Gene Amdahl
Encyclopedia
Gene Myron Amdahl is a Norwegian-American
computer architect and high-tech entrepreneur, chiefly known for his work on mainframe computer
s at IBM and later his own companies, especially Amdahl Corporation
. He is perhaps best known for formulating Amdahl's law
, which states a fundamental limitation of parallel computing
.
. After serving in the Navy
during WWII he completed a degree in engineering physics at South Dakota State University
in 1948. He went on to study theoretical physics at the University of Wisconsin–Madison
and completed his doctorate there in 1952 with a thesis titled A Logical Design of an Intermediate Speed Digital Computer and creating his first computer, the WISC
. He then went straight from Wisconsin to a well-paid position at IBM in June 1952.
, the IBM 709
, and then the Stretch project, the basis for the IBM 7030
. He left IBM in December 1955 but returned in September 1960 (after working at Ramo Wooldridge
and at Aeronutronic
). On his return he worked on the System/360
family architecture and became an IBM Fellow
in 1965, and head of the ACS Laboratory in Menlo Park, California
. He left IBM again in September 1970, after his ideas for computer development were rejected, and set up Amdahl Corporation
in Sunnyvale, Calif.
with aid from Fujitsu
.
Competing with IBM in the mainframe market, the company manufactured "plug-compatible
" mainframes, shipping its first machine in 1975 – the Amdahl 470V/6, a less expensive, more reliable and faster replacement for the System 370/168. By purchasing an Amdahl 470 and plug-compatible peripheral devices from third-party manufacturers, customers could now run S/360 and S/370 applications without buying actual IBM hardware. Amdahl's software team developed VM/PE, software designed to optimize the performance of IBM's MVS
operating system
when running under IBM's VM operating system
. By 1979 Amdahl Corporation had sold over a US $1 billion of V6 and V7 mainframes and had over 6,000 employees worldwide. The corporation went on to distribute an IBM-plug-compatible front-end processor (the 4705) as well as high-performance disk drives, both jointly developed with Fujitsu engineers.
At the Spring Joint Computer Conference, Amdahl along with three other computer architects, most notably Dan Slotnick, ILLIAC IV
architect, engaged in a discussion on future architectural trends. Amdahl argued, verbally and in three written pages, for performance limitations in any special feature or mode introduced to new machines. This resulted in two, major and lesser, "laws" of computer performance
regarding sequential vs. parallel processing
. These arguments continue to this day.
. With over US$200 million in funds Trilogy was aimed at designing an integrated chip
for even cheaper mainframes. The chip development failed within months of the company's $60 million public offering; thereafter, the company focused on developing its VLSI technology and, when that project failed, in 1985 Trilogy merged into Elxsi
. Elxsi also did poorly and Amdahl left in 1989, having already founded his next venture, Andor International, in 1987. Andor hoped to compete in the mid-sized mainframe market, using improved manufacturing techniques developed by one of the company's employees, Robert F. Brown, to make smaller, more efficient machines. Production problems and strong competition led the company into bankruptcy by 1995.
Amdahl co-founded Commercial Data Servers in 1996, again in Sunnyvale, and again developing mainframe-like machines but this time with new super-cooled processor designs and aimed at physically smaller systems. One such machine, from 1997, was the ESP/490 (Enterprise Server Platform/490), an enhancement of IBM's P/390 of the System/390 family. Since then, CDS has changed its name and narrowed its focus. As Xbridge Systems, the company now builds connectivity software to link mainframes and open systems. (As of early 2005, however, Xbridge's website did not list Amdahl as a member of their current management team.)
In November 2004, Amdahl was appointed to the Board of Advisors of Massively Parallel Technologies. The absence of an otherwise noticeable web presence after the turn of the millennium suggested that he had scaled back his industry involvement to an advisory capacity.
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 Doctorate
s from his two alma mater
s and two other institutions as well. In 1983, Amdahl was awarded the Harry H. Goode Memorial Award by the IEEE Computer Society
"in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the design, applications and manufacture of large-scale high-performance computers."
In 1998, Amdahl was recognized with a Fellow Award from the Computer History Museum
.
