Editing Prime Computer (section)

==CAD/CAM Business ==
Prime was heavily involved with Ford’s internal [[computer-aided design]] (CAD) product, Product Design Graphics System (PDGS). Design engineers used PDGS for auto body design, and finite element analysis using [[NASTRAN]]. It used a [[vectorscope]] from Lundy for a display.  At one time in the 1980s, PDGS was the world's largest integrated CAD system, spanning the US, Japan (Mazda was Ford's subsidiary/partner), (Cologne) Germany, (Dunton) England, and (Geelong) Australia.  The creators of PDGS, located in building #3 of Ford's Dearborn design headquarters, began working on the concept of [[parametric design|parametrically driven geometry]], which led to a PRIMEDesign system.

The company also acquired marketing and development rights to the MEDUSA CAD system, initially developed in England by [[Cambridge Interactive Systems]] (CIS), and having experience in the domain, the company explored transitioning to a CAD company.  In 1982, Prime built a development team around the MEDUSA software and subsequently released several enhanced versions of the CAD/CAM system, branded as Prime MEDUSA. Enhancements included support of SunOS (also supported by CIS MEDUSA), a shaded viewer (based on Movie.BYU), and additional 3d visualization. Prime embarked on a project headed by Vladimir Geisberg to build a CAD-CAM system of its own called PRIMEDesign. This product was to compete with the industry leader at that time, CADDS4 from [[Computervision]]. RISC processors from [[MIPS Technologies]] and graphics processors from [[Silicon Graphics]] created the platform for PRIMEDesign as well as being the genesis of modern-day [[Silicon Graphics|SGI]]. During this period, in 1985, Sam Geisberg left Computervision to found [[Parametric Technology Corporation]] and produce a [[parametric model|parameter driven]] CAD system called [[ProEngineer]]. Computervision acquired Cambridge Interactive Systems in 1983, and Prime independently developed their version of MEDUSA.{{Citation needed|date=September 2008}}

Prime subsequently purchased [[Computervision]], and Vladimir Geisberg, then VP for CAD, tried to merge back together the Prime and Computervision versions of the Medusa CAD system, and launch Prime Design. As time passed, it became clear that Prime Design, while leading edge, in theory, was unsuitable for real engineering design work, and Prime Design was ended.