Trilogy Systems
Encyclopedia
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 his new venture. Trilogy was the most well funded start-up company up till that point in Silicon Valley
history. It had corporate support from Groupe Bull
, Digital Equipment Corporation
, Unisys
, Sperry Rand and others. The plan was to use extremely advanced semiconductor
manufacturing techniques to build an IBM
compatible mainframe computer
that was both cheaper and more powerful than existing systems from IBM and Amdahl Corporation.
These techniques included wafer scale integration (WSI), with the goal of producing a computer chip that was 2.5 inch on one side. At the time, computer chips of only 0.25 inch on a side could be reliably manufactured. This giant chip was to be connected to the rest of the system using a package with 1200 pins, an enormous number at the time. Previously, mainframe computers were built from hundreds of computer chips due to the size of standard computer chips. These computer systems were hampered through chip-to-chip communication which both slowed down performance as well consumed much power.
As with other WSI projects, Trilogy's chip design relied on redundancy, that is replication of functional units, to overcome the manufacturing defects that precluded such large chips. If one functional unit was not fabricated properly, it would be switched out through on-chip wiring and another correctly functioning copy would be used. By keeping most communication on-chip, the dual benefits of higher performance and lower power consumption were supposed to be achieved. Lower power consumption meant less expensive cooling systems, which would aid in lower system costs.
For maximum performance, bipolar emitter-coupled-logic was employed, even though its power consumption is large.
The large chip size demanded larger minimum dimensions for the transistors (due to photolithography
manufacturing tolerances over the large chip) than standard-size chips. Consequently, logic density and performance were less than had been forecast.
"Triple Modular Redundancy" was employed systematically. Every logic gate and every flip-flop were triplicated with binary two-out-of-three voting at each flip-flop.
Alongside the advances in chip manufacturing, advanced chip packaging techniques were also pursued by the company. These included vertical stacking of computer chips and chip-to-chip interconnect technology that used copper conductors and polyimide
insulation that allowed for extremely dense packing of signal wiring. Though overall system power consumption would be lower, the power dissipation would be much more concentrated at the single large chip. This required new cooling techniques such as sealed heat exchangers to be developed.
The company was beset by many problems. Gene Amdahl was involved in a car accident and preoccupied with the ensuing lawsuit. Madden, the company's president, died from a brain tumor. Their semiconductor fabrication
plant was damaged during construction by a winter storm. The redundancy schemes used in the design were not sufficient to give reasonable manufacturing yields. The chip interconnect technology could not be reliably manufactured as the layers tended to delaminate and there was no automated way to repair soldering
errors.
In 1983, the company had an initial public offering
and raised $60 million.
By mid-1984, the company decided it was too difficult to manufacture their computer design. Gene Amdahl stepped down as CEO and Henry Montgomery was brought in as replacement.
The new leadership redirected the company to be a technology provider to other computer companies. The only major customer was Digital Equipment, which paid $10 million dollars for the rights to the interconnect and cooling technologies. These were used for its VAX 9000
mainframe computers. Years later, the manufacturing difficulties of the copper/polyimide technology restricted DEC's ability to ship its mainframes.
At the end of 1985, Gene Amdahl, as company chairman, decided to stop all Trilogy development and use the remaining $70 million of the raised capital to buy Elxsi
, a minicomputer start-up company. In 1989, Gene Amdahl left the merged company.
Trilogy systems was known as one of the largest financial failures in Silicon Valley before the burst of internet/dotcom bubble in 2001. In describing the company, financial columnists coined the term "crater" as describing companies that consumed huge amounts of venture capital and later imploded to leave nothing for its investors.
Gene Amdahl
Gene Myron Amdahl is a Norwegian-American computer architect and high-tech entrepreneur, chiefly known for his work on mainframe computers at IBM and later his own companies, especially Amdahl Corporation...
, his son Carl Amdahl and Clifford Madden. Flush with the success of his previous company, 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...
, Gene Amdahl was able to raise $230 million for his new venture. Trilogy was the most well funded start-up company up till that point in Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley is a term which refers to the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area in Northern California in the United States. The region is home to many of the world's largest technology corporations...
history. It had corporate support from Groupe Bull
Groupe Bull
-External links:* * — Friends, co-workers and former employees of Bull and Honeywell* *...
, Digital Equipment Corporation
Digital Equipment Corporation
Digital Equipment Corporation was a major American company in the computer industry and a leading vendor of computer systems, software and peripherals from the 1960s to the 1990s...
