Prime Computer
More info
- Type
- Computer maker
- Released
- 1972–1992
The minicomputer maker whose 32-bit superminis and PRIMOS operating system filled the gap between the mainframe and the PC.
Started in 1972 in Natick, Massachusetts, with Bill Poduska among the founders — the same man who later built Apollo Computer. The 50-series machines were early 32-bit superminicomputers running the in-house PRIMOS operating system, written in a PL/I dialect. Customers shared one Prime across many terminals, much as they did with rivals DEC and Data General.
Through the 1980s the company leaned ever harder into CAD. A hostile takeover in 1989 began the unwind, the hardware was shut down around 1992, and what remained lived on as the CAD firm Computervision. A name few recall, though it was once among the larger minicomputer vendors.