Avie Tevanian

Digital Library

ACM Software System Award

USA - 2014

Mach

citation

For the design and engineering of the Mach operating system, whose innovative approaches to virtual memory management and microkernel architecture established a foundation for later operating systems on personal computers, tablets, and mobile phones.

Mach has had a lasting influence on todays computing landscape. It pioneered the concepts of microkernel architecture and its impact can be traced through to operating systems such as NeXTSTEP, GNU Hurd, Mac OS X, iOS, OSF/1, Digital Unix and Tru64 Unix. Hundreds of millions of people still use Mach based operating systems thirty years after the project was first started. In addition to its impact in the area of microkernel design, the Mach project refined and popularized concepts around virtual memory management, hardware abstraction, binary compatibility, and process management. As lead developers of the Mach operating system, Richard F. Rashid and Avie Tevanian of CMU created a system that advanced the state of operating systems and led to practical, widespread adoption.
Press Release