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

Chairman The chair, also chairman, chairwoman, or chairperson, 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 gro ...

and

Chief Executive Officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

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 until ...

Education

Palmer majored in Math and Physics at

Texas Tech University Texas Tech University (Texas Tech, Tech, or TTU) is a public university, public research university in Lubbock, Texas, United States. Established on February 10, 1923, and called Texas Technological College until 1969, it is the flagship instit ...

, 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 multinational semiconductor company headquartered in Dallas, Texas. It is one of the top 10 semiconductor companies worldwide based on sales volume. The company's focus is on developing analog ...

. 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 traces its origins to the Mitsubishi zaibatsu, a unified company that existed from 1870 to 194 ...

agreed to manufacture Digital's new Alpha 21066. In 1994, Digital sold its Rdb database software operations to

Oracle Corporation Oracle Corporation is an American Multinational corporation, multinational computer technology company headquartered in Austin, Texas. Co-founded in 1977 in Santa Clara, California, by Larry Ellison, who remains executive chairman, Oracle was ...

. In 1995, Digital and

Raytheon Raytheon is a business unit of RTX Corporation and is a major U.S. defense contractor and industrial corporation with manufacturing concentrations in weapons and military and commercial electronics. Founded in 1922, it merged in 2020 with Unite ...

formed a multiyear, multimillion-dollar agreement to upgrade the onboard computer of the US Navy's E-2C Hawkeye aircraft. On 30 August 1995, Digital announced the sale of their text terminals business to SunRiver Data Systems, who changed their name to

Boundless Technologies SunRiver Data Systems was a division of SunRiver Corporation, a private company founded in 1986 in Jackson, Mississippi by four electrical engineers (Ronnie Hughes, Bill Long, Kester Rice, and Gerald Youngblood), all former employees of Diversi ...

in August 1996. In 1997, Digital sold its printing systems business to Virginia-based

GENICOM GENICOM Corporation 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 ...

. In 1997, Digital sued

Intel Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California, and Delaware General Corporation Law, incorporated in Delaware. Intel designs, manufactures, and sells computer compo ...

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

Pentium Pentium is a series of x86 architecture-compatible microprocessors produced by Intel from 1993 to 2023. The Pentium (original), original Pentium was Intel's fifth generation processor, succeeding the i486; Pentium was Intel's flagship proce ...

microprocessor A microprocessor is a computer processor (computing), processor for which the data processing logic and control is included on a single integrated circuit (IC), or a small number of ICs. The microprocessor contains the arithmetic, logic, a ...

countersued, accusing Digital of violating 14

patents. To settle the litigation, Digital sold its

semiconductor A semiconductor is a material with electrical conductivity between that of a conductor and an insulator. Its conductivity can be modified by adding impurities (" doping") to its crystal structure. When two regions with different doping level ...

production operations to

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

Cabletron Cabletron Systems, Inc., 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 Irelan ...

. 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 was an American information technology, information technology company founded in 1982 that developed, sold, and supported computers and related products and services. Compaq produced some of the first IBM PC compati ...

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 corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California and maintains significant operations in Austin, Texas. AMD is a Information technology, hardware and F ...

Inc. (AMD),

SEMATECH SEMATECH (from Semiconductor Manufacturing Technology) was a not-for-profit consortium that performed research and development to advance chip manufacturing. SEMATECH involved collaboration between various sectors of the R&D community, includin ...

, 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. About The Semiconductor Industry Association (SI ...

, 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 e ...

, 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), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...

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 i ...

for his commitment to innovation throughout his career.

References

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