI to General Electric
General Electric
General Electric Company , or GE, is an American multinational conglomerate corporation incorporated in Schenectady, New York and headquartered in Fairfield, Connecticut, United States...
(GE) was announced. The sale price was $110 million, with an additional $60 million contingent on Calma's profits over the next five years. The acquisition was completed in April 1981. [BW80,SJM80]
GE had grander designs for Calma than had UTI. In addition to the hope of maintaining dominance in the IC market, GE aimed for Calma to expand in the architectural, engineering, manufacturing and construction markets -- "factory of the future" was a prominent buzzword. Due partly to excessive expectations, partly to the changing nature of the market and the inherent difficulty of keeping up with rapidly changing technology, these ambitions went largely unrealized.
Beginning in 1988, GE sold Calma. The electronic side of the business was sold to Valid Logic Systems
Valid Logic Systems
Valid Logic Systems was one of the first commercial EDA electronic design automation companies. It was founded in the early 1980s, along with Daisy Systems Corporation and Mentor Graphics, collectively known as DMV....
in April 1988. (Valid in turn was acquired by Cadence Design Systems
Cadence Design Systems
Cadence Design Systems, Inc is an electronic design automation software and engineering services company, founded in 1988 by the merger of SDA Systems and ECAD, Inc...
in 1991). The remainder of the business (mechanical/architectural) was acquired by Prime Computer
Prime Computer
Prime Computer, Inc. was a Natick, Massachusetts-based producer of minicomputers from 1972 until 1992. The alternative spellings "PR1ME" and "PR1ME Computer" were used as brand names or logos by the company.-Founders:...
in a sale completed in January 1989. [WEI08] Prime had just completed a hostile take-over of Computervision. Prime basically merged the Calma Mechanical and AEC product lines with Computervision
Computervision
Computervision, Inc. was an early pioneer in turnkey Computer Aided Design and Manufacturing . Computervision was founded in 1969 by Marty Allen and Philippe Villers, and headquartered in Bedford, Massachusetts, USA. Its early products were built on a Data General Nova platform...
. Computervision, including the Dimension III product, was acquired by Parametric Technology Corporation in 1998.
Business and financial
The following data on sales, earnings, and employee count are drawn from a number of sources. Financial data 1973-1977 are from [UT78].
fiscal year net employee
ending revenue($) income($) count (date)
----------- ------- ------ ------------
8/31/71 670K [WEI08] (293K)
8/31/72 1.6M [WEI08] 179K 30 (12/72) [BEN73]
8/31/73 3.5M 412K 74 (12/73) [BEN73]
8/31/74 6.1M 562K 92 (9/74) [PH74]
8/31/75 6.9M 398K
8/31/76 9.5M 747K 135 (11/76) [PH76]
8/31/77 14.3M 1.2M
8/31/78 289 (3/78) [UT78]
12/31/79 43M [BIS81] 597 (12/79) [BIS81]
12/31/80 62M [BIS81] 935 (12/80) [BIS81]
12/31/81 105M [SJM82] 1200 (11/81) [SFC81]
12/31/82 1400 (4/82) [SJM82]
12/31/83 210M [WEI08]
...
12/31/87 180M [WEI08] (20M) 900 (12/87) [WEI08]
At the time of the 1978 acquisition by UTI, the largest shareholder was Calma board chairman Ronald D. Cone. He held 321,706 of Calma's 635,266 outstanding shares. [UT78]
Legal
In February 1977, ComputervisionComputervision
Computervision, Inc. was an early pioneer in turnkey Computer Aided Design and Manufacturing . Computervision was founded in 1969 by Marty Allen and Philippe Villers, and headquartered in Bedford, Massachusetts, USA. Its early products were built on a Data General Nova platform...
