SPECIAL:- . -. 1987.' GOLDEN SPOON. AWARDS ,"., -,"'.' ,~_..' . ,

J. 1 THE ACHIEVERS By Bonnie Welch HAL PREWITf A ComputerWhiz Kid ChallengesThe BigBoys

rowing up in Ormond Beach, Hal Prewitt en­ ing people I'm right," he says. "That's the key to my joyed taking things apart to see how they success, I think." worked. Washing machines, radios, cars - they Harold Dean Prewitt, the oldest of four boys, remem­ all fell prey to a curiosity worthy of Tom Sawyer. bers his early life in the Daytona Beach area as idyllic. "It G"My parents never stopped me, but they got mad if I was all open country around there then," he says, didn't put everything back together again," he says. recalling how he swam, fIshed and sailed his summers Prewitt liked building things, too. In 1967, when he away. His father, a Navy career man now deceased, was 13, he put together a crude computer - a giant, retired there and began working for the post offIce. His cumbersome box complete with flashing lights. "1 mother, HelEm, who still lives in Ormond Beach, is a thought all computers had to have flashing lights," registered nurse. Prewitt says, grinning at the memo­ "He was a good boy," his moth­ ry. The computer may have looked a er says of Prewitt. "Very determined, bit ridiculous, but it worked. It did Prewitt's computer career stubborn. You've met people who the simple math Prewitt disliked so b · h· N h could do anything? Jack of all trades'? much in school and even operated egan m IS teens. ow e Well, he could do anything." his phonograph. h ds ft· f· His seventh grade teacher nick- Today, at 33, Prewitt is still build- ea a as -growmg rrm named him "Hal" after the human­ ing computers with boyish enthusi- that is challenging the like spaceship computer in the movie asm, and he's making a lot of money IBMs of the world. 2001: A Space Odyssey because of his doing it. He is founder and president keen interest in computers. of Core International in Boca Raton, While he showed an early aptitude an eight-year-old manufacturer of ._ for technical endeavors, though, business computers and software. With 1986 sales of $20 school was far from Prewitt's favorite activity. His grades million, Core was ranked by Inc. magazine this year as fluctuated from A's to F's depending on how interested 21st among the nation's 500 fastest growing private he was in the subject. In the ninth grade he was told he companies.· couldn't enter the 10th unless he took remedial reading Core's personal computer recently was rated by PC and writing that summer. "School was boring," Prewitt Magazine as the best-performing computer out of four says. brands considered serious threats to IBM. And the com­ That attitude changed little as time passed. Prewitt was pany is well known for its high performance, high-priced much happier puttering in a garage than toiling in the hard disk drives, the lightning-fast mass data storage and classroom. At 15, before he had a driver's license, he retrieval devices used in computers. rebuilt the engine of a neighbor's Fiat after it was Core's growth has been as precocious as Prewitt pronounced unsalvageable. For a year he drove the car himself. Only eight years ago he was operating Core out along the back roads around Daytona. Later he sold it for of his bedroom. Today the fIrm occupies a spacious a profIt. Prewitt also joined the local Civil Air Patrol and two-story building on Federal Highway in Boca Raton. It learned to fly an airplane. employs 70, up from 25 just two years ago. And Core As a high school student, he had more spending ,,~ soon will open a European headquarters in Paris, with money than the average student because of a business he branch offIces in Great Britain and West Germany, to operated along the Tomoka River renting out the family oversee a rapidly expanding sales and service network. houseboat. "I started the houseboat business to pay for a By outward appearances, Prewitt still seems more a car," Prewitt says. The business had its drawbacks ­ backyard tinkerer than the head of a computer enter­ Prewitt frequently missed classes to unstop a toilet or prise. At work he dresses casually in boat shoes and revive the boat engine. sports shirt, Without socks or tie. Inwardly, though, Prewitt went on to spend four years at Daytona Beach Prewitt is as aggressive and confIdent as a polished New Community College, where he randomly chose courses York banker. "I've never had to spend any time convinc­ and dropped the ones he didn't like. He left in 1976 to

