40 Years of Innovation: Metafile Information Systems Celebrates 40th Anniversary

This week, Metafile Information Systems celebrated 40 years of providing state-of-the-art, innovative technology solutions! When you’ve been developing business solutions for this long, it’s fun to take a look back at where it all started, and we thought it would be fun for you to see how far we’ve come, too!

Here are some Metafile blast-from-the-past facts:

• Metafile was started by entrepreneur Allan Sprau in 1979 after he moved back to Rochester, Minn. from Philadelphia. His previous company, Shared Medical Systems, had become a public company and its stock provided a basis for him to start what is now Metafile Information Systems.
• When Metafile was founded, the desktop computer (then called the “micro-computer”) was all the rage and Apple was just starting to offer small kit-type computers to work with the desktop.
• After the founding of Metafile and at the dawn of the micro-computer, one of Sprau’s former colleagues discovered the need for a database and language for this new technology. They decided to build a language called “Metafile,” which was software for these desktop computers and the first product developed by Metafile Information Systems.
• The very first Metafile customer was a radio station in Preston, Minn. that needed to keep track of billing information, their customers and other information, so the small Metafile team built an application for it.
• The original name of Metafile Information Systems was “Sensor-Based Systems.”
• Metafile applications started out as a filing cabinet replacement where companies could store images, index them and retrieve them.
• After realizing that storing information as images limited companies due to lost textual content, they dove into the Computer Output Laser Disk (COLD).
• The first computer that Metafile was built on had 16 KB of memory.

Today, Metafile products – ResultsPlus Nonprofit CRM and MetaViewer Paperless Automation – are simplifying and streamlining business processing, enhancing visibility and helping companies – from manufacturers to nonprofits – work more efficiently and more successfully.

Here’s to another 40 years of innovation!