Intran Online Reunion

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News

[Editor's Note: Please contact Debbie Schilling to add, remove, or change any of this news. Contact Us]

August 2010: A PDF version of the Holiday Gourmeta cookbook is now online (11 MB).

June 2010: From Dan Maus: "I am the black sheep of the Intran family. But I did have the most PERQs of anybody ;) I think at the peak I had 10 or 11 whole Perqs (mostly T2s) + parts, with 5 or 6 up and running. I got most of them from the UofM where they were retired from a group who had been using them for Lisp development on Accent. We built a custom blower cooling setup with pipes in the suspended ceiling to suck the heat out of them and blow it back into the warehouse. My best regards to all from Merritt Island, FL."

June 2010: There is now an Intran Facebook group. Click here to view or join.

March 2010: From Barry Barnes: "I just discovered this Intran Corp. bulletin board and was interested in making some comments about Jerry Koch.

JERRY KOCH’S BACKGROUND: I've known the original founder, Jerry Koch, since 1969, when he was executive VP (what we now usually call a Chief Operations Officer) of NCS Inc. In Edina, MN (NCS went through numerous iterations and later became NCS Pearson; I think it has recently been spun off into yet another entity). When Jerry was with NCS, I reported to him as Southern Regional Manager. When the company was acquired in 1971, LOTS of people left – the new management was somewhat militaristic and made it a less than enjoyable place in which to work. Jerry formed Intran right after leaving. I left shortly thereafter and formed another company (Information Systems Services, Inc. in Dallas).

MUTUAL INVOLVEMENT: When Jerry formed Intran (1970 or 71), we stayed in touch often. In 1973, he served on the board of directors of another firm I started, EduSystems Inc., while I concurrently served as VP for Business Development of Intran.

INTRAN’S INITIAL FOCUS: This 1973 timeframe was before Intran was involved in the database or graphics businesses – at the time, we operated a printing arm, published occupational readiness tests for the U.S. Department of Labor, and did a lot of survey/research work for people like the American Council on Education and others.

A LONG-TERM FRIENDSHIP: Over the years, Jerry visited my home many times, first in the Dallas area and later in Silicon Valley. I stayed at his home for several weeks in 1973 and my wife and I visited him and his wife Bev in 1994.

MY LIFE AFTER INTRAN: Over the years, I founded, co-founded, or helped launch a total of 16 companies. Several of these were software firms (one was later acquired by Microsoft, another by ADAC Laboratories). Additionally, between 1981 and 1991, I operated two consulting firms, working with the CEO’s and officers of about 50 well-known, fast-growth high-tech firms and a dozen huge multi-national companies. I retired in 1991 at the age of 47. I’ve now been retired for almost 19 years and it’s often hard to remember the hectic, workaholic days of my business career.

BACK IN TOUCH AFTER OVER 20 YEARS: With the one exception in 1994, I lost touch with Jerry. Just two or three weeks ago, I called him. Jerry is now in his late 70's (maybe early 80’s) and I'm 66. Talking with him was like being with him in the 1960's through the 1980's when I was seeing him often.

JERRY IS STILL GOING STRONG: When I called Jerry a few weeks ago, he sounded exactly like he did back in 1969 - happy and energetic. He's still got some part-time business activities going involving computer graphics.

AN IMPACTFUL PERSON: Jerry is a great person and he is one of the three or four people who have made a huge difference in my life. I can honestly say that I care for him as much as anybody I’ve known in either my professional or personal life."

April 2009: A PDF version of the original Gourmeta cookbook is now online (11 MB).

October 2008: Russ Rhode, Rick Marcus and Debbie Schilling met for lunch in St. Paul. See photo in the Photos section below.

March 2008: From Rick Marcus: "Brief update - Intran -> Tyrego-> Archetype -> Deluxe Check -> Shavlik Technologies (where I am now - almost for 10 years) I live in Stillwater MN. I grow a huge garden of veggies and flowers and go see as much live music as I can. I am still with Jan (26 years) and we have a dog Desi (black cocker) and a cat Lucy (she found me wandering around the yard about 8 years ago)."

February 2008: From Jerrie [Adelberg] Paniri: "I was at Intran in the very early days (1982-3), training new customers. My base was at a Wang electronic publishing lab in Massachusetts. I had the pleasure of several Edina visits, s-n-o-w in MN, meeting Jerry Koch (big fish tank I remember) and working with Peter Preksto (most energy bottled into one person), Renee and Holly. This was my first job in the tech field, and I am ever grateful to the opportunities I've had since."

