Peter Schnell

Last updated

Peter M. Schnell (* 10 June 1938 in Berlin) [1] is a German computer scientist, founder of Software AG and long-time chairman of the Vorstand , executive board.

Contents

Life

He grew up in Alsbach-Hähnlein near Darmstadt. Schnell was impressed by the IBM 650, the first commercial mainframe computer that Alwin Walther had procured for Technische Universität Darmstadt (TU Darmstadt). He then studied physics and mathematics at TU Darmstadt. In 1965 he graduated with a diplom in mathematics under Walther. Already as a student he gave courses in programming languages and worked as a freelance programmer for Euratom and at the German Computer Center in Darmstadt. [1] [2]

He was one of the best Go players in Europe. [1] [3]

Software AG

In 1969, together with five other colleagues from the Institute for Applied Information Processing (AIV), Schnell founded Software AG in Darmstadt out of a garage with a starting capital of 6.000 German Mark and several patents. Among the colleagues was Peter Pagé, who left the company in 1992 after differences with Schnell. In the company, Schnell designed and developed the Adabas (Adaptable Database System) database management system. The mathematician based his concept on the NF² database model (NF² stands for NFNF = non first normal form). In 1971, the high-performance system was put into operation for the first time at Westdeutsche Landesbank. Schnell was responsible for the maintenance and further development of Adabas for mainframe systems of IBM and Siemens AG. The system was later used by numerous customers on the operating system platforms VMS from DEC, various Unix systems, Linux and Windows. Adabas is the fastest commercially available database management system in the world. [1] [2]

In 1996, the sole shareholder retired from the Vorstand of Software AG and did not move to the supervisory board. At that time, Software AG had 28 subsidiaries in 80 countries, more than 3,300 employees were employed and sales revenues at that time amounted to approximately 800 million German Mark. [1]

Schnell then became a founder of the Software AG Foundation, one of the largest private foundations in Germany with headquarters in Darmstadt. The foundation holds 29 percent of the shares of Software AG. Soon after leaving his company, he devoted himself entirely to the foundation's work. He is an anthroposophist, and the foundation supports projects in the field of youth, elderly and disabled work as well as in science, research, education and nature conservation, including the University of Witten-Herdecke and the Alanus University of Arts and Social Sciences in Bonn. Schnells work was strongly influenced by the teaching of Rudolf Steiner. One motive for Schnells social commitment was that he himself has two sons with intellectual disabilities. [1] [2] [4] [5]

Awards

In 2002 he was awarded the Medal for Services to the Foundation System of the Federal Association of German Foundations for his foundation work by the President of Germany Johannes Rau. [1] On 7 May 2009, Schnell was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit, 1st class. [6]

He received an honorary doctorate from the Witten/Herdecke University. [7]

Related Research Articles

Mainframe computer Computers used primarily by large organizations for business-critical applications

A mainframe computer, informally called a mainframe or big iron, is a computer used primarily by large organizations for critical applications like bulk data processing for tasks such as censuses, industry and consumer statistics, enterprise resource planning, and large-scale transaction processing. A mainframe computer is large but not as large as supercomputer and has more processing power than some other classes of computers, such as minicomputers, servers, workstations, and personal computers. Most large-scale computer-system architectures were established in the 1960s, but they continue to evolve. Mainframe computers are often used as servers.

Adabas, a contraction of “adaptable database system," is a database package that was developed by Software AG to run on IBM mainframes. It was launched in 1971 as a non-relational database. As of 2019, Adabas is marketed for use on a wider range of platforms, including Linux, Unix, and Windows.

Founded in 1969, Software AG is an enterprise software company with over 10,000 enterprise customers in over 70 countries. The company is the second largest software vendor in Germany, and the seventh largest in Europe. Software AG is traded on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange under the symbol “SOW” and part of the technology index TecDAX.

Model 204 (M204) is a database management system for IBM and compatible mainframe computers developed and commercialized by Computer Corporation of America. It was announced in 1965, and first deployed in 1972. It incorporates a programming language and an environment for application development. Implemented in assembly language for IBM System/360 and its successors, M204 can deal with very large databases and transaction loads of 1000 TPS.

Technische Universität Darmstadt German research university

The Technische Universität Darmstadt, commonly known as TU Darmstadt, is a research university in the city of Darmstadt, Germany. It was founded in 1877 and received the right to award doctorates in 1899. In 1882, it was the first university in the world to set up a chair in electrical engineering. In 1883, the university founded the first faculty of electrical engineering and introduced the world's first degree course in electrical engineering. In 2004, it became the first German university to be declared as an autonomous university. TU Darmstadt has assumed a pioneering role in Germany. Computer science, electrical engineering, artificial intelligence, mechatronics, business informatics, political science and many more courses were introduced as scientific disciplines in Germany by Darmstadt faculty.

Cullinet was a software company whose products included the database management system IDMS and the integrated software package Goldengate. In 1989, the company was bought by Computer Associates. Cullinet was headquartered at 400 Blue Hill Drive in Westwood, Massachusetts.