, Unisys
Unisys
Unisys Corporation , headquartered in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, United States, and incorporated in Delaware, is a long established business whose core products now involves computing and networking.-History:...
, Sperry Rand and others. The plan was to use extremely advanced semiconductor
Semiconductor
A semiconductor is a material with electrical conductivity due to electron flow intermediate in magnitude between that of a conductor and an insulator. This means a conductivity roughly in the range of 103 to 10−8 siemens per centimeter...
manufacturing techniques to build an IBM
IBM
International 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...
compatible 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...
that was both cheaper and more powerful than existing systems from IBM and Amdahl Corporation.
As with other WSI projects, Trilogy's chip design relied on redundancy, that is replication of functional units, to overcome the manufacturing defects that precluded such large chips. If one functional unit was not fabricated properly, it would be switched out through on-chip wiring and another correctly functioning copy would be used. By keeping most communication on-chip, the dual benefits of higher performance and lower power consumption were supposed to be achieved. Lower power consumption meant less expensive cooling systems, which would aid in lower system costs.
For maximum performance, bipolar emitter-coupled-logic was employed, even though its power consumption is large.
The large chip size demanded larger minimum dimensions for the transistors (due to photolithography
Photolithography
Photolithography is a process used in microfabrication to selectively remove parts of a thin film or the bulk of a substrate. It uses light to transfer a geometric pattern from a photomask to a light-sensitive chemical "photoresist", or simply "resist," on the substrate...
manufacturing tolerances over the large chip) than standard-size chips. Consequently, logic density and performance were less than had been forecast.
"Triple Modular Redundancy" was employed systematically. Every logic gate and every flip-flop were triplicated with binary two-out-of-three voting at each flip-flop.
Alongside the advances in chip manufacturing, advanced chip packaging techniques were also pursued by the company. These included vertical stacking of computer chips and chip-to-chip interconnect technology that used copper conductors and polyimide
Polyimide
Polyimide is a polymer of imide monomers. The structure of imide is as shown. Polyimides have been in mass production since 1955...
insulation that allowed for extremely dense packing of signal wiring. Though overall system power consumption would be lower, the power dissipation would be much more concentrated at the single large chip. This required new cooling techniques such as sealed heat exchangers to be developed.
The company was beset by many problems. Gene Amdahl was involved in a car accident and preoccupied with the ensuing lawsuit. Madden, the company's president, died from a brain tumor. Their semiconductor fabrication
Semiconductor fabrication
Semiconductor device fabrication is the process used to create the integrated circuits that are present in everyday electrical and electronic devices. It is a multiple-step sequence of photolithographic and chemical processing steps during which electronic circuits are gradually created on a wafer...
plant was damaged during construction by a winter storm. The redundancy schemes used in the design were not sufficient to give reasonable manufacturing yields. The chip interconnect technology could not be reliably manufactured as the layers tended to delaminate and there was no automated way to repair soldering
Soldering
Soldering is a process in which two or more metal items are joined together by melting and flowing a filler metal into the joint, the filler metal having a lower melting point than the workpiece...
errors.
In 1983, the company had an initial public offering
Initial public offering
An initial public offering or stock market launch, is the first sale of stock by a private company to the public. It can be used by either small or large companies to raise expansion capital and become publicly traded enterprises...
and raised $60 million.
By mid-1984, the company decided it was too difficult to manufacture their computer design. Gene Amdahl stepped down as CEO and Henry Montgomery was brought in as replacement.
The new leadership redirected the company to be a technology provider to other computer companies. The only major customer was Digital Equipment, which paid $10 million dollars for the rights to the interconnect and cooling technologies. These were used for its VAX 9000
VAX 9000
The VAX 9000, code named Aridus, was a family of high-end minicomputers developed and manufactured by Digital Equipment Corporation using processors implementing the VAX instruction set architecture . The VAX 9000 was positioned by Digital as its first mainframe...
mainframe computers. Years later, the manufacturing difficulties of the copper/polyimide technology restricted DEC's ability to ship its mainframes.
At the end of 1985, Gene Amdahl, as company chairman, decided to stop all Trilogy development and use the remaining $70 million of the raised capital to buy 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...
, a minicomputer start-up company. In 1989, Gene Amdahl left the merged company.
Trilogy systems was known as one of the largest financial failures in Silicon Valley before the burst of internet/dotcom bubble in 2001. In describing the company, financial columnists coined the term "crater" as describing companies that consumed huge amounts of venture capital and later imploded to leave nothing for its investors.