July 2007: Holly Zimmerer Begley and Debbie Schilling met for lunch in Indianapolis. See photo in the Photos section below.

August 2006: From Chris Lamb: "I found this page through Bruce Damer's DigiBarn site. In the early '80s my stepdad worked at Three Rivers Computer (the company that built the PERQ) and taught me programming there on the weekends. At the time, a fully-loaded PERQ cost more than his first *house*! I own three PERQs now, and they've remained my "first love" in computing and have been my passion for 25+ years now. A passing comment on the Digibarn site mentioned that some ex-Intranners "might still have PERQs in their basements" and I'm wondering if that's still true... would you consider posting my contact info on your site? "PERQ nut in Portland, OR wants to hear from anyone looking to get rid of any old PERQ equipment or software..." I have a T2 that's recently restored and I would LOVE to get ahold of a copy of the Intran software for it! I was totally blown away by the Metaform video demo posted on Bruce's site. Thanks!" Chris can be reached by email: skeezics at boondoggle.com.

July 2006: Peter Danford was in the Twin Cities with his family and organized an Intran reunion lunch. Intran folks in attendance were: Bill, Dale, Kristi, Ed, Liz, Lorie, Mary, Peter, Ray, Rich, and Ron. See the group photo in the Photos section below.

May 2006: From Nick Nallick: "It's the man from scene 24! Very cool, the photos really take me back. I also appreciate the page for Rich. I was at Intran from 1985-88. After that I spent six years at 3M Print & Publishing with Bob Schilling. It always cracked me up to see the photo on his desk at 3M of Debbie at Bill's party. Since then I've been doing Macintosh contract development and am currently trying to make a small graphics software company work in Durango, Colorado."

December 2005: From Peter Danford: "Here are our X-mas 2005 photographs: http://peterandjane.com/xmas2005.html. We are still living on our sailboat in Australia. Amazing how well the CDMA network can get you on the net most anywhere. Kids are 4 and 2. Will get our passports in a few months with any luck and then will all be dual nationality. Working in China (www.thechinaguide.com) and Australia (www.outbackweb.com.au). If you get to Oz, look us up."

September 2005: From Kim Kilcrease-Seserman: "What a hoot, finding this Intran site. For some reason, I thought about Intran yesterday and thought I'd see what was on the web. I worked in the NE Sales office from 1986-1988. Then I went to Interleaf for 13 years, and am now at Centra Software."

March 2005: Bruce Damer has digitized Debbie Schilling's copy of the 1984 Intran promotional video "Bringing Information to Life." It is available online at the DigiBarn museum. The video includes quite a bit of footage of FormBuilder, FontBuilder, and GraphicsBuilder. With dramatic quotes like "The seeds of a publishing renaissance have found fertile soil," it is required viewing for MetaForm veterans.

March 2005: From Susan Lesch: "Thank you for the online reunion! I was updating a resume, found Font Builder at the DigiBarn museum and then saw the link to your reunion. I don't have anything much to add as I only worked at Intran a short time before the font department was laid off. If I can be of assistance at any time feel free to write. You all taught me so much!"

February 2004: Ed Bertsch sent me some scans of an old Holiday Gourmeta in December, which motivated me to scan both of my Gourmeta cookbooks. Portions of both cookbooks are shown below.

June 2003: From Larry Lukis: "Just checking in to the Intran reunion. I was at Intran from the summer of '84 to the fall of '85. Left Intran to start LaserMaster with Mel Newsom. Subsequently started The Protomold Company."

June 2003: Bruce Damer has added an Intran page to his DigiBarn site: http://www.digibarn.com/stories/intran-story/index.htm

May 2003: Pete Wannarka passed away on May 4, 2003.

January 2003: From Michael Turner: "Wow! I can't believe there is actually an Intran Operations reunion web page. At any rate, I interned at Intran between January 1997 and June 1998 while attending the Carlson School of Management. I was there until, nearly, the very end. And guess what? After a 5 year separation, I am back at Xerox, but this time in the Honolulu, Hawaii office! A warm aloha to all who visit this page!"

