Prime Computer Inc says that the long-awaited new generation of its Medusa design and drafting packages will be shipping next month. According to Electronic News, the Medusa Revision 12 release, 18 months later than planned, will incorporate Prime Medusa Revision 5 and CIS-Medusa Revision 7 which was sold by Computervision prior to its acquisition by Prime back in early 1988. The two companies obtained rights to the source code and developed it separately for their own products, and when Prime acquired Computervision, it was looking at a combined product release by the second half of 1989. Although the source code is the same, the products were developed for different environments, and Prime says that the amalgamation was a much bigger job than anticipated. Computervision’s Medusa Research Laboratory carried out most of the re-engineering work, and new features include 32-bit integer and double-precision data storage, an integrated relational database and document manager, and two or three-dimensional links to Prime’s GNC manufacturing software. Despite the delay and MAI Basic Four’s hostile takeover bid last year, Prime says that while there is demand for the new version, few if any customers have migrated away from Medusa. Both Revision 12 and Medusa Design, a three-dimensional design package with tight links to the core two-dimensional drafting and detailing modules, should be available this month. An entry-level two-dimensional system, including the workstation, will cost between $28,000 and $30,000, while the Medusa Designer hardware and software bundle will cost between $35,000 and $40,000. Extra applications are to be added over the next 12 months, and users that have maintenance agreements will receive free upgrades.