In IBM System z9 and successor mainframes, the System z Integrated Information Processor (zIIP) is a special purpose processor. It was initially introduced to relieve the general mainframe central processors (CPs) of specific DB2 processing loads, but currently is used to offload other z/OS workloads as described below. The idea originated with previous special purpose processors, the zAAP, which offloads Java processing, and the IFL, which runs Linux and z/VM but not other IBM operating systems such as z/OS, DOS/VSE and TPF. A System z PU is "characterized" as one of these processor types, or as a CP, or SAP. These processors do not contain microcode or hardware features that accelerate their designated workloads. Instead, by relieving the general CP of particular workloads, they often lead to a higher workload throughput at reduced license fees.

The history of operating systems running on IBM mainframes is a notable chapter of history of mainframe operating systems, because of IBM's long-standing position as the world's largest hardware supplier of mainframe computers.

Open Mainframe Project is a Collaborative Project managed by the Linux Foundation to encourage the use of Linux-based operating systems and open source software on mainframe computers. The project was announced on August 17, 2015 and was driven by IBM, a major supplier of mainframe hardware, as well as 16 other founding members, that included SUSE, CA Technologies, BMC Software, Compuware as well as clients and partners such as RSM Partner, Vicom Infinity, L3C LLP and ADP, and academic institutions such as Marist College and University of Bedfordshire. Coincident with the announcement, IBM also announced a partnership with Canonical to make the Ubuntu operating system available for their high-end z Systems hardware.

Thomas Weiland is a German physicist, engineer and university lecturer. He is Professor of Electrical Engineering at the Department of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology of the Technische Universität Darmstadt in Germany. He was named a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) in 2012 for his development of the finite integration technique and impact of the associated software on electromagnetic engineering.

Alwin Walther German mathematician

Alwin Oswald Walther was a German mathematician, engineer and professor. He is one of the pioneers of mechanical computing technology in Germany.

ATHENE, formerly Center for Research in Security and Privacy (CRISP), is the national research center for IT security and privacy in Germany and the largest research center for IT security in Europe. The research center is located in Darmstadt and deals with key issues of IT security in the digitization of government, business and society.

The IT cluster Rhine-Main-Neckar, also known as Silicon Valley of Germany, is one of the most important locations of the IT and high-tech industry worldwide. It is concentrated in the Rhine-Main and Rhine-Neckar metropolitan regions. The IT cluster Rhine-Main-Neckar is the largest IT cluster in Europe. 50 percent of the worldwide revenue of the hundred largest European software companies are generated by companies in this region. The Rhine-Main-Neckar region also has one of the most important biopharmaceutical, fintech, finance and consulting clusters in Europe.

The Department of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology (etit) is a department of the Technische Universität Darmstadt. It was the first faculty of electrical engineering in the world and offered the first course of study in electrical engineering.

The Department of Computer Science is a department of the Technische Universität Darmstadt. With a total of 36 professorships and about 3,700 students in 12 study courses, the Department of Computer Science is the largest department of the university. The department shapes the two research profile areas "Cybersecurity (CYSEC)" and "Internet and Digitization (InDi)" of the university.

Ralf Steinmetz is a German computer scientist and electrical engineer. He is professor of multimedia communication at the Technische Universität Darmstadt.

Robert Piloty was a German computer scientist and former Professor of Communications Processing at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering of the Technische Universität Darmstadt. He was one of the pioneers in the construction of program-controlled computer systems and the founding father of computer science courses in Germany. As a member of the advisory board and chairman of the commission for the introduction of computer science studies in Germany, he was significantly involved in the introduction and design of computer science studies throughout Germany. His efforts also led to the establishment of the first computer science course in Germany at TU Darmstadt.

Mira Mezini is a German computer scientist and Professor of Computer Science at the Department of Computer Science of the Technische Universität Darmstadt. She heads the software engineering group.

Peter Pagé was a German software pioneer. He joined Software AG in Darmstadt in 1971 as one of 6 employees and in 1975 became Vice President of Software AG. Page developed NATURAL as the first fourth-generation programming language, which was instrumental in Software AG's success.

System 2000 (S2K) is a hierarchical database management system (DBMS). Although not a relational database, S2K does have SQL support. In 2007 it was noted that, while still 'running on systems cranking away in back rooms across the U.S.' it has a problem: "there's little curriculum coverage anymore at universities teaching computer science."

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Peter Schnell - Munzinger Biographie". www.munzinger.de. Retrieved 2019-11-24.
  2. 1 2 3 "Software AG". www.darmstadt-stadtlexikon.de. Retrieved 2019-11-24.
  3. ↑ Auch in Darmstadt wird Go gespielt. Darmstädter Tagblatt, 27./28. September 1958, Page 5
  4. ↑ Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung 27. Februar 2011, Nr. 8, S. 40, "Der Anthroposoph"
  5. ↑ "Eine Begegnung mit Peter M.Schnell". www.ruedigersuenner.de. Retrieved 2019-11-24.
  6. ↑ "Die wichtigsten deutschen IT-Persönlichkeiten: Die Hall of Fame der IT". www.computerwoche.de (in German). Retrieved 2019-11-24.
  7. ↑ "Ehrendoktor für Softwarepionier und Wissenschaftsförderer". idw-online.de. Retrieved 2019-11-24.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.