Convergent Technologies was an American

computer A computer is a machine that can be programmed to Execution (computing), carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations (computation) automatically. Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic sets of operations known as C ...

company formed by a small group of people who left

Intel Corporation Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California. It is the world's largest semiconductor chip manufacturer by revenue, and is one of the developers of the x86 series ...

and

Xerox PARC PARC (Palo Alto Research Center; formerly Xerox PARC) is a research and development company in Palo Alto, California. Founded in 1969 by Jacob E. "Jack" Goldman, chief scientist of Xerox Corporation, the company was originally a division of Xero ...

in 1979. Among the founders were CEO Allen Michels, VP Engineering Bob Garrow, head of marketing Kal Hubler, and operating system architect Ben Wegbreit. Convergent was primarily an OEM vendor with their computers resold by other manufacturers such as ADP, AT&T, Burroughs,

Four-Phase Systems Four-Phase Systems was a computer company, founded by Lee Boysel and others, which built one of the earliest computers using semiconductor main memory and MOS LSI logic. The company was incorporated in February 1969 and had moderate commercial ...

Gould Gould may refer to: People * Gould (name), a surname Places United States * Gould, Arkansas, a city * Gould, Colorado, an unincorporated community * Gould, Ohio, an unincorporated community * Gould, Oklahoma, a town * Gould, West Virginia, a ...

Mohawk Mohawk may refer to: Related to Native Americans *Mohawk people, an indigenous people of North America (Canada and New York) *Mohawk language, the language spoken by the Mohawk people *Mohawk hairstyle, from a hairstyle once thought to have been t ...

, Monroe Data Systems, NCR, and

Prime A prime number (or a prime) is a natural number greater than 1 that is not a product of two smaller natural numbers. A natural number greater than 1 that is not prime is called a composite number. For example, 5 is prime because the only ways ...

. The company was purchased by

Unisys Unisys Corporation is an American multinational information technology (IT) services and consulting company headquartered in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania. It provides digital workplace solutions, cloud, applications, and infrastructure solutions, e ...

in 1988.

History

The Distributed Systems division was responsible for the IWS, AWS, and NGEN. In 1982, Convergent formed the Data Systems division to focus on a multi-processor computer known as the MegaFrame, "the first system upgradable from super-minicomputer to mainframe". The division was headed by Ben Wegbreit and also responsible for the MiniFrame.

Steve Blank Steve Blank (born 1953) is an American entrepreneur, educator, author and speaker based in Pescadero, California. Blank created the customer development method that launched the lean startup movement, a methodology that recognized that startups ...

, in charge of division marketing, went on to found several Silicon Valley startups, including E.piphany, and lectures on technology startups at

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

and elsewhere; Jon Huie was in charge of Software; Richard Lowenthal was in charge of Hardware. Convergent also formed the Advanced Information Products division, with Matt Sanders taking lead of the new division. He was tasked with developing a computer for the low-end market (price target $499). The "Ultra" team was assembled and their pioneering mobile computing product, the WorkSlate, released in November 1983. The Special Projects division was responsible for the AT&T products. Former

Hewlett-Packard The Hewlett-Packard Company, commonly shortened to Hewlett-Packard ( ) or HP, was an American multinational information technology company headquartered in Palo Alto, California. HP developed and provided a wide variety of hardware components ...

executive Paul C. Ely Jr. took over as CEO in January 1985. Michels, Sanders, Wegbreit, and another executive left in October 1985 to form The Dana Group. Shortly after, Convergent purchased 40% of Baron Data Systems for $14.6 million. Then purchased the remainder of Baron in May 1987, for $33 million. Convergent reached an agreement to acquire

3Com 3Com Corporation was an American digital electronics manufacturer best known for its computer network products. The company was co-founded in 1979 by Robert Metcalfe, Howard Charney and others. Bill Krause joined as President in 1981. Metcalfe ex ...

in March 1986, but the merger was called off at the last moment.

bought Convergent Technologies in 1988, after which Convergent Technologies became Unisys Network Computing Group (NCG).

Products

IWS

Introduced in 1980, Convergent's first product was the IWS (Integrated Workstation) based on a 5 MHz

Intel 8086 The 8086 (also called iAPX 86) is a 16-bit microprocessor chip designed by Intel between early 1976 and June 8, 1978, when it was released. The Intel 8088, released July 1, 1979, is a slightly modified chip with an external 8-bit data bus (allowi ...

microprocessor, with optional

Intel 8087 The Intel 8087, announced in 1980, was the first x87 floating-point coprocessor for the 8086 line of microprocessors. The purpose of the 8087 was to speed up computations for floating-point arithmetic, such as addition, subtraction, multiplicati ...

math coprocessor. The WS-110 integrated the processor, memory I/O, and video display control boards along with two

Multibus Multibus is a computer bus standard used in industrial systems. It was developed by Intel Corporation and was adopted as the IEEE 796 bus. The Multibus specification was important because it was a robust, well-thought out industry standard with ...

slots into a unique "lectern" situated next to the monitor and integrated into a common base. The WS-120 placed these boards along with five Multibus slots in a floor-standing enclosure. Floor-standing mass storage units would also be integrated into a system. The video hardware supported "soft fonts" allowing the character set to be changed in RAM rather than a fixed character set in ROM. Burroughs sold the IWS as the B22, NCR sold it as the WorkSaver 100, and Savin released the Information Station 2000.

