Priam Corporation
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Computer storage |
| Founded | 1978 |
| Founder | William Schroeder, Al Wilson |
| Defunct | 1991 |
| Fate | Merged with Vertex Peripherals; acquired by Prima International |
| Headquarters | San Jose, California , United States |
| Products | Hard disk drives, external storage units (Priam DataTower), integrated disk solutions (InnerSpace series) |
Priam Corporation, headquartered in San Jose, California, was established in 1978 by ex-Memorex executives William Schroeder and Al Wilson, specializing in the production of hard disk drives. The company initially focused on manufacturing large-capacity 14-inch drives designed for mainframe computers, minicomputers, and advanced workstations, but by 1980, it transitioned its emphasis toward 8-inch disk drives.
These 8-inch drives were integrated into several peripheral products, including the Mator Shark, which utilized an IEEE-488 interface for Commodore PET/CBM systems, and the Priam DataTower line—external storage units that combined high-capacity disks with streamer devices compatible with platforms such as IBM PCs.
Once recognized as an innovator in storage technology, Priam fell behind in adopting the emerging 5.25-inch drive format and faced challenges due to increasing storage requirements and shrinking profit margins. By 1985, the company discontinued internal development of 5.25-inch drives and merged with Vertex Peripherals, a competitor specializing in that form factor.
During the mid-1980s, Priam introduced the InnerSpace series, offering integrated disk solutions to overcome storage limitations found in early MS-DOS versions. These products featured proprietary hard disk controllers based on Western Digital technology and included specialized software utilities (PFMT.EXE and EDISK.EXE) for disk formatting and partitioning. The solutions supported multiple operating systems such as DOS, NetWare, Unix, and Pick.
To enhance manufacturing capabilities for 5.25-inch drives, Priam launched a production facility in Taiwan in 1987.
After enduring financial losses beginning in 1985, Priam filed for bankruptcy protection in 1989. The company was reorganized as Priam Systems Corp. in 1990 with investment from outside parties; Wil Cochran assumed the role of president while founder Dick Reiser became vice president. Eventually, the hard drive division was acquired by Prima International—a Santa Clara-based computer peripherals VAR—in 1991, with service operations managed by Sequel.
See also
Further reading
- https://books.google.com/books?id=EjwEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA46
- https://books.google.com/books?id=VUKL2rKYb8UC&pg=PA129
- https://books.google.com/books?id=JMGL4vXOn1cC&pg=PA139
- https://books.google.com/books?id=zjAEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA62
- https://books.google.com/books?id=VC8EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA39
- http://bitsavers.informatik.uni-stuttgart.de/pdf/priam/DISCOS_3350_Service.pdf
- https://cosmolearning.org/documentaries/the-computer-chronicles-anthology-1985/12/
External links
- Priam – Hardware Collection (in Chinese and English; includes an incomplete list of Priam hard disk drives)
- 1978 establishments in California
- 1991 disestablishments in California
- 1991 mergers and acquisitions
- American companies established in 1978
- American companies disestablished in 1991
- Computer companies established in 1978
- Computer companies disestablished in 1991
- Computer storage companies
- Defunct computer companies of the United States
- Defunct computer hardware companies
- Manufacturing companies based in San Jose, California
- Defunct computer companies based in California