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| Genre | Information technology |
|---|---|
| Founded | October 19, 1970 |
| Founder | Gene Amdahl |
| Defunct | September 19, 1997 |
| Fate | Acquired by Fujitsu and transformed into wholly owned subsidiary |
| Headquarters | , U.S. |
| Products | Mainframe computers, servers, software |
| Services | Educational and consulting services |
| Parent | Fujitsu (since 1997) |
Amdahl Corporation was an information technology company which specialized in IBM mainframe-compatible computer products, some of which were regarded as supercomputers competing with those from Cray Research.[1] Founded in 1970 by Gene Amdahl, a former IBM computer engineer best known as chief architect of System/360, it has been a wholly owned subsidiary of Fujitsu since 1997. The company was located in Sunnyvale, California.
From its first machine in 1975, Amdahl's business was to provide mainframe computers that were plug-compatible with contemporary IBM mainframes, but offering higher reliability, running somewhat faster, and costing somewhat less. They often had additional practical advantages as well, in terms of size, power requirements, of being air-cooled instead of requiring a chilled water supply. This offered a price/performance ratio superior to the IBM lineup, and made Amdahl one of the few real competitors to "Big Blue" in the very high-margin computer market segment. The company won about 8% of the mainframe business worldwide, but was a market leader in some regions, most notably in the Carolinas. Proverbially, savvy IBM customers liked to have Amdahl coffee mugs visible in their offices when IBM salespeople came to visit.
As the mainframe market began to change in the later 1980s, Amdahl was increasingly diversified, becoming a major supplier of UNIX and open systems software and servers, data storage subsystems, data communications products, application development software, and a variety of educational and consulting services.
- ^ Hayes, Thomaa C. (September 25, 1984). "Amdahl Announces 2 Supercomputer Models". New York Times.