Robert B. Palmer (born September 11, 1940) is an American businessman in the computer industry. Palmer was the final

Chairman The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the grou ...

and

Chief Executive Officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

Digital Equipment Corporation Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC ), using the trademark Digital, was a major American company in the computer industry from the 1960s to the 1990s. The company was co-founded by Ken Olsen and Harlan Anderson in 1957. Olsen was president unt ...

Education

Palmer majored in Math and Physics at

Texas Tech University Texas Tech University (Texas Tech, Tech, or TTU) is a public research university in Lubbock, Texas. Established on , and called Texas Technological College until 1969, it is the main institution of the five-institution Texas Tech University Sys ...

, Lubbock, Texas.

Career

Mostek Corporation

Palmer was a founder of Mostek Corporation, founded in 1969 by former employees of

Texas Instruments Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) is an American technology company headquartered in Dallas, Texas, that designs and manufactures semiconductors and various integrated circuits, which it sells to electronics designers and manufacturers globall ...

. Mostek manufactured logic, memory, and microprocessor chips. In 1980, United Technologies Corporation (UTC) acquired Mostek Corporation, and Palmer became executive vice president of semiconductor operations.

Digital Equipment Corporation

In 1985, Palmer joined Digital, and in 1992, he was appointed president and chief executive officer (CEO). From 1995 to 1998, Palmer served as chairman of the board until Digital was sold to Compaq.

Digital Equipment Corporation restructuring

From 1993 to 1998, Palmer undertook numerous restructurings, massive layoffs of more than 60,000 people, and plant closings, in an effort to remain competitive. In 1993,

Mitsubishi The is a group of autonomous Japanese multinational companies in a variety of industries. Founded by Yatarō Iwasaki in 1870, the Mitsubishi Group historically descended from the Mitsubishi zaibatsu, a unified company which existed from 1870 ...

agreed to manufacture Digital's new

Alpha 21066 Alpha (uppercase , lowercase ; grc, ἄλφα, ''álpha'', or ell, άλφα, álfa) is the first letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals, it has a value of one. Alpha is derived from the Phoenician letter aleph , whic ...

. In 1994, Digital sold its Rdb database software operations to

Oracle Corporation Oracle Corporation is an American multinational computer technology corporation headquartered in Austin, Texas. In 2020, Oracle was the third-largest software company in the world by revenue and market capitalization. The company sells da ...

. In 1995, Digital and

Raytheon Raytheon Technologies Corporation is an American multinational aerospace and defense conglomerate headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. It is one of the largest aerospace and defense manufacturers in the world by revenue and market capitaliza ...

formed a multiyear, multimillion-dollar agreement to upgrade the onboard computer of the US Navy's

E-2C Hawkeye The Northrop Grumman E-2 Hawkeye is an American all-weather, carrier-based aircraft, carrier-capable tactical Airborne early warning and control, airborne early warning (AEW) aircraft. This twin-turboprop aircraft was designed and developed duri ...

aircraft. In 1997, Digital sold its printing systems business to Virginia-based

GENICOM GENICOM was an American manufacturer of computer printers, based in Chantilly, Virginia. The company operated from 1982 to 2003. The GE years In 1954, General Electric (GE) decided to decentralize the company into separate business units. After re ...

. In 1997, Digital sued

Intel 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 seri ...

, accusing it of using some of Digital's patented technology to develop the

Pentium Pentium is a brand used for a series of x86 architecture-compatible microprocessors produced by Intel. The original Pentium processor from which the brand took its name was first released on March 22, 1993. After that, the Pentium II and Pe ...

microprocessor A microprocessor is a computer processor where the data processing logic and control is included on a single integrated circuit, or a small number of integrated circuits. The microprocessor contains the arithmetic, logic, and control circu ...

countersued, accusing Digital of violating 14

patents. To settle the litigation, Digital sold its

semiconductor A semiconductor is a material which has an electrical resistivity and conductivity, electrical conductivity value falling between that of a electrical conductor, conductor, such as copper, and an insulator (electricity), insulator, such as glas ...

production operations to

in 1998. In 1997, Digital sold its networking business to

Cabletron Cabletron Systems was a manufacturer of networking computer equipment throughout the 1980s and 1990s primarily based in Rochester, New Hampshire, in the United States. They also had manufacturing facilities in Ironton, Ohio, and in Ireland. Hist ...

. On 13 November 1997, Palmer announced that the corporate strategy would focus on the Internet in Enterprise Computing.

Sale of Digital to Compaq

In June 1998,

Compaq Compaq Computer Corporation (sometimes abbreviated to CQ prior to a 2007 rebranding) was an American information technology company founded in 1982 that developed, sold, and supported computers and related products and services. Compaq produced ...

paid approximately $9 billion to acquire Digital, and Palmer stepped down after negotiating the merger.

After Digital Equipment Corporation

Palmer has served on the boards of a number of companies, including

Advanced Micro Devices Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD) is an American multinational semiconductor company based in Santa Clara, California, that develops computer processors and related technologies for business and consumer markets. While it initially manufact ...

Inc. (AMD),

SEMATECH SEMATECH (from Semiconductor Manufacturing Technology) is a not-for-profit consortium that performs research and development to advance chip manufacturing. SEMATECH has broad engagement with various sectors of the R&D community, including chipma ...

, the

Semiconductor Industry Association The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) is a trade association and lobbying group founded in 1977 that represents the United States semiconductor industry. It is located in Washington, D.C. One of the main achievements of the SIA was the cr ...

, the

Semiconductor Research Corporation Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC), commonly known as SRC, is a high-technology research consortium active in the semiconductor industry. It is a leading semiconductor research consortium. Todd Younkin is the incumbent president and chief ...

, Cicada Semiconductor Inc., and NLine Corporation. Palmer is on the board of trustees of the Cooper Institute for Aerobic Research, a

non-profit A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

preventive medicine research and education organization.

Awards

In 1995 Robert Palmer was honored with an

Edison Achievement Award Edison Awards is an American company that runs an annual competition honoring excellence in innovation in a broad range of categories. Company The Edison Awards were established by the American Marketing Association in 1987 and has been an in ...

for his commitment to innovation throughout his career.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Palmer, Robert 1940 births Living people Texas Tech University alumni Digital Equipment Corporation people Businesspeople in computing American technology chief executives