30 FLORIDA TREND/ AU2ust 1987 r"ur" U"'UIW nJ./t'nn.."nJ.

...... ,

THE ACHIEVERS attend Florida Atlantic University in zine. Showing a picture of the Boca Raton. He didn't graduate from freighter Mercedes being sunk off the either school. "1 didn't care about a Prewitt caught IBM's coast of Florida to make an artificial degree," he says. "1 had ruled out the reef, Prewitt's ad declared, "Boca Ra­ fact that I was going to work for attention in 1985 when ton, home of the IBM PC, needs a someone else." he dumped 2,000 disk fishing and diving reef, too. The One of his teachers, Dr. Robert Great Recall: IBM PC-AT Hard Disk Cameron Jr., program manager of drives in the ocean. Drives. We're gonna deep-six thou­ computer science at Daytona Beach sands of 'em. Simply because that's Community College, remembers where they belong." Prewitt as a go-getter. "He was al­ industry. Impressed, IBM ap­ The stunt proved irresistible to al­ ways working on something and too proached Core to become an IBM most 2,000 computer owners. Prew­ busy learning on his own to bother dealer. itt dumped their trade-ins in the with the course work," he says. Shortly after, IBM owners began ocean off the coast of Boca Raton, While he was at FAD, Prewitt complaining that the disk drives for adding insult by using a borrowed worked as a computer programmer, the new, much celebrated IBM AT boat from an unsuspecting IBM em­ and when he left he started a com­ personal computers were defective. ployee. Prewitt refers to his secret puter consulting company with a Whole sections of data would disap­ dumping ground as the world's first classmate, David Street. Long hours pear or not be stored at all. Although high technology artificial reef. and low profits sapped their spirits, IBM refused to acknowledge any "1 felt bad that people might think and after two years they dissolved problem then or now, PC Magazine we are IBM haters," says Prewitt, the business. (Street now is a manag­ began reporting customer dissatis­ whose building sports an aquarium er in Core's research and develop­ faction in March 1985. Later, IBM with a mini-reef of disk drives in the ment department.) switched to a new supplier and CMI lobby. "It's not true. They paid for In 1979 Prewitt met his wife, Flo­ Inc., IBM's exclusive supplier of disk their mistakes dearly. My company rine, when she cut in line ahead of drives, went out of business. was small then and unknown. I him at the auto dealership where Prewitt, as an IBM dealer, was on probably wouldn't do it again." they were getting their cars repaired. the front end of those complaints and Prewitt probably won't have to do Florine joined him in business, and immediately began canvassing other anything like it again. He projects together they built Core Internation­ companies in search of a better disk domestic sales of $40 million for next al. They sold mail-order computer drive. When he couldn't find one, he year and European sales - now in supplies and developed software for decided to design his own. "the millions" - are expected to rise users of the IBM 5100 computers, the It wasn't an easy task. IBM kept dramatically once the overseas sales forerunners of today's personal com­ the inner workings of its computer a and service network is established. puters. "It started out in the bed­ secret. With no manual or blueprint, (Prewitt declines to reveal profit fig­ room, then moved into the living it took Prewitt and his band of help­ ures of his company.) room and then consumed the whole ers four years to design the first disk Core's reputation is on solid foot­ house," Prewitt says of the business. drive that was compatible with the ing, although buyers of Core prod­ They were lean times. Dinner out IBM AT personal computer. The ucts frequently mention their high and a movie were a luxury. "We used drives were heavier and, Core said, prices. The most expensive Core disk to eat, sleep and work," Prewitt says. better. Industry publications extolled drive runs $8,995, more than 20 "That was all." During this time, their virtual risk-free data storage times higher than its cheapest com­ Prewitt contracted with Control Data capacity and a speed several times petitor. Corp. to produce Core's first hard­ faster than IBM's drives. PC Week, a weekly computer ware product, a customized Core But the computer world didn't beat newspaper, using an auto analogy, disk drive for the IBM 5100. It was a a path to Prewitt's door. Serious says prices for Core disk drives put niche product that became popular computer users liked the Core prod­ them in "Maserati-ville." Core sales­ almost overnight when IBM discon­ uct, but IBM still was king among the men acknowledge the pricey image tinued its 5100 series and users masses. A frustrated Prewitt began of the products, but prefer more turned to Core for parts and supplies. speaking out. "We can say we told modest analogies. "The one morning Within two years, Prewitt, his own you so all along," Prewitt declared in you tum the key in your car and it best salesman, had sold $2.5 million a 1985 PC Magazine article on IBM's doesn't start," says one, "is when worth of disk drives. disk drive difficulties. "... IBM is you regret not going up to a Lincoln Core's second hardware product admitting it had a problem." or a Mercedes." also catered to the IBM orphans. It Prewitt then got the idea to show Core's latest product is a disk drive was a device that allowed IBM 5100 dramatically just how disgusted cus­ designed to appeal to stock brokers, users to transfer data from their old tomers were with their IBM disk airline reservation agents and any­ bulky computers into the new sleek drives. He spent his first advertising one else with broad data bases and a personal computers, which in 1981 dollar that year for a full-page, four­ need to access information instantly. were revolutionizing the computer color ad in a leading computer maga­ Prewitt calls it the fastest disk drive

32 FLORIDA TREND/ Au£ust 1987 THE ACHIEVERS

in the world, a claim observers say has only fleeting significance in the volatile and highly competitive com­ puter industry. . Core's customers include the Jack­ sonville Electric Authority, which uses Core disk drives in the comput­ ers that test its transformers. Delta Air Lines uses Core drives in its reservation computers. The Bar Maid Corp. of Pompano Beach, a manu­ facturer of automated glass washing equipment, uses Core computers, disk drives and customized software for everything from inventory con­ trol to payroll. "At the end of the month we used to spend about SS hours printing out all our reports," says Bert Chesnut, Prewitt is worried that fastgrowth could slow Core's ability to react to the market.

