Bob Clarke and Ray Gorley – who as staff of the Plymouth Marine Laboratory (PML) were responsible, respectively, for adapting, developing and publishing the methods in PRIMER, and programming the VB code for v5, have created a ‘spin-out’ company remaining in close association with the PML.

The company, PRIMER-E Ltd (short for PRIMER Enterprises), has as its main aims the marketing of PRIMER, under licence from the PML, and the development of further published methodology in the areas of environmental/ecological statistics and biodiversity, which will feed into future versions of the PRIMER software. The links with PML remain strong, as PRIMER-E will operate from a registered company address in the PML West Hoe building and, under PML Honorary Fellowship terms, the productive collaborations shared with PML staff will continue. Thus, PRIMER users should be assured that levels of support for the software will be maintained, indeed enhanced, under this new arrangement. In fact, it is one of the distinctive features of PRIMER in the statistical software market that, in addition to answering technical queries on the operation of the software on particular platforms, scientific queries on the uses (and misuses) of PRIMER in particular applications can be directed to the company’s e-mail address, and Bob and Ray will do their best to answer them.

This is therefore not a licensing operation from the PML to a general software distributor but retains the strongest possible link between the distribution of the product and its developers, who are the full-time directors of PRIMER-E.