Award Software International Inc. was a

BIOS In computing, BIOS (, ; Basic Input/Output System, also known as the System BIOS, ROM BIOS, BIOS ROM or PC BIOS) is firmware used to provide runtime services for operating systems and programs and to perform hardware initialization during the ...

manufacturer founded in 1983, by Rene Vishney and Bob Stillman in San Jose, California. In 1984 the company moved its international headquarters to Los Gatos,

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

History

In 1988, Bob Stillmen left the company. The company was privately held by Rene Vishney (Chairman of the Board) and his wife Deborah Lee (Marlow) Vishney (Chief Executive Officer). In 1993, it was sold to Taiwan company GCH Systems Ltd. (now defunct). On 24 October 1996, Award Software International Inc. announced its initial public offering. On 16 June 1997, Award Software International Inc. announced the acquisition of BIOS upgrades provider Unicore Software, Inc. making it a subsidiary of Award. On 16 April 1998, Phoenix Technologies Ltd. and Award Software International Inc. announced the completion of a definitive merger agreement, where Phoenix Technologies Ltd. would become the surviving corporate entity following the merger completion on 30 June 1998. The merger was completed on 28 September 1998.

After merger

After the Phoenix–Award merger, later revisions of Award BIOS still attribute copyright to Award Software Inc instead of Phoenix Technologies Ltd., including the UEFI firmware.

Subsidiaries

*Award Software Europe *Award Software Hong Kong, Ltd *Award Software Japan, KK: Established in 1997-06-03. *Award Software International, Inc. *Unicore Software, Inc.

Products

ROCKY-518HV - Atmel AT29C010A with Award BIOS-2381

*AwardBIOS: It is a BIOS developed by Award Software, and later Phoenix Technologies. *CardWare: It is a PC Card software product. *EliteBIOS: It is the system management software product that Award Software designs, develops and markets to the manufacturers of desktop, server, mobile and embedded systems. *PC DIAG: Diagnostic software *CheckIt POSTcard: Power On Self Test system

diagnostic board In ''electronic systems'' a diagnostic board is a specialized device with diagnostic circuitry on a printed circuit board that connects to a computer or other electronic equipment replacing an existing module, or plugging into an expansion card sl ...

**ISA POSTcard: ISA Diagnostic hardware **PCI POSTcard: PCI Diagnostic hardware *Preboot Manager *SMSAccess: System management software suite **DMIAccess:

Desktop Management Interface The Desktop Management Interface (DMI) generates a standard framework for managing and tracking components in a desktop, notebook or server computer, by abstracting these components from the software that manages them. The development of DMI, 2.0 ...

utilities **LMAccess: Microsoft Windows NT and Windows 95-based hardware status monitoring and alarm application **MPCAccess **RPBAccess: Remote, preboot diagnostic and repair software *USBAccess: It is a USB-host software targeted for consumer electronics and embedded device manufacturers. *WWWAccess: Product suite for Internet appliance applications using Intel x86 embedded design. **APIAccess: Integrates Win32 applications into real-time systems. Formerly

Willows Toolkit for UNIX Award Software International Inc. was a BIOS manufacturer founded in 1983, by Rene Vishney and Bob Stillman in San Jose, California. In 1984 the company moved its international headquarters to Los Gatos, California, United States. History In 1 ...

and

Willows RT for Embedded Systems Award Software International Inc. was a BIOS manufacturer founded in 1983, by Rene Vishney and Bob Stillman in San Jose, California. In 1984 the company moved its international headquarters to Los Gatos, California, United States. History In 1 ...

from

Willows Software The Application Programming Interface for Windows (APIW) Standard is a specification of the Microsoft Windows 3.1 API drafted by Willows Software. It is the successor to previously proposed Public Windows Interface standard. It was created in an att ...

.AWARD SOFTWARE INTERNATIONAL® INC. ACQUIRES WILLOWS SOFTWARE MIDDLEWARE FOR EMBEDDED, REAL-TIME AND UNIX SYSTEMS
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References

{{Reflist, 30em

External links