Evergreen Technologies
{{Short description|Defunct American computer company}}
{{Infobox company
| name=Evergreen Technologies, Inc.
| logo=Evergreen Technologies logo.svg
| industry=Computer
| type=Private
| num_employees=70 (1997)
| founded={{start date and age|1989}} in Corvallis, Oregon
| defunct={{end date and age|2005}}
| fate=Dissolution
}}
Evergreen Technologies, Inc., was a privately owned computer company active from 1989 to 2005 that manufactured a wide variety CPU upgrade chips for x86-based personal computers.{{cite journal | last=Rosch | first=Winn L. | date=November 8, 1994 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r-5Zq-uW-N8C&pg=PA146 | title=Evergreen Technologies Inc.: Rev to 486; Rev to DX4 | journal=PC Magazine | publisher=Ziff-Davis | volume=13 | issue=19 | page=146 | via=Google Books}} Based in Corvallis, Oregon, the company enjoyed a heyday in the 1990s, becoming a market leader in the CPU upgrade segment.{{rp|80}}
History
File:Evergreen Technologies Inc., 486 SuperChip (16118395508).jpg
Evergreen Technologies was founded in 1989 by Kenneth "Mike" Magee in Corvallis, Oregon.{{cite journal | last=Williams | first=Elisa | date=December 28, 1998 | url=http://www.oregonlive.com/technw/9812/tn98122804.html | title=Evergreen: Vision spurs perennial success | journal=The Oregonian | page=D2 | archiveurl=https://archive.today/19991211223830/http://www.oregonlive.com/technw/9812/tn98122804.html | archivedate=December 11, 1999}}{{cite journal | last=Jefferson | first=Steve | author2=Andy Nelson | date=July 8, 1996 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ET0EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA80 | title=Salvaging sunken chips | journal=InfoWorld | publisher=IDG Publications | volume=18 | issue=28 | pages=72–88 | via=Google Books}}{{rp|80}} Before founding Evergreen, Magee previously worked as vice president of Software Support Services, a Corvallis-based software vendor; he had also previously founded M.S. Systems, Inc., a computer store in Corvallis.{{cite journal | last=Moeller | first=Katy | date=June 23, 1997 | url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/corvallis-gazette-times-cashing-in-on-ch/129179414/ | title=Cashing In on Chips | journal=Corvallis Gazette-Times | page=C1, [https://www.newspapers.com/article/corvallis-gazette-times-cashing-in-on-ch/129179424/ C2] | via=Newspapers.com}}{{cite book | last=Anderson | first=Ronald E. | author2=David R. Sullivan | date=1988 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uXMTQwZKm38C | title=World of Computing | publisher=Houghton Mifflin Company | page=184 | isbn=9780395435540 | via=Google Books}}{{rp|C1}} The company's first product, a CPU upgrade module that allowed motherboards with Intel 80286 processors to be upgraded to i386 processors, first shipped in May 1990. In 1992, Evergreen introduced the 486 SuperChip, a CPU upgrade module featuring Cyrix's Cx486 processor that allowed 286-class machines to achieve close to i486-level performance.{{cite journal | last=Fisher | first=Susan E. | date=May 11, 1992 | url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A12139196/GPS?sid=wikipedia | title=Evergreen module brings 486SX power to 286 users | journal=PC Week | publisher=Ziff-Davis | volume=9 | issue=19 | page=33 | via=Gale}} Evergreen later signed a contract with IBM allowing the latter to capitalize on Evergreen's patents and circuit-board layouts for their 486 upgrade modules, in 1994.{{cite journal | date=November 11, 1994 | url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/416824045/ | title=Tech Week | journal=The Oregonian | page=E2 | via=ProQuest}}
At their heyday in the 1990s, Evergreen's largest competitors included Intel themselves, with their i486 and Pentium OverDrive chips, and Kingston Technology, with their TurboChip.{{rp|76}} Sales in Evergreen's upgrade modules grew 159-fold between 1993 and 1998; the company sold roughly 40 percent of their products to international buyers.{{rp|C1}} By mid-1997, Evergreen had expanded to possess four buildings in Corvallis, a manufacturing plant in Portland, Oregon, a sales office in New York City and a regional office in Swindon, England.{{rp|C1}} Between all locations, the company employed roughly 70 workers in that year.{{rp|C1–C2}}
In early 1999, the company introduced the AcceleraPCI (codenamed the EclipsePCI), an upgrade expansion card allowing motherboards with the Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus—with processors ranging from late-model DX4s to Pentiums to Pentium Pros—to be outfit with P6-based Celeron processors.{{cite journal | last=Joyce | first=Edmund K. | date=December 30, 1998 | url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-sacramento-bee-big-speed-tiny-packa/129178769/ | title=Big speed, tiny package | journal=The Sacramento Bee | page=C3 | via=Newspapers.com}}{{cite journal | last=Ung | first=Gordon Mah | date=December 2000 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PgIAAAAAMBAJ&pg=PT88 | title=Upgrading for the Lazy | journal=Maximum PC | publisher=Future Publishing | volume=5 | issue=12 | page=83 | via=Google Books}} Development of the AcceleraPCI was Evergreen's most expensive undertaking to date and was highly publicized in the tech press.
Evergreen went defunct in 2005.{{cite web | date=n.d. | url=https://opencorporates.com/companies/us_or/18335182 | title=Evergreen Technologies, Inc. | publisher=OpenCorporates | archiveurl=https://archive.today/20230731055531/https://opencorporates.com/companies/us_or/18335182 | archivedate=July 31, 2023}}
References
{{reflist|colwidth=30em}}
External links
- {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/19961222032746/http://www.evertech.com/|title=Official website|date=December 22, 1996}}
Category:1989 establishments in Oregon
Category:2005 disestablishments in Oregon
Category:American companies established in 1989
Category:American companies disestablished in 2005
Category:Computer companies established in 1989
Category:Computer companies disestablished in 2005
Category:Defunct computer companies of the United States