This is good for the customer and good for minicomputer makers.

"We aren't the only minicomputer maker in the world who is suffering," he said in an interview.

Prime, of Natick, Mass., is one of a group of minicomputer makers that have been struggling with changes in the computer industry.

Prime, a minicomputer maker, last month agreed to be bought by Whitney for about $1.2 billion.

I.B.M. needs to revive the midrange systems to compete with the Digital Equipment Corporation and other minicomputer makers.

During the 1960's, mainframe companies failed to become minicomputer makers; in the 1980's, minicomputer companies were overwhelmed by the rise of the personal computer.

The struggling minicomputer maker needs the money to revamp its operations.

Digital today is remarkably different from the minicomputer maker whose customers once were primarily engineers and scientists.

Digital's new entries are an admission by the minicomputer maker that it must come to grips with the pervasiveness of desktop computers, analysts said.

With Digital, a minicomputer maker in transition, Compaq is building a computer colossus from the ground up, from the PC desktop into the data center.