jxm90@ccc.amdahl.com (John Murray) (03/21/91)
EXPERT SYSTEMS DEVELOPMENT FOR ADVANCED COMPUTER FAILURE DIAGNOSIS
We're a highly motivated team working on diagnostic expert systems at
Amdahl Corporation, a manufacturer of large IBM-compatible mainframes.
Our company is very proud of its ability to produce and install highly
reliable systems and to support our customers' demanding requirements
for extended availability. That means being able to identify and correct
most problems before they become serious enough to impact the customer.
These are the major goals of our diagnostic expert systems.
Our expert systems examine error data captured at the time of a failure,
assess the potential damage, and make recommendations about which hardware
or firmware components should be replaced or upgraded. The systems use
machine history and configuration information and are linked to numerous
other service tools and databases.
The knowledge bases are written in a specialized, diagnosis-specific
object oriented language. A suite of application programs written in
C is used to generate much of the failure knowledge data automatically
from the mainframe hardware logic design files. The development work
uses Sun workstations and Amdahl's UTS (System V UNIX) mainframe operating
system, while the production environment of the expert system is IBM MVS.
Our organization has open positions for two engineers, a KB designer/
programmer for the machine diagnosis system, and an inference engine
developer/maintainer. Proficiency in C language programming is a
requirement for both positions. An appropriate qualification (e.g.
BSCompE/BSCS/BSEE) or equivalent professional experience is also
necessary. Prior experience in object-oriented design is desirable.
MACHINE DIAGNOSIS PROGRAMMER/KB DESIGNER (MD1)
You will be responsible for enhancing and maintaining a group of
machine diagnosis knowledge bases as well as some external interface
procedures and KB generation programs written in C. The work includes:
- Designing, coding, and testing some parts of our knowledge bases,
and assisting the domain experts working on other parts
- Writing and maintaining C functions which execute procedural
algorithms for the expert systems and which link them with other
programs and various databases
- Maintenance of the suite of C programs which generate the failure
KB data from the machine design files
- Long term support of the overall system, fixing reported problems,
and implementing user enhancements as needed
Good communication skills are essential, since a high level of
interaction with many different groups (such as field support staff,
manufacturing engineers, and hardware designers) is necessary.
An ability to understand both hardware and software related issues
would be a definite asset for this possition.
You should have experience in at least one of the following areas:
development and maintenance in large software projects, failure
analysis of large computer systems, or development of expert systems
which interface with other programs and databases. An understanding
of computer architecture and logic design concepts, prior experience
with MVS, proficiency with UNIX, and some familarity with LISP and
expert systems concepts is desirable but not required.
INFERENCE ENGINE TOOL DEVELOPER (IE1)
You will be responsible for supporting and enhancing the expert system
the inference engine itself, together with its associated tools. Your
activities will include:
- Debugging and maintaining a diagnostic inference engine written in
Common Lisp, CLOS, and C
- Extending and supporting a C and Motif-based suite of knowledge base
development and production support code
- Maintaining the development and porting environments for this code
- Assisting application designers (the end users of the inference
engine) in developing both knowledge bases and production clients
for the UTS and MVS platforms
Prior experience with expert systems and familiarity with UNIX, C,
Common Lisp, object-oriented design, X, and Motif desired.
Our organization is part of Amdahl's Processor Products division which is
located at the corporate headquarters in Sunnyvale CA in the heart of
Silicon Valley. We're offering competitive salaries and a comprehensive
benefits package, including health insurance, stock purchase plan, and
an educational assistance program.
Please email resumes to jxm90@juts.ccc.amdahl.com and include the name
of the position in which you are interested (either MD1 or IE1) in
the "Subject:" line of your email. In addition to your resume, a
a brief paragraph describing how your previous experience relates
to our requirements would help us evaluate your resume and would be
appreciated, but it is not required.
John Murray
jxm90@juts.ccc.amdahl.com
+1 (408) 746-8874
FAX (408) 773-0833
Amdahl Corporation M/S 146
1250 E. Arques
Sunnyvale, CA 94086