(CV) filed suit in federal court over Calma's hiring of a group of 5 employees from CV in San Diego. (This group developed Calma's DDM product.) The CV suit against Calma and the five employees alleged breach of competition, breach of non-competition agreements, and interference with contractual relations. This draining lawsuit was finally settled out of court in October 1979. In the UTI acquisition of Calma in 1978, 5% of the newly issued stock was held in escrow as a reserve pending the outcome of this litigation. [UT78]
Buildings
As early as 1970, Calma occupied a building at 707 Kifer Road in Sunnyvale. Roughly 10000 square feet (929 m²), the building consisted of a large warehouse/manufacturing area in the rear, with an office area of about 10 offices in the front. Somewhat later, an additional building to the rear (on San Gabriel Drive) was leased as a manufacturing/shipping area, bringing total square footage to 35,000.In February 1978, the company relocated to a 67000 square feet (6,224.5 m²) single-story building at 527 Lakeside Drive in Sunnyvale, part of the newly developed Oakmead Village industrial park.
Additional buildings were added as the employee count grew. In 1979, the R&D department moved to a building at 212 Gibraltar Drive (corner of Borregas Avenue) in the Moffett Park area of Sunnyvale. Other buildings were added in the area.
In 1980 a new 210000 square feet (19,509.6 m²) manufacturing facility was opened in Milpitas, California
Milpitas, California
Milpitas is a city in Santa Clara County, California. It is a suburb of the major city of San Jose, California. It is located with San Jose to its south and Fremont to its north, at the eastern end of State Route 237 and generally between Interstates 680 and 880 which run roughly north/south...
. [WEI08]
In 1982 a new 109000 square feet (10,126.4 m²) headquarters was opened in Santa Clara, California
Santa Clara, California
Santa Clara , founded in 1777 and incorporated in 1852, is a city in Santa Clara County, in the U.S. state of California. The city is the site of the eighth of 21 California missions, Mission Santa Clara de Asís, and was named after the mission. The Mission and Mission Gardens are located on the...
. [SJM82]
In 1984 Calma bought a 108000 square feet (10,033.5 m²) facility near Dublin, Ireland, that had originally been built for Trilogy Systems
Trilogy Systems
Trilogy Systems Corporation was a computer systems company started in 1980. Originally called ACSYS, the company was founded by Gene Amdahl, his son Carl Amdahl and Clifford Madden. Flush with the success of his previous company, Amdahl Corporation, Gene Amdahl was able to raise $230 million for...
. [WEI08]
General description (1978)
The following is quoted from [UT78]:
Calma's computer-aided design and drafting systems (also referred to as interactive graphics systems) are component hardware modules, electronic interfaces, and software programs. Most of the systems sold are constructed by combining available components to meet the requirements of the customers' specific design or drafting application. Calma's systems enable customers to automate a wide variety of design and manufacturing processes which have previously been performed manually.
The primary hardware components of a system are a central processing unit, operator stations and plotter outputs.
The central processing unit consists of a minicomputer, a computer console and page printer, a magnetic tape transport and a magnetic disk memory unit.
Other optional peripheral devices such as card readers and paper tape punches are also available. These components are interfaced with Calma-designed and manufactured controllers, and integrated into a single unit with system software designed and programmed by Calma.
An operator station consists of a digitizing device, an interactive cathode ray tube (CRT) display unit, coordinate readouts and a keyboard. The main difference between stations is in the type of digitizing input station used.
The Calma digitizer is a backlit 48 by 60 inch table. To digitize analog graphical data directly on computer-compatible medium, the operator of the digitizer manually traces graphical data with a moveable stylus. The graphic tablet has a smaller surface and is operated with an electromechanical graphic pen.
The digitizing input station is linked by system software to the CRT display, which allows an almost instantaneous display of any segment of the source drawing or a graphic element from the library. The CRT display also has windowing and magnification capability.
An alphanumeric keyboard is used for entering text, scaling information, dimensions and commands, and an optional functional keyboard is available for entering frequently used functions, symbols and macro commands.
The output most commonly used in Calma's systems is a graphic plotter.
Calma software supports both on and off-line pen and photo plotting devices.
Calma's computer-aided design systems are used in a wide variety of applications. To date systems have been sold principally to electronics firms for use in the design of integrated circuits, printed circuit boards and electrical schematics; to governmental agencies and public utilities for use in cartographic applications; and to manufacturing companies for use in the design of mechanical parts and systems.
