Calma

Calma Company, based in Sunnyvale, California, was, between 1965 and 1988, a vendor of digitizers and minicomputer-based graphics systems targeted at the cartographic and electronic, mechanical and architectural design markets.

In the electronic area, the company's best known products were GDS (an abbreviation for "Graphic Data System"), introduced in 1971, and GDS II, introduced in 1978. By the end of the 1970s, Calma systems were installed in virtually every major semiconductor manufacturing company.

The external format of the GDS II database, known as GDS II Stream Format, became a de facto standard for the interchange of IC mask information. The use of this format persisted into the 21st century, long after the demise of the GDS II computer system. In the integrated circuit industry jargon of 2008, "GDS II" referred no longer to the computer system, but to the format itself. Vendors of electronic design automation software often use the phrase "from RTL to GDSII" to imply that their system will take users from a high-level logic design to a completed integrated circuit layout ready for delivery to the mask vendor.

In the mechanical area, the DDM (for "Design Drafting and Manufacturing") product was introduced in 1977. It was later extended, under the name "Dimension III", to address the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) market. By 1983, these two products together accounted for 60% of Calma's revenue. [WEI08] Dimension III continued to be used as late as the late 1990s. [1]

Calma Company was incorporated in California on November 13, 1963. Its initial business was as a product distributor, continuing the business of a previously existing partnership of the same name. [UT78] The company took its name from its founders, Calvin and Irma Louise Hefte.

In 1965 Calma introduced the Calma Digitizer, a device consisting of a table-like surface with constrained cursor, whereby an operator could enter coordinate data from a paper drawing and have it turned into computer readable form.

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