Micro Channel Developers Association

{{Infobox company

| name=Micro Channel Developers Association

| fate=Dissolved

| defunct={{end date and age|1997}}

| founded={{start date and age|1990|10}}

| website={{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/19970405101340/http://www.microchanneldepot.com/|date=April 5, 1997|title=microchanneldepot.com}}

}}

The Micro Channel Developers Association (MCDA) was a consortium of computer manufacturers that sought to consider and prioritize steps in the maturation of the Micro Channel architecture, as well as to explore better approaches to disseminating technical information about Micro Channel to third parties.{{cite journal | last=Scannell | first=Ed | date=November 19, 1990 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wFAEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA5 | title=MCA Group to Spread Information, Help | journal=InfoWorld | publisher=IDG Publications | volume=12 | issue=47 | page=5 | via=Google Books}}

History

Micro Channel was a computer bus architecture introduced by International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) with their Personal System/2 family of computers in 1987. Intended as the replacement to the de facto Industry Standard Architecture IBM pioneered with the IBM PC, Micro Channel was met with backlash over IBM's exuberant licensing costs, and several computer companies, most influentially Compaq, formed a committee that developed the Extended Industry Standard Architecture (EISA) in 1988. EISA saw popularity in workstations and desktop servers in the following years. While PS/2s also enjoyed modest success in those markets, Micro Channel was seldom licensed for official clones during its first years, leading to a perception of IBM among peripheral manufacturers as a domineering patent holder.{{cite journal | last=Staff writer | date=October 8, 1990 | url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A9487341/GPS?sid=wikipedia | title=IBM, allies band together for Micro Channel presence | journal=PC Week | publisher=Ziff-Davis | volume=7 | issue=40 | page=163 | via=Gale}} The Micro Channel Developers Association was formed in October 1990 as a response to this perception and EISA's emergence.{{cite news | last=Staff writer | date=October 9, 1990 | url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/427854206/ | title=14 Computer Companies Push for Standard | work=The New York Times | agency=Reuters | page=D4 | via=ProQuest}}

Membership in the MCDA carried an annual fee of $2,500. EISA manufacturers were not barred from entrance or invitation; spokespersons for MCDA contacted Compaq, lead architect of EISA, to join their consortium, as they did to EISA co-founders Olivetti and NEC. Out of the over 800 companies developing Micro Channel products (at least those assigned numerical vendor IDs by IBM, to be read by the IBM's BIOS for MCA machines), only 14 comprised the Micro Channel Developers Association on its formation. This included IBM, Intel, Chips and Technologies, NCR Corporation, Olivetti, Apricot Computers, Western Digital, Siemens Nixdorf, AOX Inc., Reply Corporation, Core International, Cumulus Corporation, and National Software Testing Laboratories.{{cite journal | last=Staff writer | date=October 15, 1990 | url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A9519759/GPS?sid=wikipedia | title=13 CPU, semicon firms form group to back IBM's MCA | journal=Chilton's Electronic News | publisher= Sage Publications | volume=36 | number=1831 | page=43 | via=Gale}} NEC later joined, in November that year.{{cite journal | last=Lapedus | first=Mark | date=November 19, 1990 | url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A9619999/GPS?sid=wikipedia | title=IBM turns up heat in MCA-EISA fight | journal=Chilton's Electronic News | publisher=Sage Publications | volume=36 | number=1836 | page=1 | via=Gale}} MCDA grew to 92 member companies by the first quarter of 1992.{{cite journal | last= | first= | date=March 30, 1992 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ioRslYZXVkAC&pg=RA1-PA28 | title=Micro Channel Architecture Compatibility Assurance | journal=Computerworld | publisher=IDG Publications | page=28 | volume=XXVI | number=13 | via=Google Books}}

Even after IBM discontinued Micro Channel and the PS/2 in July 1995,{{cite journal |last1=Singh |first1=Jai |title=MCA, PS/2 bite the dust; OS/2 to follow? |journal=InfoWorld |date=April 10, 1995 |volume=17 |issue=15 |page=3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oToEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA3}} the Micro Channel Developers Association still oversaw the development of hundreds of MCA cards and peripherals as late as May 1996, owing to its widespread use in IBM's line of RS/6000 servers and workstations.{{cite journal | last=English | first=Erin | date=May 24, 1996 | url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A18385219/GPS?sid=wikipedia | title=MCA still receiving strong support | journal=Midrange Systems | publisher= 1105 Media | volume=9 | issue=8 | page=17 | via=Gale}} The consortium fizzled in 1997, however.{{cite web | last= | first= | date= | url=https://opencorporates.com/companies/us_ca/C1949224 | title=Micro Channel Developers Association Inc. | publisher=OpenCorporates | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20220802055552/https://opencorporates.com/companies/us_ca/C1949224 | archivedate=August 2, 2022}}

Member list

;March 1992

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References

External links

{{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/19961221081527/http://microchannel.inter.net/|date=December 21, 1996|title=Official website}}
{{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/19970405101340/http://www.microchanneldepot.com/|date=April 5, 1997|title=Official website}}

Category:1990 establishments in the United States

Category:1997 disestablishments in the United States

Category:Computer-related introductions in 1990

Category:Technology consortia

Category:Organizations established in 1990

Category:Organizations disestablished in 1997

Category:IBM PS/2