DDM
DDM (short for "Design, Drafting, Manufacturing") was a 3-dimensional wireframe computer-aided design application. In the mid-1980s, it was one of the top ten selling CAD packages on the market. As of 2006, DDM continues to be supported by Parametric Technology Corporation http://www.ptc.com as "Dimension III".The General Motors Central Foundry Division (GM-CFD) had applied DDM to the design of castings and tooling for automotive components such as engine blocks, cylinder heads and steering knuckles. DDM was run on Calma's proprietary dual monitor workstation hardware connected to Data General Nova and later Digital VAX 11/780-series computers. GM-CFD had DDM installations in Saginaw, MI, Pontiac, MI, Defiance, OH, Bedford, IN, Danville, IL and Massena, NY.
People
This section gives thumbnail sketches of people who had significant roles at Calma over the years. This includes managers, key technical contributors, and the like, with special emphasis on people who went on to achieve recognition in the EDA industry. The years after each name are years of employment at Calma.- John Benbow 1981-1983
- 1981 VP of R&D, previously at Dataskil (UK)
- Robert Benders 1968-1983
- 1968 hired as chief engineer, from LockheedLockheed CorporationThe Lockheed Corporation was an American aerospace company. Lockheed was founded in 1912 and later merged with Martin Marietta to form Lockheed Martin in 1995.-Origins:...
- 1971-1983 CEO of Calma
- 1968 hired as chief engineer, from Lockheed
- Enrico F. Biondi
- BSEE, MSEE, and PhD,EE, Stanford UniversityStanford UniversityThe Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
- Died 2003, age 65
- BSEE, MSEE, and PhD,EE, Stanford University
- Lemuel D. Bishop
- 1972 VP of finance
- Arthur J. Collmeyer 1974-1981
- 1969 PhD Southern Methodist UniversitySouthern Methodist UniversitySouthern Methodist University is a private university in Dallas, Texas, United States. Founded in 1911 by the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, SMU operates campuses in Dallas, Plano, and Taos, New Mexico. SMU is owned by the South Central Jurisdiction of the United Methodist Church...
. electrical engineering - 1974 joined Calma from XeroxXeroxXerox Corporation is an American multinational document management corporation that produced and sells a range of color and black-and-white printers, multifunction systems, photo copiers, digital production printing presses, and related consulting services and supplies...
as VP of R&D - 1981 co-founder of WeitekWeitekWeitek Corporation was a chip-design company that originally concentrated on floating point units for a number of commercial CPU designs. During the early to mid-1980s, Weitek designs could be found powering a number of high-end designs and parallel processing supercomputers...
, CEO 1981-1988, Chairman 1992 - Died 2011, age 70 http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/mercurynews/obituary.aspx?n=arthur-collmeyer&pid=153988062
- 1969 PhD Southern Methodist University
- Ronald D. Cone
- Michael L. Courtade 1973-1978
- 1974 manager of GDS software development
- Eugene W. Emmerich
- 1977 VP of marketing
- Gerry Devere
- 1976 DDM development team
- later head of DDM R&D
- Thomas S. Hedges 1973-1984
- 1972 BS Caltech engineering
- 1977 member GDS II development team
- 1991 co-founder and chairman of Fractal DesignFractal DesignFractal Design was a US software company, originally known as Fractal Software and founded in 1985. It merged into MetaCreations in 1997. It was initially known as Fractal Technology, and produced several best-selling creative software packages for the PC and Macintosh platforms. Its initial...
Corp. - 1997-2000 chief systems architect MetacreationsMetaCreationsMetaCreations was a computer software company founded in 1997 by the mergers of MetaTools, Fractal Design Corporation, Ray Dream, Specular, and RTG...
, Inc. - Died 2007, age 57 http://www.legacy.com/MercuryNews/DeathNotices.asp?Page=LifeStory&PersonId=98284843
- Calvin Hefte and Irma Louise Hefte
- Calma's eponymEponymAn eponym is the name of a person or thing, whether real or fictitious, after which a particular place, tribe, era, discovery, or other item is named or thought to be named...
ous founders - Cal is deceased [HOL90]
- Irma reported to have been running flower shop with daughters "Carousel of Flowers", Los Gatos, CA [HOL90]; died 9/27/92
- Calma's eponym
- Andrew Hidalgo 1987-1988
- eastern regional manager
- founder & CEO of WPCS International Incorporated
- Harvey C. Jones Jr. 1974-1981
- hired 1974 as application engineer in Reston, VA office
- later manned the Boston sales office.
