Lessons From Silicon Valley and Route 128 How open networks and risk-taking shape innovation

Silicon Valley and Route 128 were prominent centers of technological innovation, but their differing ecosystems produced contrasting results, with Route 128 falling behind. In the late 1970s, I worked for Prime Computer, one of Route 128’s notable minicomputer companies, alongside industry leaders like DEC, Wang, and Data General.

Prime was founded by Bill Poduska in 1972 but ended in 1991 when Computervision acquired it. The main reason for Prime’s failure was its inability to adapt to the rapid technological shift from minicomputers to personal computers and networked systems, which fundamentally transformed the computing market in the late 1980s.

I left Prime in 1983 and joined Lotus Development, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the creator of the spreadsheet software Lotus 1-2-3 for microcomputers. This story holds personal significance for me, as I was part of Prime during its heyday, witnessing firsthand its contributions and its eventual decline in the face of technological change.

Here is the story.

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