October 2002: From Ed Bertsch: "Just passing through and wanted to say "Hi!" to everyone. I did a bit of work at Intran as an Intern, during my Macalester college days. It's neat to see the old marketing material, photos of the gang, and hear about what people are up to these days." Ed's website is: http://www.twin-cities.com/ed/

November 2001: Bruce Damer is looking for Intran and TyRego equipment, documentation and other memorabilia for a museum he is building in California. For more information, visit: http://www.damer.com (Update: Bruce's DigiBarn is now online!)

Add/Update Information

Please contact Debbie Schilling to send updates or additions for the Intran Online Reunion page to Debbie Schilling or just to drop a line privately. Contact Us

Gourmeta Cookbooks

In 1986, the popularity of the Intran Product Integration Group's renowned Goodie Chair led to the publication of the Intran Gourmeta cookbook, featuring recipes from some of the treats that appeared on the Goodie Chair over the years. It was created using MetaForm's FormBuilder and GraphicsBuilder, and printed using the newly-developed PostScript driver in MetaForm. The FormBuilder user interface was modified to create the cookbook section dividers, and the Gourmeta icon was based on the four product icons in the MetaForm line. The four buttons at the bottom (representing help, undo, etc., in MetaForm) were modified to represent the four food groups. Click on a graphic to see full-size version or click here for a PDF version of the entire cookbook (11 MB).

Gourmeta Cover
Gourmeta Table of Contents	Gourmeta Section Divider

The first Gourmeta cookbook was such a hit with Intran employees that the Marketing department decided to create a holiday version to send to customers in December 1986. This version was a half-size booklet, with red cardstock cover. The pages were developed in FormBuilder again, but the cookbooks were printed in bulk by a printing company. Click on a graphic to see full-size version or click here for a PDF version of the entire cookbook (11 MB).

Holiday Gourmeta Cover	Holiday Gourmeta Inside Front Cover
Holiday Gourmeta Table of Contents	Holiday Gourmeta Back Cover

Intran Images

Click on graphic to see full-size version.

Butterfly Ad Circa ~1984
One Sheet Flyer (Front) Circa ~1985	One Sheet Flyer (Back) Circa ~1985

Photos

	Debbie K. in front of Intran on Bush Lake Road. Taken 6/84.
	Cheryl H-Y and Debbie S. in Bristol, England, after visiting Intran customer Rolls Royce. Taken 5/85.
	Halloween at Intran features Nick (prisoner), Tom (computer geek), Dale (Indiana Jones), Debbie (flapper) and Rich (Ghostbuster). Taken 10/85.
	Argyle Socks Day at Intran with Debbie, Dale, Dick, Dave, Bill, Ray, Nick and Rich. Sorry for the lousy quality, but this was a very dark Polaroid. Probably taken in 1985.
	Rich Fanning at Intran. Taken 12/85.
	Dale serves up his famous chocolate mousse at the Goodie Chair. Note the lit and unlit birthday candles which form 23 in binary for Debbie's 23rd birthday. Taken 12/85.
	Earnie at Intran. Taken 12/85.
	Nick, Debbie, Tom and Kristi scuba diving in Lake Owasso in St. Paul. Taken 5/86.
	Sue and Debbie, skydiving in Baldwin, Wisconsin. Taken 6/86.
	Debbie and Doug preparing Earnie's birthday celebration. Taken 8/86.
	Rich, Ray and Laurie at Nick's Halloween party. Taken 10/86.
	Cheryl at Intran. Taken 1/87.
	Peter at Intran. Taken 1/87.
	A badly-centered shot of several people, including Ron, Debbie, Dave W., Doug, Dave J. and Holly. Taken at Bennigan's, 2/87.
	Intran's Product Integration Group: Dale, Earnie, Nick, Dave J., Dave W., Bill, Rich V., Pete, Mark, Ron G.(barely visible on end), Debbie, Doug, Holly, Harold, Rich F. and Dave. Taken 2/87.
	Rick and Russ. Taken 2/87.
	Bob, Half Moon Bay, California. Taken 7/98.
	Doug, his son Stewart, Debbie and her daughter, Jill. Taken 8/99.
	Intran Reunion Lunch in Minnesota: Ed, Liz, Rich, Lorie, Ron, Dale, Mary, Ray, Bill, Peter. Taken 7/06.
	Holly and Debbie at lunch in Indianapolis. Taken 7/07.
	Russ and Rick at lunch with Debbie in St. Paul. Taken 7/07.
	Hillary, Kristi, Dale, Debbie, and Ray in Minneapolis. Taken 8/10.