William D. Mensch is the inventor of the 65C02, and W65816 derivatives of the famous MOS Technology 6502 microprocessor, and head of the Western Design Center. He is sometimes seen as egotistical, for having reserved the opcode "WDM" (his initials) for all future products, though the backronym "WiDe Math" is also valid because the W65816 documentation mentioned that WDM would control new features in a hypothetical 32-bit successor. The 65C02 Microprocessor is a slightly upgraded version of the popular and venerable MOS_Technology 6502 microprocessor. ... The WDC 65816 (also: 65C816), a 16-bit microprocessor CPU developed by the Western Design Center (WDC), is an expanded and compatible successor to the venerable MOS Technology 6502. ... The MOS Technology 6502 is an 8-bit microprocessor designed by MOS Technology in 1975. ... If you were looking for the Western Digital Corporation, see Western Digital. ... Microprocessors perform operations using binary bits (on/off/1or0). ... A backronym or bacronym is a type of acronym that is formed to match the letters of a word already in use. ...

In addition, the Western Design Center produces a computer system, the Mensch Computer, based on the W65C816 microprocessor and running the Mensch Works suite of software. The Mensch Computer The Mensch Computer is a computer system based on the W65C265 microcontroller (which implements both the 16_bit instruction set of the W65C816/65816 microprocessor, as well as the 8_bit instruction set of the 6502 microprocessor) and produced by the Western Design Center. ...

He received an associate's degree from Temple University and his bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from the University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona. An associates degree is a degree awarded by community colleges, junior colleges and some bachelors degree-granting colleges and universities in Canada and the United States upon completion of a course of study equivalent to the first two years in a four-year college or university. ... Temple University is a university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards and appeal to a wider international audience, this article may require cleanup. ... The University of Arizona (UA) is a land-grant and space-grant public institution of higher education and research located in Tucson, Arizona. ... Nickname: The Old Pueblo Motto: Official website: http://www. ...

External links

• Western Design Center Homepage

William D. Mensch, Jr. is the Founder, Chairman and CEO of The Western Design Center, Inc. (WDC). He holds twenty-two patents for microprocessors, microprocessor peripheral devices and microprocessor systems. Mr. Mensch's patents were used on Motorola's NMOS 6800, MOS Technology's NMOS 6502, and WDC CMOS 65xx Microprocessor Family of chips and related systems. The Microprocessor Forum twice recognized him as a key pioneer in the microprocessor industry.

In 1996, COMDEX honored Mr. Mensch for his outstanding contributions to the information technology industry over the previous 25 years. He was the keynote speaker at the world’s first Intellectual Property (IP) conference (IP Europe - 1997). He spoke to hundreds of university professors at a panel on "Starting Up Companies to Commercialize University-generated Technologies" (Taiwan, ICEE-2000).

Mr. Mensch holds a BSEE with High Distinction from the University of Arizona, Tucson, Az., and is a Senior Member of IEEE. Before founding the Western Design Center, Inc., he held design engineering and management positions at Philco-Ford, Motorola, MOS Technology and Integrated Circuit Engineering. He taught classes at Arizona State University including System-on-a-Chip (SoC) IC design. Mr. Mensch has also served on several advisory boards and received honors at Temple University, the University of Arizona, Arizona State University and the University of Notre Dame.

Mr. Mensch's seminal experience with designing and selling semiconductor IP is widely documented. Articles include a Silicon Strategies editorial "What's the Proper Goal for an IP Business Model", a Forbes magazine cover story entitled "The Chips We Live By", a Fabless Semiconductor Association article "A Business Model? for IP Providers" and two books, Which Business? and Microcosm.

Mr. Mensch, is recognized as a pioneer in the microprocessor industry. He was recently inducted to the Computer Museum of America Hall of Fame. To read more go to the Computer Museum of America website.