Hal Prewitt Inventions Information

Harold D. Prewitt, Jr (Hal) (born October 1, 1954, in Hutchinson, Kansas) is an artist, photographer, race car driver, businessperson, inventor of personal computer products and early pioneer in the personal computer revolution. He resides in South Beach (Miami Beach, Florida) and Park City, Utah.

Prewitt competes in professional and occasionally amateur motorsport road races and has driven in nearly 200 endurance racing or sprint races worldwide. He was the No. 1 American and finished 4th of 819 international drivers from 58 countries in the 2015 International Endurance Series Championship. He has been a competitor in the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series and at international FIA races including 24 Hours of Daytona, 24 Hours Nürburgring, Dubai 24 Hour, 24 Hours of Barcelona and Silverstone Britcar 24-Hour.

In the 1970s and 1980s he was one of the early creators of personal computer products, developing popular software and hardware while helping build a new industry. He provided consulting services to IBM and is credited with inventing hard disk drives and world's first local area network (LAN) for their first portable computer, the IBM 5100, and their first desktop computer the IBM 5120.

He created the technology and trademarked Hotplug the computer's industries standard method of replacing computer system components without the need for stopping or shutting down key parts such as disk drives, disk controller or host adapter and power supplies. Prewitt's first patent details were disclosed in 1987 in USA and Europe related to development of the technology however the filings were not completed. The trademark was issued by the USPTO and other countries in 1992 under "Computer and Software Products and Electrical and Scientific Products Trademarks".

Skilled in computer programming and engineering, Prewitt founded and managed a number of technology firms. The largest and best known was Core International, a developer of disk array, computer data storage and backup products. Core created and in 1990 marketed the world's first disk drives, disk controller or host adapter and power supplies that were hot pluggable or swappable. Prewitt was chairman and chief executive officer until 1993 when the company was sold to Sony.

Prewitt is the Managing Member of Prewitt Enterprises, a Florida-based agricultural and investment business.

Prewitt grew up in the Daytona Beach, Florida area and lived there from 1963 to 1976. There he had his first exposure to auto racing; volunteering at Daytona International Speedway. He built his first computer in 1967 at 13. It performed simple math, which he disliked so much in school, and operated his phonograph.

He joined the Civil Air Patrol as a cadet and earned his way to the second highest rank (Cadet Lt. Colonel), learning leadership, search and rescue, about the military and the value of providing community service. Prewitt learned how to fly a plane, soloed at 16 and shortly thereafter earned his Private Pilots License at the youngest age allowed.

As a teenager, Prewitt learned sailing, fishing, boating and scuba diving and developed skills in mechanics, engineering, electronics, navigation and construction. After school and in summers, he worked at jobs building homes and in a restaurant washing dishes and cooking. In high school, he rented out the family houseboat. He was interested in painting and photography – he produced and sold a number of images.

After graduating high school, Prewitt continued building boats, managing his business and began to focus on computer programming. Between 1972 and 1975 he learned various programming languages using an IBM 1130. In the early 1970s, Prewitt dreamed of designing, building and selling a generation of small business computers with a price tag much less than the going rate of $50,000. Convinced that there was a market, Prewitt unsuccessfully sought venture capital to get his plans off the ground. In 1975, he built an Altair 8800. That same year, at the age of 21, Prewitt obtained his first business applications customer when he sold, designed and wrote computer programs for the IBM 5100 and System/32 as part of the business he had started at age 16. He joined the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) and participated in autocross events.

Prewitt was born in Hutchinson, Kansas. Prewitt's father joined the US Air Force underage at 13 years old using his older brother's ID and then switched to the US Navy at 17 serving in World War II and Korea. His father left the military after 18 years (1945–62), did odd jobs and then worked as a mailman for the US Postal Service until his death. Prewitt's father was honored as a Kentucky Colonel by the Governor of Kentucky. His mother was a Registered nurse and lives in the Daytona Beach, Florida area.

Prewitt married his first wife Florine Andrews in August 1980 and divorced after 23 years in early 2004. They have two sons, Calvin and Tim. He married Corinne Brody (Loria) in October 2007. She has a son, Alex.

Prewitt attended All Souls Catholic School (1960–63) in Sanford, Florida until 3rd grade while his father served in the military. He attended Port Orange Elementary School (1963–65) from 3rd to 5th grade when his family moved to Allandale, Florida. In 1966, his family moved to Ormond Beach, Florida where he attended Osceola Elementary (1965–66), Seabreeze Jr. High (1966–69) and then graduated from Seabreeze High School (1969–72). At 16, he attended Burnside-Ott Aviation in Miami, Florida where he soloed. After high school, Prewitt attended Daytona Beach Community College (1972–76) studying business and computer science but left without earning a degree. He transferred to Florida Atlantic University (1976–78), Boca Raton, Florida where he continued his studies in business and computer science. Prewitt dropped out of college to focus on his business.

Prewitt's working career began at the age of 13. He started in construction helping build homes for an Ormond Beach, Florida builder. He also worked busing tables and washing dishes before a promotion to cook at a couple of local restaurants. At 16, Prewitt started his first business. While attending community college, he built boats, worked as a painter, an accountant and for the yard crew at the Howard Boat Works marina. Prewitt's final jobs where he was employed by someone else were as a lab assistant helping students in his college and as a computer programmer for a company providing business applications on mainframes and mini computers.

Prewitt started his first business when he was 16 and a junior in High School. "Ranger Systems", had four divisions: Ranger Manufacturing, Business World, Rent a Houseboat and Ranger Automotive Engineering.

He used the manufacturing part of the business to build electronics, computers and fiberglass boats from 13' fishing runabouts to a 40' houseboat. Business World did marketing, photography, printing and advertising. Prewitt wrote brochures, shot pictures, placed ads and ran a printing press. The biggest and most profitable division was Rent a Houseboat. Prewitt took the family boat and turned it into a rental business. He sometimes used a small boat to travel to school and quickly reach the houseboat. Prewitt did everything from writing contracts to maintenance. Prewitt frequently missed classes to unstop a toilet or revive the boat engine. The automotive division focused on repairs.

Prewitt operated Ranger Systems from 1970 to 1975 until his focus switched to computer programming and the personal computer industry.

In 1975, Prewitt created International Computer to continue building, selling, installing and programming computers. This was the period when he started developing storage devices which ultimately became his most successful products.

He had customers that were located from mid to south Florida in manufacturing, hotel, service, legal, medical, construction and agricultural industries. Prewitt flew to their offices by initially renting aircraft and then by using his own.

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