AWS

Introduced in November 1981, the next product was a cost-reduced desktop version called the AWS (Application Workstation) utilizing an

Intel 8275 The Intel 8085 ("''eighty-eighty-five''") is an 8-bit microprocessor produced by Intel and introduced in March 1976. It is software-binary compatible with the more-famous Intel 8080 with only two minor instructions added to support its added in ...

CRT controller instead of the custom video board used in the IWS. The IWS and AWS were compatible and ran in an

RS-422 RS-422, also known as TIA/EIA-422, is a technical standard originated by the Electronic Industries Alliance that specifies electrical characteristics of a digital signaling circuit. It was meant to be the foundation of a suite of standards that ...

clustered environment under the proprietary

Convergent Technologies Operating System The Convergent Technologies Operating System, also known variously as CTOS, BTOS and STARSYS, is a discontinued modular, message-passing, multiprocess-based operating system. Overview CTOS had many innovative features for its time. System access ...

(CTOS). In December 1982, Convergent announced the AWS Turbo Color Graphics Workstation using the

NEC 7220 is a Japanese multinational information technology and electronics corporation, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo. The company was known as the Nippon Electric Company, Limited, before rebranding in 1983 as NEC. It provides IT and network soluti ...

graphics controller with 128 KB display memory. The AWS was sold by Burroughs as the B21, by

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as the Corail B4000, by

Prime Computer Prime Computer, Inc. was a Natick, Massachusetts-based producer of minicomputers from 1972 until 1992. With the advent of PCs and the decline of the minicomputer industry, Prime was forced out of the market in the early 1990s, and by the end of ...

as the Prime Producer 100 (a word processing workstation), by NCR as the WorkSaver 200, and by Savin as the Information Station 1000.

MegaFrame

Available in August 1983, the MegaFrame (S/1280) consisted of up to eight 10 MHz Motorola 68010-based "Application Processors" running UNIX System III-derived CTIX talking to 8 MHz Intel 80186-based I/O processor boards each running their own scaled-down versions of CTOS: File Processor ("fpCTOS"), Cluster Processor ("cpCTOS"), Terminal Processor ("tpCTOS"), and SMD/Storage Processor ("spCTOS"). Each processor had its own RAM: 512 KB to 4 MB for the Application Processors, and 256 KB to 768 KB for the I/O processors. Up to 36 boards could be installed in a system: six in the base enclosure, with another six per expansion enclosure (five expansion enclosures maximum). Each File Processor could support up to four disks. The MegaFrame was resold by Burroughs/Unisys as the XE550 running CENTIX and BTOS, and originally sold as the XE520 without the Application Processors. Motorola/Four-Phase resold the MegaFrame as the System 6600.

NGEN

The AWS was replaced by the modular NGEN (Next Generation) workstation in late 1983, based on the Intel 80186 microprocessor. To Burroughs (and Unisys) users the NGEN was known as the B25 and to Prime Computer users as the Prime Producer 200.

sold the NGEN as the Questar 400, and NCR sold it as the WorkSaver 300. The NGEN was also sold with an MS-DOS version running on top of CTOS. It was sold as the M1000 by McDonnell Douglas Computer Systems Company (previously known as

Microdata Corporation Microdata Corporation was an American minicomputer company which created the Reality product line featuring the Pick operating system. In its history, Microdata * was taken over by its international distributor CMC Leasings (December 1969), * w ...

) who included a copy of their Pick-based Reality

relational database A relational database is a (most commonly digital) database based on the relational model of data, as proposed by E. F. Codd in 1970. A system used to maintain relational databases is a relational database management system (RDBMS). Many relatio ...

which ran on MS-DOS.

Datapoint Datapoint Corporation, originally known as Computer Terminal Corporation (CTC), was a computer company based in San Antonio, Texas, United States. Founded in July 1968 by Phil Ray and Gus Roche, its first products were, as the company's initial ...

released the NGEN as the Vista-PC running MS-DOS.

