Doug Abel provided background on Pentamation, a pioneering HIS vendor formed in the 1960s that acquired Ferranti in the late 1980s. Pentamation developed the Leadership Series on DEC minis, growing to 30 hospitals before Ferranti acquired its healthcare divisions. However, Ferranti collapsed in 1993 and sold the US operations including Leadership Series to Keane. Keane tried to convert customers to its Threshold product. The summary outlines the acquisition history between these vendors over 30 years.

1. H.I.S.-tory
by Vince Ciotti
Episode #64:
Keane Part 3:
Pentamation
© 2011 by H.I.S. Professionals, LLC, all rights reserved.

2. Keane’s Mini HIS-tory, cont’d
• As I warned you last week, the evolution of Keane’s HSD reads
like a mini (a pun intended!) HIS-tory of our industry in itself.
• This week, we cover the first of KeaMed’s many acquisitions that
paralleled the development of Threshold – it was as if the boys in
Boston were hedging their bets: in case that UNIX experiment
doesn’t sell well, we’ll buy a bunch of market share anyway…
• Credit for this story of their first acquisition started with Gary
Pollock, who we heard from last week and who is now the
Pharmacy System Administrator at Clark Memorial Hospital in IN.
• Next email from a Pentamation veteran and avid HIS-talk reader:
– “Vince – if you need some background on
Ferranti/Pentamation, give me a call. I was there from 1982
to 1990. Was one of the lead architects of the Leadership
Series.”
– Doug Abel Netsmart | D: 913.696.2804 | C: 816.654.4504

3. Doug Abel’s Amazing Tale…
• Doug blew my mind with his memory and these bits of HIS-tory:
– Pentamation was formed way back in the early days by
several SHAS gurus! You should remember the story of SHAS:
• IBM’s “Shared Hospital Accounting System,” developed in
Minn. in the late 60s, by a group of small hospitals to share
a System 360 mainframe they couldn’t afford on their own.
• The source of SMS’ “FMS,” whose TCE (Transmission
Control & Error) reports are still being printed to this day!
• Two of the Pentamation’s leaders are pictured here:
• (sitting) Chuck Wistar, president of
Pentamation’s hospital division (they served
many industries…)
• (standing) Dave Shor, VP of Sales, whose resume
alone could be its own chapter of our HIS-tory
• (and who’s current position is the perfect

4. What Do You Call A Leader?
• Pentamation’s parent company was founded by Jeff Feathers,
and it originally concentrated on the school & education
industries. Chuck Wistar & Dave Shor led their foray into
healthcare, along with _________ Sullivan (anyone remember his
first name?)
• Although originally a shared system, Pentamation jumped on the
mini band wagon in the early 80s, on DEC VAX 25s running VMS.
– Rather than IBM’s Sys 3X line, which had so many
competitors.
• They named their HIS “The Leadership Series,” and it sold well…
- By the late 80s, they had
a client base of 30
hospitals mainly on the
East Coast near their
Maryland headquarters,
and annual revenues of
about $25M – not bad!

5. Cute Ad…
• You can sense a bit of their
education roots with this
cute ad from circa 1988:
• (Bet if they ran it today,
Apple would sue them as
fast as they are Samsung!)
• Pentamation also
penetrated the Long Term
Care market, which will play
a part in our Keane tale a
little later…
• Pentamation did so well
that, they got the attention
of a major player in Europe,
who was eager to penetrate

6. Not Misys!
• They came over in the 90s! Back
in the 80s, it was another British
firm with an Italian founder that
made Doug Abel & company
think they might get a hot red
sports car from their new owner!
• Ferranti was formed way back in
1885 in the UK, and started its
foray into computers in 1949,
introducing one of the world’s
first commercial machines, the
“Mark 1” shortly after our ENIAC.
– Both used vacuum tubes that
attracted bugs causing shorts,
hence, our modern name for
“undocumented features.”

7. News Flash:
• Pentamation Sells Healthcare Division!
– “January 14, 1988|by PAUL WIRTH, The Morning Call
– Pentamation Enterprises Inc. of Bethlehem has sold its
210-employee Healthcare Systems Division to a British
computer firm for an undisclosed sum.
– Most of the employees in the division, sold to Ferranti
Computer Systems Ltd. of Manchester, England, work
in the Baltimore, Md., and Norfolk, Va., areas,
Pentamation said. The sale was completed Jan. 1.”
• Ferranti acquired both divisions of
Pentamation: the hospital and long term care
group, which had both done very well in the
mini movement.
– They even sold The Leadership Series in
Ireland with help from “local” Ferranti.
• The system was mainly financials with order
entry. For an LIS, they partnered with a small

8. Ferranti’s Dénouement
• ISC’s books turned out to be as phony as HBOC’s were in 1998,
and Ferranti declared bankruptcy in the UK in December, 1993.
• Ferranti sold its US operations to Keane in 1992, which had been
in Chapter XI bankruptcy protection due to the parent’s woes.
• Things went fine in HIS for Leadership Series
for several years, until Ferranti acquired a
firm named International Signals & Control
(ISC), that was actually selling arms illegally at
the behest of various US clandestine groups...
• Keane tried to sell its UNIX-based Threshold
system to The Leadership Series clients, as
“selling into the base” was Ray Paris’ mantra
with acquisitions, who were bought as much
for for their market share as their products.
• So what happened to Dave Shor, VP of Sales?

9. Shor-fired Success!
• Dave Shor’s resume reads like a mini HIS-tory in
itself:
– Per his web site bio: “Shor has held senior executive
positions with Peat, Marwick, Mitchell & Co. (now KPMG),
Mc Donnell Douglas Corporation (now Boeing), Ferranti
International Healthcare Systems, Pentamation Enterprises,
Inc., Micro Healthsystems Corporation (now McKesson
Corp.), and University of Maryland Medical System.”• After leaving HIS, he moved on to (where else?) Hollywood, where:
– “Shor served as Producer/ Executive Producer and managing partner of
Labrador Pictures (feature motion pictures), Executive Producer for The Flying
Cranes (cirque performers-worldwide), Producer for Goodman Productions (live
events-Las Vegas), Producer for TJ Productions (live events), Production
Adviser/Consultant for Delaware Pictures (motion pictures) and Producer for
Liberty Jam Corporation (live concerts of: Eric Clapton, Santana, The Eagles)
and he represents performers, writers, filmmakers and other entertainment
professionals as manager. Shor was Producer and Executive Producer of the
recently released motion picture "Dave Barry's Complete Guide To Guys" and
he is presently producing the Broadway adaptation of "Sleepless In Seattle.”
– Can their be a more appropriate ending for a VP of Sales & Marketing!?!?

10. The Keane Saga Continues
• Next week we’ll start the story
of another Keane acquisition,
this one of another pioneering
UNIX/mini vendor: Infostat
• Advanced thanks to John
Indrigo, VP there, who told the
story and whose resume also
reads like a mini HIS-tory!
• Today, John applies his vast
vendor experience to the small
vendor M&A space at:
– John P. Indrigo, President
– JPI Enterprises, LLC
– 813-503-0400jindrigo@jpi-
enterprises.com