GENEALOGY TECHNOLOGY.

At age 8, Michael T. Andrews was determined to win big: $25,000 for the lucky listener with the winning bingo card. But keeping track of the local radio station's 600 bingo cards was tough -- so he built a computer to monitor the game.

Andrews' first analog computer consisted of cables, transistors and diodes harvested from phone company garbage and his dad's Lionel train repair shop. Although the game ended up being a gimmick with no prize awarded, it provided a good education for the enterprising youngster.

His high-tech education continued when he enrolled in the University of Denver's computer design courses while still in high school. From there, Andrews attended MIT, earning a bachelor's degree in computer science. After graduation he joined Bell Laboratories, where he was instrumental in bringing the Unix operating system, which supports today's Internet, to the forefront. His next move involved heading the Unix international steering committee, traveling the globe to unite major companies like Sony, Hitachi and Hewlett Packard in developing a cohesive Unix system.

At Amdahl Corporation in Silicon Valley, Andrews continued making major industry breakthroughs, accomplishing things people said could never be done. Ever hungry for new challenges, Andrews says, "I decided I wanted to go off and solve a very big business application problem with the use of Unix. The biggest one I could think of was bringing the 44 billion people who've ever lived on earth together."

The best place to tackle that challenge? The LDS Church's Family History Department, where Andrews became director. After helping update the church's genealogical software programs and establishing a research center in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, Andrews was again ready for something new -- bringing genealogical research to the Internet.

Partnering with colleagues Frank and Cindy Carmen, both with extensive degrees and experience in technology and business, Andrews co-founded Orem-based MyTrees.com in 1996.

Now one of the world's top genealogical sites, MyTrees.com is revolutionizing family history research. Providing its 600,000 visitors each month with access to 56 million names in seconds, it links family researchers across the world. And unlike many of its competitors, its artificial intelligence programs strategize name searches, ranking matches by quality of information.

Revenues have grown 500 percent since 1996, and MyTrees.com is now going international, with versions in Spanish, German and soon, Italian.

Andrews is thrilled to work in a field he's passionate about, and enjoys researching his own family's roots. He credits his company's success to the work of families everywhere searching to find their roots. "Everybody working together here, that's the key. I'll do my part, but I can't take credit."

While that $25,000 grand prize may not have materialized, Andrews has scored big with the entrepreneurial spirit and technological talent it sparked.