Mainframe Trivia – Trailblazers Part 3

1. Amdah’s undergraduate university education was interrupted by two years’ military service (during WWII), which gave him an introduction to electronics—including vacuum tubes, radio circuitry and radar. In which branch of the military did he serve during WWII?

2. Amdahl attended the University of Wisconsin for his PhD because he was rejected by which school(s)?

3. What was the name of the computer he created as part of his doctoral dissertation?

4. Amdahl attracted the attention of IBM while at the University of Wisconsin – Madison. After joining IBM immediately after graduation, Amdahl became the chief architect of which computer?

5. When Amdahl left IBM in 1956, what reason did he give?

6. He returned to IBM in 1960, however, and became the lead on the IBM System/360 family of mainframe computers.  In the first five years, how many of the S/360 did IBM sell?

7. Amdahl left IBM for the second and final time in 1970 to found the Amdahl Corporation—which made mainframe computers that could run the same software as the System/360 but at a lower cost. For this venture he had significant funding from which company?

8. By 1979, Amdahl Corporation had over 6,000 employees worldwide and had sold what amount  (in US dollars) of V6 and V7 mainframes?

9. A serial entrepreneur, Amdahl left the Amdahl Corporation in 1979 to form a new company. Not all of his ventures were successful, and he was a firm believer that it was “okay to fail.” Which of the following companies started by Amdahl either failed outright or fell far short of Amdahl’s hopes?