Within months Greifeld scrapped Nasdaq's expensive Tandem computers in a Connecticut data center and moved Nasdaq to off-the-shelf servers.

FORBES: Get Briefed: Robert Greifeld

Then there's James Treybig, the colorful Texan who founded Tandem Computers Inc. in 1974, headquartering it, naturally, in California.

FORBES: Startup City

Trouble began after Compaq acquired Digital Equipment Corp. and Tandem Computers.

FORBES: THE HUMAN ROLE