Phar Lap Software
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Software development |
| Founded | April 1986 |
| Founder | Richard M. Smith, Robert Moote, John M. Benfatto |
| Fate | Acquired by IntervalZero (formerly Ardence) |
| Headquarters | Cambridge, Massachusetts , United States |
| Products | 386 |
Phar Lap Software, Inc. was a company focused on creating development tools for DOS operating systems. It gained recognition for its DOS extender technology, which allowed programs to surpass the conventional 640 KiB memory limitation in DOS, and for contributing to the establishment of the VCPI standard.
The firm was established in April 1986 by Richard M. Smith, Robert Moote, and John M. Benfatto. Its inaugural flagship product, released in November 1986, was 386|DOS-Extender, a 32-bit protected mode tool designed for software development.
Phar Lap broadened its offerings with products such as 386|VMM, a device driver providing virtual memory capabilities; LinkLoc, a linker-locator tailored for embedded system development; various cross-development tools for embedded platforms; and 286|DOS-Extender, which simulated an OS/2 environment delivering comprehensive OS/2 API support along with protected mode functionality—unlike Microsoft's partial OS/2 API emulation that operated in real mode. This made it especially suitable for OS/2 applications needing extended memory access within DOS. Subsequently, their TNT DOS extender emulated the Win32 environment, featuring flat address space and threading support, enabling early Win32 programs such as MASM 6.1 and Visual C++ 1.0 beta editions to run on Windows NT beta systems.
In collaboration with Quarterdeck Office Systems, Phar Lap developed the Virtual Control Program Interface (VCPI) and contributed to the committee responsible for defining the DOS Protected Mode Interface (DPMI). These standards facilitated compatibility between DOS extenders, expanded memory (EMS) emulators, and multitasking operating environments.
The company received several industry accolades recognizing VCPI, 386|DOS-Extender, and 286|DOS-Extender. Nevertheless, as 32-bit Windows applications emerged with the capability to directly access all PC memory, the demand for DOS extenders diminished.
Currently, Phar Lap operates under IntervalZero, formerly known as Ardence, which offers products including the Phar Lap ETS real-time operating system utilized in platforms such as LabVIEW real-time targets.
See also
- Fujitsu Towns OS, an MS-DOS variant incorporating Phar Lap's RUN386.EXE