president of Bar Maid. "Now, my wife loads the computer at night, and DEVELOPING in the morning it's all done." Testimonials like this are meat and PUBLIX ANCHORED CENTERS drink to Prewitt and Robert Andrew, STATEWIDE executive vice president, who takes care of the day-to-day running of the Publlx company. Andrew, 47, says he and Prewitt think alike, just not about the same subjects. "I have little interest in the bits and bytes of the computer world," Andrew says. "Hal gets in­ volved in the things he wants to. Lots of people in this business are genius­ es, but they don't have common sense. Hal's got good judgment." Prewitt leaves everything to An­ drew except research and develop­ ment, a department he zealously oversees. "He looks carefully at the final concepts," says David Street. "We have an R&D meeting every two weeks to go over projects and new ideas. He doesn't miss it even if it has to be rescheduled to meet his .=.0 schedule." Andrew says everything in the 1·800· 32SEVCO company can function without 1·800-327·3826 Prewitt at this point except for re­ For space reservations or leasing Infor­ mation contactone of our leasing reps. search and development. "It will be several years before he can stop

34 FLORIDA TREND/ AUlnlst 1987 THE ACHIEVERS

AT SEA overseeing that," Andrew says. YHlSUSE IT AS A LANOMARK. Tony Ramiz, a Core technical spe­ Ei~ht nautical miles cialist, says Prewitt is willing to listen from Coconut Grove yOU see its sweepin~ profiie. to everyone's opinion about new Up close, you are struck projects, but "sometimes he's more hy the cascade of ~anlen strong minded than we'd like him to terraces. The flare of be. He has to be persuaded." Street Liherman's sculpturt' "Windward." says Prewitt's decision-making pro­ The polishe(1 cohhle cess is "done so quickly some might entry to 0111 World mistake that for not listening. He has graciousness within. a powerful ego. Anyone with an ego And REGINE'S ahove. that strong will respect his own opin­ The Grand Bay. Make it ion highly." your landmark in Miami. As he advances into his mid-30s, 1987 Mobil5-Star Rating Prewitt is a man at a crossroads. Core has the potential to become a major name in the computer industry, but Prewitt wistfully looks back to the days when things weren't so compli­ cated. "I've explored everything from employee stock option plans to a public offering to doing nothing and staying private," he says. "I don't have to do anything." 2669 S. laYlhore Drive, Coconut Grove, Miami, FL 33133 (30$) 151·'600. He knows Core's success has been The Grand Bay, ACIGA International Hotel includi ng: Royal Manceau. Paris; Hotel Excelsior &. La Grand. Rome; Grittl Palace &. Hotel Daniell.Venice; Principe &.Sovola. Milan; Hotel Excelsior; built on its ability to react quickly to Florence. For reservations 800-221-2340; NYC (212) 935-9540; Toronto Zenith 71060. the marketplace, and he is concerned that too much growth will stifle this. He also wants to be able to disappear on his fishing boat with his two young sons and wife. "It's very im­ portant to me to be able to build and staff the company so it can function without me," Prewitt says. Prewitt won't reveal how much he's worth or much about his home life. He says his wife still buys clothes for their children at local thrift shops, part of the frugal life Prewitt says is necessary no matter what a person's financial worth. "You should have the right attitude about the way to spend money," he "Do you know mer says. He worries about his children On an island known for sea shells, growing up in wealthy Boca Raton, far removed from the placid, simple I'm known for fresh fish." Daytona Beach boyhood that he en­ I'm Matthew Asen, and I never met a frozenfish I liked. That's joyed. why I make sure my restaurant, the Timbers, serves the freshest "When I was a kid I thought about seafood on Sanibel Island. You'll love our selection of shrimp, being rich someday and what I oysters, clams and stone crab claws at our raw bar. Or you can try would do to keep from being cor­ rupted by the money," Prewitt says our swordfish, red snapper, grouper or yellowtail- all on display with a smile. "1 decided I would have at our retail fish market. So come on in and settle down for a meal two houses, one on the poor side of . . at the Timbers. And when • town and one on the rich side. We'd AMaIltCAN .x..... "0 ..' it's tim~ to settle up, don't A~ live on the poor side most of the time tile ~\ forget to reach for the mz ~i(I ~SDOlo and when we wanted to have fun we'd go to the other house. I haven't u.1IIIIft American Express· Card. c r non • done that yet." Ii3 Cll987 American Expre.. Travel Relared Services Company, Inc. Don't leave home without it,·

FLORIDA TREND/ August 1987 35

~~ ...... --"::l"T':-- .-••••