In November 2007, Amdahl was recognized with the SIGDA
Pioneering Achievement Award. A banquet
dinner in his honor featured a short talk by Amdahl on his career, and a panel debate on the future of parallel processing. Panelists included John Gustafson
(well known for Gustafson's Law
). The talk and debate were both videotaped, and are available through the SIGDA
web page, and the ACM
Digital Library.
Norwegian American
Norwegian Americans are Americans of Norwegian descent. Norwegian immigrants went to the United States primarily in the later half of the 19th century and the first few decades of the 20th century. There are more than 4.5 million Norwegian Americans according to the most recent U.S. census, and...
computer architect and high-tech entrepreneur, chiefly known for his work on mainframe computer
Mainframe computer
Mainframes are powerful computers used primarily by corporate and governmental organizations for critical applications, bulk data processing such as census, industry and consumer statistics, enterprise resource planning, and financial transaction processing.The term originally referred to the...
s at IBM and later his own companies, especially Amdahl Corporation
Amdahl Corporation
Amdahl Corporation is an information technology company which specializes in IBM mainframe-compatible computer products. Founded in 1970 by Dr. Gene Amdahl, a former IBM employee, it has been a wholly owned subsidiary of Fujitsu since 1997...
. He is perhaps best known for formulating Amdahl's law
Amdahl's law
Amdahl's law, also known as Amdahl's argument, is named after computer architect Gene Amdahl, and is used to find the maximum expected improvement to an overall system when only part of the system is improved...
, which states a fundamental limitation of parallel computing
Parallel computing
Parallel computing is a form of computation in which many calculations are carried out simultaneously, operating on the principle that large problems can often be divided into smaller ones, which are then solved concurrently . There are several different forms of parallel computing: bit-level,...
.
Childhood and education
Amdahl was born to immigrant parents of Norwegian and Swedish descent in Flandreau, South DakotaFlandreau, South Dakota
Flandreau is a city in Moody County, South Dakota, United States. The population was 2,341 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Moody County...
. After serving in the Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
during WWII he completed a degree in engineering physics at South Dakota State University
South Dakota State University
South Dakota State University is the largest university in the U.S. state of South Dakota, located in Brookings. A public land-grant university and sun grant college, founded under the provisions of the 1862 Morrill Act, SDSU offers programs of study required by, or harmonious to, this Act...
in 1948. He went on to study theoretical physics at the University of Wisconsin–Madison
University of Wisconsin–Madison
The University of Wisconsin–Madison is a public research university located in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. Founded in 1848, UW–Madison is the flagship campus of the University of Wisconsin System. It became a land-grant institution in 1866...
and completed his doctorate there in 1952 with a thesis titled A Logical Design of an Intermediate Speed Digital Computer and creating his first computer, the WISC
Wisconsin Integrally Synchronized Computer
The Wisconsin Integrally Synchronized Computer was an early digital computer designed and built at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Operational in 1954, it was the first digital computer in the state....
. He then went straight from Wisconsin to a well-paid position at IBM in June 1952.
The IBM & Amdahl years
At IBM, Amdahl worked on the IBM 704IBM 704
The IBM 704, the first mass-produced computer with floating point arithmetic hardware, was introduced by IBM in 1954. The 704 was significantly improved over the IBM 701 in terms of architecture as well as implementations which were not compatible with its predecessor.Changes from the 701 included...
, the IBM 709
IBM 709
The IBM 709 was an early computer system introduced by IBM in August, 1958. It was an improved version of the IBM 704 and the second member of the IBM 700/7000 series of scientific computers....
, and then the Stretch project, the basis for the IBM 7030
IBM 7030
The IBM 7030, also known as Stretch, was IBM's first transistorized supercomputer. The first one was delivered to Los Alamos National Laboratory in 1961....
. He left IBM in December 1955 but returned in September 1960 (after working at Ramo Wooldridge
TRW
TRW Inc. was an American corporation involved in a variety of businesses, mainly aerospace, automotive, and credit reporting. It was a pioneer in multiple fields including electronic components, integrated circuits, computers, software and systems engineering. TRW built many spacecraft,...
and at Aeronutronic
Aeronutronic
Aeronutronic was a defense and space related division of Ford Motor Company set up in 1956. In 1961 Ford purchased Philco and merged the two companies in 1963. Aeronutronic provided major support for the development of Project Space Track...