- 1980 named VP of MED (microelectronics division) Business Development
- 1981 co-founded Daisy SystemsDaisy SystemsDaisy Systems Corporation incorporated in 1981 in Mountain View, California, was a computer-aided engineering, CAE, company, a pioneer in the Electronic design automation industry....
Corp - 1987 first CEO of SynopsysSynopsysSynopsys, Inc. is one of the largest companies in the Electronic Design Automation industry. Synopsys' first and best-known product is Design Compiler, a logic-synthesis tool. Synopsys offers a wide range of other products used in the design of an application-specific integrated circuit...
(chairman of board 1994-1998) - co-founder of TensilicaTensilicaTensilica is an IP core company based in Silicon Valley. Tensilica is best known for its customizable microprocessor cores, the Xtensa configurable processor...
- Daniel McGlaughlin
- PhD EE Case Western Reserve UniversityCase Western Reserve UniversityCase Western Reserve University is a private research university located in Cleveland, Ohio, USA...
- veteran of IBMIBMInternational Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...
, GEGêGê are the people who spoke Ge languages of the northern South American Caribbean coast and Brazil. In Brazil the Gê were found in Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais, Bahia, Piaui, Mato Grosso, Goias, Tocantins, Maranhão, and as far south as Paraguay.... - president of Calma 1984-1989
- president and CEO of EquifaxEquifaxEquifax Inc. is a consumer credit reporting agency in the United States, considered one of the three largest American credit agencies along with Experian and TransUnion. Founded in 1899, Equifax is the oldest of the three agencies and gathers and maintains information on over 400 million credit...
1996-1998
- PhD EE Case Western Reserve University
- William Nickels 1973-
- 1973 manager of software development
- 1975 manager of customer support
- Thomas J. Schaefer 1972-1981
- Math Ph. D. UC Berkeley 1978
- 1977 member GDS II design team
- VLSI TechnologyVLSI TechnologyVLSI Technology, Inc was a company which designed and manufactured custom and semi-custom ICs. The company was based in Silicon Valley, with headquarters at 1109 McKay Drive in San Jose, California...
Inc 1981-1990 - Compass Design Automation 1990-1997
- SynopsysSynopsysSynopsys, Inc. is one of the largest companies in the Electronic Design Automation industry. Synopsys' first and best-known product is Design Compiler, a logic-synthesis tool. Synopsys offers a wide range of other products used in the design of an application-specific integrated circuit...
1997-2000
- Carl Smith 1973-
- 1977 member GDS II design team
- Cadence Design SystemsCadence Design SystemsCadence Design Systems, Inc is an electronic design automation software and engineering services company, founded in 1988 by the merger of SDA Systems and ECAD, Inc...
- Simplex Solutions
- Robert Smuland
- 25-year GE veteran
- 1983-1984 president of Calma
- Roger Sturgeon
- BSEE & MSEE-CS UC Berkeley
- 1977 head of GDS II design team
- co-founder of Transcription Enterprises Limited (acquired in 2000 by Numerical TechnologiesNumerical TechnologiesNumerical Technologies, Inc. was a San Jose, California, USA based EDA public company.The company is primarily known for its IP portfolio, software tools and services covering alternating Phase Shift Mask Technology providing sub-wavelength design to manufacturing solutions...
, Inc) - 2007 overall winner of Sydney-Hobart Yacht Race http://www.rosebudracing.com
- Josef S. Sukonick
- 1969 PhD MIT math
- creator of GDS
- Robert Young 1973-
- 1973 manager documentation & training
- 1975 manager of customer support
- Mark Zimmer
- member GDS II development team
- 1991 co-founder of Fractal Design Corp, CEO 1991-1997
In 2002, the industry organization SEMI
Semi
Semi- is a Latin prefix to a verb, noun, or adjective meaning "half". Some compounds formed with it are often abbreviated to simply "semi" in appropriate contexts:...
presented the annual SEMI Award for North America to the team of Roger Sturgeon, Carl Smith, Tom Hedges, Tom Schaefer and Mark Zimmer for their contribution to the GDS II interchange format. http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/10-03-2002/0001812197&EDATE=