Tartan Laboratories
| File:Tartan Laboratories logo from cover.jpg | |
| Company type | Privately held |
|---|---|
| Industry | Computer software |
| Founded | 1981 |
| Founder |
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| Fate | Acquired in Template:End date and age |
| Successors |
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| Headquarters | , |
| Products | Language compilers |
| Revenue | about $8 million |
Number of employees | about 80 |
Tartan Laboratories, Inc., later known as Tartan, Inc., was a U.S.-based software firm established in 1981 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The company specialized in developing programming language compilers, with a particular emphasis on the Ada language. Originating from research at Carnegie Mellon University, Tartan transitioned from performing contract work to focusing on commercial products. It was acquired by Texas Instruments in 1996, with portions of the business subsequently sold to DDC-I in 1998.
Company founding and initial history
The inception of Tartan traces back to Carnegie Mellon University computer science professors and entrepreneurs William A. Wulf, who served as chairman, president, and CEO; Anita K. Jones, vice president of engineering; along with visiting professor John Nestor, who brought prior experience from Ada language design at Intermetrics. Early financial backing was secured from a venture capital firm based in New York, followed by investments from Pittsburgh’s own PNC Financial Corporation and Morgenthaler Ventures, where David Morgenthaler held a board position.
Tartan’s first offices were located within a converted warehouse situated in Pittsburgh’s Oakland district. In 1983, the company became involved in initiatives aimed at shifting Pittsburgh’s economic base toward high technology sectors under the leadership of Governor Dick Thornburgh.
The firm commercialized advanced optimizing compilers derived from the Production Quality Compiler-Compiler Project (PQCC) developed at Carnegie Mellon. Its offerings included native Ada compilers for platforms such as the VAX running VMS and the Sun-3 series operating under SunOS. Additionally, it produced embedded system cross-compilers targeting processors like the MIL-STD-1750A, Motorola 680x0, and later the Intel i960. Tartan also maintained the DIANA intermediate representation utilized within Ada development tools and created compilers supporting C and Modula-2 languages. Among its innovations was a microcode compiler for Intel designed to enhance microcode performance.
By early 1985, Tartan’s workforce numbered approximately 60 employees with payroll expenses exceeding $2 million. The company had attracted more than $9 million in venture capital funding by that time and was regarded as a prominent high-tech enterprise contributing to Pittsburgh’s economic diversification efforts. In 1986, Tartan hosted an ACM SIGAda conference.
In 1987, Tartan partnered with Rational Software, a developer of integrated development environments, to jointly create a product targeting the 1750A processor by leveraging Tartan’s code generation technology. This Ada compiler for the 1750A received acclaim within the industry for producing highly optimized code. By then, total venture capital investment had grown to $11 million.
Both original founders exited the company by 1988: Anita Jones departed in 1987 and William Wulf followed in 1988; both proceeded to distinguished careers in government service and academia after their time at Tartan.
Shift in focus and corporate identity
Beginning in 1985, Tartan established a significant partnership with Texas Instruments, and by 1988, the company concentrated on developing Ada cross-compilers tailored for digital signal processing (DSP) hardware, particularly the Texas Instruments TMS320 C3x and C4x series of processors. This positioned Tartan as the pioneer in certifying Ada compilers specifically for DSP platforms.
During the late 1980s, Tartan encountered major obstacles such as delays in product launches and challenges in sales, which led to revenue deficits and an increased dependence on contract development projects. Although the firm had secured $15 million in venture capital funding by 1989, it had yet to achieve a profitable quarter. Donald Evans, then President and CEO, recognized that maintaining support for multiple compiler languages was an ineffective approach and redirected efforts toward marketing Ada compilers primarily to government and defense clients. Simultaneously, in 1989, the company moved its headquarters from Pittsburgh to Monroeville, Pennsylvania.
After Evans retired, Lee B. Ehrlichman took over as president and CEO in 1990, renaming the organization Tartan, Inc. to signify its transition from a research-focused entity to a commercial enterprise. Ehrlichman streamlined the engineering workforce while bolstering marketing and sales departments, focusing on three key compiler product lines—including those for the C3x and i960 processors—where competitive pressures were minimal. At this stage, Tartan employed approximately 70 people and generated estimated annual revenues between $7 million and $8 million.
The company’s personnel included influential contributors to Ada language standardization efforts such as Erhard Ploedereder and Joyce L. Tokar. Tartan played a leading role in the U.S. Air Force-backed Common Ada Runtime System (CARTS) initiative, which advanced the development of standardized interfaces for Ada runtime environments.
By the middle of the 1990s, Tartan’s workforce had expanded beyond 80 employees. Ehrlichman continued as CEO until 1995 before Jaime Ellertson assumed leadership.
Acquisition and subsequent developments
In 1996, Texas Instruments acquired Tartan, directing its efforts toward creating applications for TI’s DSP products. In March 1998, DDC-I secured rights from Texas Instruments to develop, market, and sell Tartan Ada cross-compilers targeting MIL-STD-1750A, Motorola 680x0, and Intel i960 processor families—platforms that TI had deprioritized. DDC-I continued offering these Ada compilers within its product lineup well into the 2010s.
Texas Instruments initially retained ownership of the Ada cross-compilers designed for its DSP architectures but closed the Monroeville facility in 2003, shifting operations internationally. Subsequently, TI licensed the remaining Ada compilers for the C3x/C4x DSP processors to Tartan Software, Inc., headquartered in Fombell, Pennsylvania. In 2018, ownership of the Tartan Ada product range transferred to Tartan Ada LLC located in New Kensington, Pennsylvania, which remains responsible for providing ongoing support, maintenance services, and runtime licensing.
External links
- , DDC-I, Inc.; cross-compilers for CPUs
- , Tartan Ada LLC; cross-compilers for DSPs
- Oral history interview with William A. Wulf, Charles Babbage Institute, University of Minnesota Digital Conservancy
- American companies established in 1981
- American companies disestablished in 1996
- Software companies established in 1981
- Software companies disestablished in 1996
- Software companies based in Pennsylvania
- Defunct software companies of the United States
- Companies based in Pittsburgh
- Ada (programming language)
- Companies of the United States by year of establishment