). On his return he worked on the System/360
System/360
The IBM System/360 was a mainframe computer system family first announced by IBM on April 7, 1964, and sold between 1964 and 1978. It was the first family of computers designed to cover the complete range of applications, from small to large, both commercial and scientific...
family architecture and became an IBM Fellow
IBM Fellow
An IBM Fellow is an appointed position at IBM made by IBM’s CEO. Typically only 4 to 9 IBM Fellows are appointed each year, at the annual Corporate Technical Recognition Event in May or June. It is the highest honor a scientist, engineer, or programmer at IBM can achieve.The IBM Fellows program...
in 1965, and head of the ACS Laboratory in Menlo Park, California
Menlo Park, California
Menlo Park, California is a city at the eastern edge of San Mateo County, in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, in the United States. It is bordered by San Francisco Bay on the north and east; East Palo Alto, Palo Alto, and Stanford to the south; Atherton, North Fair Oaks, and Redwood City...
. He left IBM again in September 1970, after his ideas for computer development were rejected, and set up Amdahl Corporation
Amdahl Corporation
Amdahl Corporation is an information technology company which specializes in IBM mainframe-compatible computer products. Founded in 1970 by Dr. Gene Amdahl, a former IBM employee, it has been a wholly owned subsidiary of Fujitsu since 1997...
in Sunnyvale, Calif.
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...
with aid from Fujitsu
Fujitsu
is a Japanese multinational information technology equipment and services company headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. It is the world's third-largest IT services provider measured by revenues....
.
Competing with IBM in the mainframe market, the company manufactured "plug-compatible
Plug-compatible
A plug-compatible machine is one that has been designed to be backwards compatible with a prior machine. In particular, a new computer system that is plug-compatible has not only the same connectors and protocol interfaces to peripherals, but also runs the same CPU software as the old system...
" mainframes, shipping its first machine in 1975 – the Amdahl 470V/6, a less expensive, more reliable and faster replacement for the System 370/168. By purchasing an Amdahl 470 and plug-compatible peripheral devices from third-party manufacturers, customers could now run S/360 and S/370 applications without buying actual IBM hardware. Amdahl's software team developed VM/PE, software designed to optimize the performance of IBM's MVS
MVS
Multiple Virtual Storage, more commonly called MVS, was the most commonly used operating system on the System/370 and System/390 IBM mainframe computers...
operating system
Operating system
An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...
when running under IBM's VM operating system
VM (operating system)
VM refers to a family of IBM virtual machine operating systems used on IBM mainframes System/370, System/390, zSeries, System z and compatible systems, including the Hercules emulator for personal computers. The first version, released in 1972, was VM/370, or officially Virtual Machine Facility/370...
. By 1979 Amdahl Corporation had sold over a US $1 billion of V6 and V7 mainframes and had over 6,000 employees worldwide. The corporation went on to distribute an IBM-plug-compatible front-end processor (the 4705) as well as high-performance disk drives, both jointly developed with Fujitsu engineers.
At the Spring Joint Computer Conference, Amdahl along with three other computer architects, most notably Dan Slotnick, ILLIAC IV
ILLIAC IV
The ILLIAC IV was one of the most infamous supercomputers ever built. One of a series of research machines, the ILLIACs from the University of Illinois, the ILLIAC IV design featured fairly high parallelism with up to 256 processors, used to allow the machine to work on large data sets in what...
architect, engaged in a discussion on future architectural trends. Amdahl argued, verbally and in three written pages, for performance limitations in any special feature or mode introduced to new machines. This resulted in two, major and lesser, "laws" of computer performance
Amdahl's law
Amdahl's law, also known as Amdahl's argument, is named after computer architect Gene Amdahl, and is used to find the maximum expected improvement to an overall system when only part of the system is improved...
regarding sequential vs. parallel processing
Parallel processing
Parallel processing is the ability to carry out multiple operations or tasks simultaneously. The term is used in the contexts of both human cognition, particularly in the ability of the brain to simultaneously process incoming stimuli, and in parallel computing by machines.-Parallel processing by...
. These arguments continue to this day.
1979–now: Entrepreneur
Amdahl left his namesake company in August 1979 to set up Trilogy SystemsTrilogy 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...
