William (Bill) Lamie (born 15 July 1961) is an American

software engineer Software engineering is a branch of both computer science and engineering focused on designing, developing, testing, and maintaining software applications. It involves applying engineering principles and computer programming expertise to develop ...

. He is known as the author of the

Nucleus Nucleus (: nuclei) is a Latin word for the seed inside a fruit. It most often refers to: *Atomic nucleus, the very dense central region of an atom *Cell nucleus, a central organelle of a eukaryotic cell, containing most of the cell's DNA Nucleu ...

ThreadX ThreadX is an embedded real-time operating system (RTOS) programmed mostly in the C language. It was originally released in 1997 as ThreadX when Express Logic first developed it, later it was renamed to Azure RTOS (2019) after Express Logic was ...

and PX5

real-time operating system A real-time operating system (RTOS) is an operating system (OS) for real-time computing applications that processes data and events that have critically defined time constraints. A RTOS is distinct from a time-sharing operating system, such as Unix ...

s (RTOS).

Early life and education

Lamie was born in Hawaii and grew up in

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural List of regions of California, region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its densely populated coastal reg ...

and then

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

. Bill started his Computer Science studies at

Central Michigan University Central Michigan University (CMU) is a Public university, public research university in Mount Pleasant, Michigan, United States. It was established in 1892 as a private normal school and became a state institution in 1895. CMU is one of the eigh ...

(CMU). His father Edward Lamie was a Computer Science professor and department head at CMU, where he first realized that Computer Science was his passion. In 1985, he completed his

Bachelor of Science in Computer Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

(BSCS) degree from

San Diego State University San Diego State University (SDSU) is a Public university, public research university in San Diego, California, United States. Founded in 1897, it is the third-oldest university and southernmost in the 23-member California State University (CS ...

(SDSU).

Business career

Lamie's area of expertise within the field of Computer Science lies in

s (RTOS). His interest in this field was sparked during his initial employment at Digital Wizards, a San Diego–based company. Digital Wizards provided the

US Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

an RTOS called Executive Operating System (EXOS), of which he was a major contributor. After EXOS, he worked for

Scientific Atlanta Scientific Atlanta, Inc. was a Georgia, United States–based manufacturer of cable television, telecommunications, and broadband equipment. Scientific Atlanta was founded in 1951 by a group of engineers from the Georgia Institute of Technology, ...

and then started consulting in the real-time, embedded arena.

Accelerated Technology (now part of
Siemens Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational technology conglomerate. It is focused on industrial automation, building automation, rail transport and health technology. Siemens is the largest engineering company in Europe, and holds the positi ...
)

In the late 1980s Lamie created the

Nucleus RTOS Nucleus RTOS is a real-time operating system (RTOS) produced by the Embedded Software Division of Mentor Graphics, a Siemens Business, supporting 32-bit computing, 32- and 64-bit computing, 64-bit embedded system platforms. The operating system (O ...

and co-founded Accelerated Technology (ATI), which is now part of Siemens Embedded. The Nucleus RTOS comprised two variants, namely

Nucleus RTX Nucleus RTOS is a real-time operating system (RTOS) produced by the Embedded Software Division of Mentor Graphics, a Siemens Business, supporting 32- and 64-bit embedded system platforms. The operating system (OS) is designed for real-time embedd ...

and

Nucleus PLUS Nucleus RTOS is a real-time operating system (RTOS) produced by the Embedded Software Division of Mentor Graphics, a Siemens Business, supporting 32- and 64-bit embedded system platforms. The operating system (OS) is designed for real-time embedd ...

. Nucleus PLUS offered dynamic object creation/deletion capabilities and a more extensive range of functionality compared to Nucleus RTX. As of 2023, the Nucleus RTOS has been employed in approximately 3 billion devices. In 1995, he made the decision to depart from Accelerated Technology.

Express Logic (now part of
Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...
)

In 1997, Lamie created a new real-time operating system known as

and co-founded Express Logic, a software development company. In 2019,

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...

acquired Express Logic, including the ThreadX technology. ThreadX gained recognition in the embedded industry for its advantages in terms of size, performance, and simplicity when compared to the Nucleus RTOS. According to VDC Research, ThreadX has been deployed in nearly 11 billion instances. Following the acquisition, Microsoft rebranded the technology as

Azure RTOS ThreadX is an embedded real-time operating system (RTOS) programmed mostly in the C language. It was originally released in 1997 as ThreadX when Express Logic first developed it, later it was renamed to Azure RTOS (2019) after Express Logic was ...

PX5

In 2022, Lamie left Microsoft and introduced a new RTOS known as the

PX5 RTOS PX5 RTOS is a real-time operating system (RTOS) designed for embedded systems. It is implemented using the ANSI C programming language. Overview The PX5 RTOS, created by William Lamie, is an embedded real-time operating system (RTOS) that was la ...

. The PX5 RTOS differentiates itself from ThreadX by leveraging data encapsulation and Pointer/Data Verification (PDV) techniques, resulting in notable benefits in terms of size, speed, and security. Moreover, the PX5 RTOS features a native implementation of the

POSIX The Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX; ) is a family of standards specified by the IEEE Computer Society for maintaining compatibility between operating systems. POSIX defines application programming interfaces (APIs), along with comm ...

pthreads In computing, POSIX Threads, commonly known as pthreads, is an execution model that exists independently from a programming language, as well as a parallel execution model. It allows a program to control multiple different flows of work that ov ...

API, an

IEEE The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is an American 501(c)(3) organization, 501(c)(3) public charity professional organization for electrical engineering, electronics engineering, and other related disciplines. The IEEE ...

standard, enabling code sharing across embedded

Linux Linux ( ) is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an kernel (operating system), operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically package manager, pac ...

platforms and reducing the need for additional engineering training. Subsequently, in January 2023, he established a new company named PX5.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lamie, William Living people American software engineers 1961 births

Early life and education

Business career

Accelerated Technology (now part of Siemens Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational technology conglomerate. It is focused on industrial automation, building automation, rail transport and health technology. Siemens is the largest engineering company in Europe, and holds the positi ...)

Express Logic (now part of Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...)

PX5

References

Accelerated Technology (now part of
Siemens Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational technology conglomerate. It is focused on industrial automation, building automation, rail transport and health technology. Siemens is the largest engineering company in Europe, and holds the positi ...
)

Express Logic (now part of
Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...
)