Mohawk Data Sciences Mohawk Data Sciences Corporation (MDS) was an early computer hardware company, started by former Univac engineers in 1964; by 1985 they were struggling to sell-off part of their company. History The company was founded in Herkimer, New York, by ...

released the NGEN-based MDS HERO, and Telenorma/ Bosch released the Isy. Other OEMs were the Gould Power Station and A. B. Dick Knowledge Worker. Later models - the NGEN Series 286 (Burroughs B28), 386 (Burroughs B38), and 386i (Burroughs B39) - kept pace with Intel CPU development through the

Intel 80386 The Intel 386, originally released as 80386 and later renamed i386, is a 32-bit microprocessor introduced in 1985. The first versions had 275,000 transistors Intel 80486 The Intel 486, officially named i486 and also known as 80486, is a microprocessor. It is a higher-performance follow-up to the Intel 386. The i486 was introduced in 1989. It represents the fourth generation of binary compatible CPUs following the ...

was introduced in 1993 by Unisys, approximately 5 years after it had acquired Convergent Technologies.)

WorkSlate

Released in November 1983, the WorkSlate, an early tablet-style personal computer system, was designed and marketed by Convergent, with the industrial design done by

Mike Nuttall Mike Nuttall is a British designer who established Matrix Product Design in 1983 in Palo Alto, California. In 1991, his company merged with two other established design firms, David Kelley Design (founded by David M. Kelley, David Kelley) and ID ...

. It was 1" thick and the size of a sheet of paper. Its primary user interface was a spreadsheet. The WorkSlate utilized a mini-cassette for voice- and data-recording and for loading a range of pre-packaged add-on applications called TaskWare to handle jobs such as the management of personal expenses, calendars, etc. At that time there was no facility to download such "apps" over the Internet, so they were available only on the mini-cassettes. The WorkSlate was developed in a highly compressed twelve-month development cycle which resulted in inadequate testing and a sub-optimal product which sold poorly. It was discontinued in the summer of 1984.

MiniFrame

Convergent introduced the

Motorola 68010 The Motorola MC68010 processor is a 16/32-bit microprocessor from Motorola, released in 1982 as the successor to the Motorola 68000. It fixes several small flaws in the 68000, and adds a few features. The 68010 is pin-compatible with the 68000, ...

-based MiniFrame in May 1984 running CTIX. The MiniFrame came with 512 KB on the motherboard and could be extended with up to four stackable expansion boards (Ethernet, eight RS-232 ports, 512 KB memory boards), with a max of 2 MB RAM using three memory boards. The MiniFrame was used as the basis to develop the AT&T UNIX PC. NCR and Burroughs were two resellers of the MiniFrame. Gould sold the MiniFrame as the Powerstation 2000 running UTX/2000. Motorola resold the MiniFrame as the System 6300 under the

Series 6000. Motorola/Four-Phase pioneered development of international character support for Unix platforms for their

EMEA EMEA is a shorthand designation meaning Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The acronym is used by institutions and governments, as well as in marketing and business when referring to this region: it is a shorthand way of referencing the two ...

business using the CTOS/CTIX equipment.

AT&T UNIX PC

Convergent developed the first

OEM UNIX product for AT&T, the

AT&T UNIX PC The AT&T UNIX PC is a Unix desktop computer originally developed by Convergent Technologies (later acquired by Unisys), and marketed by AT&T Information Systems in the mid- to late-1980s. The system was codenamed "Safari 4" and is also known as th ...

, released in March 1985. The UNIX PC integrated a number features (Stream-based I/O, Multinational Language Support) to the Intel AT&T UNIX base (SVR3.2). Convergent also offered this machine directly as the S/50.

AT&T Personal Terminal 510

Convergent developed the integrated voice/data Personal Terminal 510A (analog) and 510D (digital) for AT&T, introduced in March 1985. The 510A was for use with POTS lines, and the 510D for use with the AT&T System 75/85 PBX. The terminals featured a unique gel-based 9" touch screen providing a soft, cushiony feel.

MightyFrame

Released in 1986, Convergent used the

Motorola 68020 The Motorola 68020 ("''sixty-eight-oh-twenty''", "''sixty-eight-oh-two-oh''" or "''six-eight-oh-two-oh''") is a 32-bit microprocessor from Motorola, released in 1984. A lower-cost version was also made available, known as the 68EC020. In keepin ...

and

68040 The Motorola 68040 ("''sixty-eight-oh-forty''") is a 32-bit microprocessor in the Motorola 68000 series, released in 1990. It is the successor to the 68030 and is followed by the 68060, skipping the 68050. In keeping with general Motorola nami ...

in their VME-based MightyFrame systems (S/80, S/120, S/221, S/222, S/280, S/320, S/480, S/640), all running CTIX.

Server PC

The 20-MHz 386-based Server PC running CTIX/386 (SVR3) was released in 1987. Merge 386 allowed Unix and DOS applications to run simultaneously, allowing the machine to function as both a PC server and 32-user Unix machine.

References

External links

Bitsavers.org: Convergent archive
{{Unisys 1988 mergers and acquisitions American companies established in 1979 American companies disestablished in 1988 Computer companies established in 1979 Computer companies disestablished in 1988 Defunct computer companies of the United States Defunct computer hardware companies Unisys Xerox spin-offs