. With over US$200 million in funds Trilogy was aimed at designing an integrated chip
Microprocessor
A microprocessor incorporates the functions of a computer's central processing unit on a single integrated circuit, or at most a few integrated circuits. It is a multipurpose, programmable device that accepts digital data as input, processes it according to instructions stored in its memory, and...
for even cheaper mainframes. The chip development failed within months of the company's $60 million public offering; thereafter, the company focused on developing its VLSI technology and, when that project failed, in 1985 Trilogy merged into Elxsi
Elxsi
Elxsi was a minicomputer manufacturing company established in the late 1970s along with a host of other competitors . The Elxsi processor was an Emitter Coupled Logic design that featured a 50 nanosecond clock, a 25 nanosecond backpanel bus, IEEE floating point arithmetic and a 64-bit architecture...
. Elxsi also did poorly and Amdahl left in 1989, having already founded his next venture, Andor International, in 1987. Andor hoped to compete in the mid-sized mainframe market, using improved manufacturing techniques developed by one of the company's employees, Robert F. Brown, to make smaller, more efficient machines. Production problems and strong competition led the company into bankruptcy by 1995.
Amdahl co-founded Commercial Data Servers in 1996, again in Sunnyvale, and again developing mainframe-like machines but this time with new super-cooled processor designs and aimed at physically smaller systems. One such machine, from 1997, was the ESP/490 (Enterprise Server Platform/490), an enhancement of IBM's P/390 of the System/390 family. Since then, CDS has changed its name and narrowed its focus. As Xbridge Systems, the company now builds connectivity software to link mainframes and open systems. (As of early 2005, however, Xbridge's website did not list Amdahl as a member of their current management team.)
In November 2004, Amdahl was appointed to the Board of Advisors of Massively Parallel Technologies. The absence of an otherwise noticeable web presence after the turn of the millennium suggested that he had scaled back his industry involvement to an advisory capacity.
Awards
Amdahl was named an IBM FellowIBM Fellow
An IBM Fellow is an appointed position at IBM made by IBM’s CEO. Typically only 4 to 9 IBM Fellows are appointed each year, at the annual Corporate Technical Recognition Event in May or June. It is the highest honor a scientist, engineer, or programmer at IBM can achieve.The IBM Fellows program...
in 1965, became a member of the National Academy of Engineering
National Academy of Engineering
The National Academy of Engineering is a government-created non-profit institution in the United States, that was founded in 1964 under the same congressional act that led to the founding of the National Academy of Sciences...
in 1967 and was recognized as the Centennial Alumnus of South Dakota State University
South Dakota State University
South Dakota State University is the largest university in the U.S. state of South Dakota, located in Brookings. A public land-grant university and sun grant college, founded under the provisions of the 1862 Morrill Act, SDSU offers programs of study required by, or harmonious to, this Act...
in 1986. He has numerous awards and patents to his credit and has received Honorary Doctorate
Honorary degree
An honorary degree or a degree honoris causa is an academic degree for which a university has waived the usual requirements, such as matriculation, residence, study, and the passing of examinations...
s from his two alma mater
Alma mater
Alma mater , pronounced ), was used in ancient Rome as a title for various mother goddesses, especially Ceres or Cybele, and in Christianity for the Virgin Mary.-General term:...
s and two other institutions as well. In 1983, Amdahl was awarded the Harry H. Goode Memorial Award by the IEEE Computer Society
IEEE Computer Society
The IEEE Computer Society is a professional society of IEEE. Its purpose and scope is “to advance the theory, practice, and application of computer and information processing science and technology” and the “professional standing of its members.” The CS is the largest of 38 technical societies...
"in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the design, applications and manufacture of large-scale high-performance computers."
In 1998, Amdahl was recognized with a Fellow Award from the Computer History Museum
Computer History Museum
The Computer History Museum is a museum established in 1996 in Mountain View, California, USA. The Museum is dedicated to preserving and presenting the stories and artifacts of the information age, and exploring the computing revolution and its impact on our lives.-History:The museum's origins...
.
In November 2007, Amdahl was recognized with the SIGDA
SIGDA
SIGDA, Association for Computing Machinery's Special Interest Group on Design Automation, is a professional development organization for the Electronic Design Automation community. SIGDA is organized and operated exclusively for educational, scientific, and technical purposes in electronic design...
