HP OpenVMS Systems

Ask the Wizard Questions

EV name origin

The Question is:

How was the EV designator decided on for the Alpha 64-bit
chip and is there any supporting papers on this decision?

I seem to remember something about roasting pickles, but
that's it.

Thanks!

The Answer is:

The story goes that EV stood for Electric Vlasic, but the reality is
that it is derived from a very early name for the RISC project which
eventually became Alpha, EVAX.  Along the way, it became clear that
what was needed was not an "extended VAX" but a new approach, so the
EVAX name was dropped.  However, many people were using it in relation
to the project so some aspect of it stuck around.  In a similar
manner, the code name for VMS, STARLET, made its way into filenames on
the product system.