Not to be confused with AOL Instant Messenger

AOL Instant Messenger

AOL Instant Messenger is an instant messaging and presence computer program which uses the proprietary OSCAR instant messaging protocol and the TOC protocol to allow registered users to communicate in real time. It was released by AOL in May 1997...

The AIM alliance was an alliance

Business alliance

A business alliance is an agreement between businesses, usually motivated by cost reduction and improved service for the customer. Alliances are often bounded by a single agreement with equitable risk and opportunity share for all parties involved and are typically managed by an integrated project...

 formed on October 2, 1991, between Apple Inc. (formerly Apple Computer), IBM, and Motorola

Motorola

Motorola, Inc. was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, which was eventually divided into two independent public companies, Motorola Mobility and Motorola Solutions on January 4, 2011, after losing $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009...

 to create a new computing standard based on the PowerPC

PowerPC

PowerPC is a RISC architecture created by the 1991 Apple–IBM–Motorola alliance, known as AIM...

 architecture. The stated goal of the alliance was to challenge the dominant Wintel

Wintel

Wintel is a portmanteau of Windows and Intel, referring to personal computers using Intel x86 compatible processors running Microsoft Windows...

 computing platform with a new computer design and a next-generation operating system

Operating system

An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...

. It was thought that the CISC

Complex instruction set computer

A complex instruction set computer , is a computer where single instructions can execute several low-level operations and/or are capable of multi-step operations or addressing modes within single instructions...

 processors from Intel were an evolutionary dead-end in microprocessor

Microprocessor

A microprocessor incorporates the functions of a computer's central processing unit on a single integrated circuit, or at most a few integrated circuits. It is a multipurpose, programmable device that accepts digital data as input, processes it according to instructions stored in its memory, and...

 design, and that since RISC was the future, the next few years were a period of great opportunity.

The CPU was the PowerPC

PowerPC

PowerPC is a RISC architecture created by the 1991 Apple–IBM–Motorola alliance, known as AIM...

, a single-chip version of IBM's POWER1

POWER1

The POWER1 is a multi-chip CPU developed and fabricated by IBM that implemented the POWER instruction set architecture . It was originally known as the “RISC System/6000 CPU” or when an abbreviated form, the “RS/6000 CPU” before introduction of successors required the original name to be replaced...

 CPU. Both IBM and Motorola would manufacture PowerPC chips for this new platform. The computer architecture base was called PReP (for PowerPC Reference Platform

PowerPC Reference Platform

PowerPC Reference Platform was a standard system architecture for PowerPC based computer systems developed at the same time as the PowerPC processor architecture...

), and later named CHRP (for Common Hardware Reference Platform

Common Hardware Reference Platform

Common Hardware Reference Platform was a standard system architecture for PowerPC based computer systems published jointly by IBM and Apple in 1995. Like its predecessor PReP, it was conceptualized as a design to allow various operating systems to run on an industry standard hardware platform,...

). IBM used PReP and CHRP for PCI version of IBM's RS/6000

RS/6000

RISC System/6000, or RS/6000 for short, is a family of RISC and UNIX based servers, workstations and supercomputers made by IBM in the 1990s. The RS/6000 family replaced the IBM RT computer platform in February 1990 and was the first computer line to see the use of IBM's POWER and PowerPC based...

 platform, from existing Micro Channel architecture

Micro Channel architecture

Micro Channel Architecture was a proprietary 16- or 32-bit parallel computer bus introduced by IBM in 1987 which was used on PS/2 and other computers through the mid 1990s.- Background :...

 models, and changed only to support the new 60x bus style of the PowerPC.

Apple and IBM created two new companies called Taligent

Taligent

Taligent was the name of an object-oriented operating system and the company dedicated to producing it...

 and Kaleida Labs

Kaleida Labs

Kaleida Labs was one of several joint ventures between Apple Computer and IBM in a period of alliance between the two companies during the early 1990s. The two computer giants sought to counter the influence of Microsoft and the growing dominance of its Windows operating system...

 as part of the alliance. Taligent was formed from a core team of Apple software engineers to create a next-generation operating system, code-named "Pink", to run on the platform. Kaleida was to create an object-oriented, cross-platform multimedia scripting language which would enable developers to create entirely new kinds of applications that would harness the power of the platform.

Efforts on the part of Motorola and IBM to popularize PReP/CHRP failed when Apple, IBM, and Taligent all failed to provide an operating system that could run on it and when Apple and IBM couldn't reach agreement on whether the reference design must or must not have a parallel port. Although the platform was eventually supported by several Unix

Unix

Unix is a multitasking, multi-user computer operating system originally developed in 1969 by a group of AT&T employees at Bell Labs, including Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, Brian Kernighan, Douglas McIlroy, and Joe Ossanna...

 flavours as well as Windows NT

Windows NT

Windows NT is a family of operating systems produced by Microsoft, the first version of which was released in July 1993. It was a powerful high-level-language-based, processor-independent, multiprocessing, multiuser operating system with features comparable to Unix. It was intended to complement...

 and OS/2

OS/2

OS/2 is a computer operating system, initially created by Microsoft and IBM, then later developed by IBM exclusively. The name stands for "Operating System/2," because it was introduced as part of the same generation change release as IBM's "Personal System/2 " line of second-generation personal...

, these operating systems generally ran just as well on Intel-based hardware so there was little reason to use the PReP systems. The BeBox

BeBox

The BeBox was a short-lived dual processor personal computer, offered by Be Inc. to run the company's own operating system, BeOS. Notable aspects of the system include its CPU configuration, I/O board with "GeekPort", and "Blinkenlights" on the front bezel....

, designed to run BeOS

BeOS

BeOS is an operating system for personal computers which began development by Be Inc. in 1991. It was first written to run on BeBox hardware. BeOS was optimized for digital media work and was written to take advantage of modern hardware facilities such as symmetric multiprocessing by utilizing...

, used some PReP hardware but as a whole was not compatible with the standard. Kaleida folded in 1995. Taligent was absorbed into IBM in 1998. Some CHRP machines shipped in 1997 and 1998 to no fanfare.

The PowerPC program was the one success that came out of the AIM alliance; Apple started using PowerPC chips in their Macintosh line starting in 1994. Almost every Mac featured a PowerPC processor from then until 2006, when they transitioned all their models to Intel processors, due to disappointment with the direction and performance of PowerPC development. The chips have also had success in the embedded market, and all three major seventh-generation video game consoles feature chipsets derived from the PowerPC architecture at their core.

Power.org

Power.org

Power.org

Power.org is an organization whose purpose is to develop, enable and promote Power Architecture technology. The objective is to establish open standards, guidelines, best practices and certifications regarding Power Architecture, as well as drive adoption of the platform.Power.org was founded in...

 was founded in 2004 by IBM and 15 partners with focus on develop, enable, promote and drive adoption of Power Architecture

Power Architecture

Power Architecture is a broad term to describe similar RISC instruction sets for microprocessors developed and manufactured by such companies as IBM, Freescale, AMCC, Tundra and P.A. Semi...

 technology, i.e. PowerPC

PowerPC

PowerPC is a RISC architecture created by the 1991 Apple–IBM–Motorola alliance, known as AIM...

 and POWER

IBM POWER

POWER is a reduced instruction set computer instruction set architecture developed by IBM. The name is an acronym for Performance Optimization With Enhanced RISC....

 and applications based on it. Freescale joined in 2006 and today the consortium consists of over 40 companies and institutions.