Pioneering Achievement Award. A banquet
dinner in his honor featured a short talk by Amdahl on his career, and a panel debate on the future of parallel processing. Panelists included John Gustafson
John Gustafson (scientist)
John L. Gustafson is an American computer scientist and businessman, chiefly known for his work in High Performance Computing such as the invention of Gustafson's Law, introducing the first commercial computer cluster, measuring with QUIPS, leading the reconstruction of the Atanasoff–Berry...
(well known for Gustafson's Law
Gustafson's law
Gustafson's Law is a law in computer science which says that problems with large, repetitive data sets can be efficiently parallelized. Gustafson's Law contradicts Amdahl's law, which describes a limit on the speed-up that parallelization can provide. Gustafson's law was first described by John...
). The talk and debate were both videotaped, and are available through the SIGDA
SIGDA
SIGDA, Association for Computing Machinery's Special Interest Group on Design Automation, is a professional development organization for the Electronic Design Automation community. SIGDA is organized and operated exclusively for educational, scientific, and technical purposes in electronic design...
web page, and the ACM
Association for Computing Machinery
The Association for Computing Machinery is a learned society for computing. It was founded in 1947 as the world's first scientific and educational computing society. Its membership is more than 92,000 as of 2009...
Digital Library.
See also
- Amdahl's lawAmdahl's lawAmdahl's law, also known as Amdahl's argument, is named after computer architect Gene Amdahl, and is used to find the maximum expected improvement to an overall system when only part of the system is improved...
- Amdahl CorporationAmdahl CorporationAmdahl Corporation is an information technology company which specializes in IBM mainframe-compatible computer products. Founded in 1970 by Dr. Gene Amdahl, a former IBM employee, it has been a wholly owned subsidiary of Fujitsu since 1997...
- IBM mainframeIBM mainframeIBM mainframes are large computer systems produced by IBM from 1952 to the present. During the 1960s and 1970s, the term mainframe computer was almost synonymous with IBM products due to their marketshare...
- FUDFear, uncertainty and doubtFear, uncertainty and doubt, frequently abbreviated as FUD, is a tactic used in sales, marketing, public relations, politics and propaganda....
– a term invented by Amdahl to describe IBM's competitive tactics
External links
- Oral history interview with Gene M. Amdahl Charles Babbage InstituteCharles Babbage InstituteThe Charles Babbage Institute is a research center at the University of Minnesota specializing in the history of information technology, particularly the history since 1935 of digital computing, programming/software, and computer networking....
, University of MinnesotaUniversity of MinnesotaThe University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...
. Amdahl discusses his graduate work at the University of Wisconsin and his design of WISCWisconsin Integrally Synchronized ComputerThe Wisconsin Integrally Synchronized Computer was an early digital computer designed and built at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Operational in 1954, it was the first digital computer in the state....
. Discusses his role in the designing of several computers for IBM including the STRETCH, IBM 701IBM 701The IBM 701, known as the Defense Calculator while in development, was announced to the public on April 29, 1952, and was IBM’s first commercial scientific computer...
, and IBM 704IBM 704The IBM 704, the first mass-produced computer with floating point arithmetic hardware, was introduced by IBM in 1954. The 704 was significantly improved over the IBM 701 in terms of architecture as well as implementations which were not compatible with its predecessor.Changes from the 701 included...
. He discusses his work with Nathaniel RochesterNathaniel Rochester (computer scientist)Nathan Rochester designed the IBM 701, wrote the first assembler and participated in the founding of the field of artificial intelligence.- Early work :...
and IBM's management of the design process. Mentions work with Ramo-Wooldridge, AeronutronicAeronutronicAeronutronic was a defense and space related division of Ford Motor Company set up in 1956. In 1961 Ford purchased Philco and merged the two companies in 1963. Aeronutronic provided major support for the development of Project Space Track...
, and Computer Sciences CorporationComputer Sciences CorporationComputer Sciences Corporation is an American information technology and business services company headquartered in Falls Church, Virginia, USA... - A Logical Design of an Intermediate Speed Digital Computer – Amdahl's doctoral thesis.