Building software since 1979.
FDEV is the current form of Frontier Computing, a software company founded in Logan, Utah, in 1979. It spent its first two decades building hospital and health records software, and it builds AI systems for healthcare today.
The founder.
Jeff Jacobsen founded Frontier Computing in Logan in 1979 and has written software ever since: hospital information and health records systems in the 1980s and 1990s, web and commerce systems in the 2000s, and the data and AI systems FDEV runs today.
More than four decades on, he is still writing code.
Hospital software, built in Utah.
1979 into the 2000sFrontier Computing opened in Logan, Utah, in 1979, two years before the IBM PC went on sale. Through the 1980s and 1990s its main work was software for hospitals: the systems that register patients, track each stay, bill for it and keep the electronic health record.
Much of that work centered on MedSeries4, a hospital information system with Utah roots. It began in Salt Lake City in the late 1970s as Med/38, built by Intermountain Health Care to run on IBM minicomputers. GTE bought it in 1988 and renamed it MedSeries4, Shared Medical Systems bought it in 1994, and Siemens bought Shared Medical Systems in 2000. By 2007 more than 425 community hospitals ran it.
Frontier's health systems group took its name from that system. As Med Series 4, or MS4, it built health systems software for Siemens, and the MS4 name stayed with the company long after. Frontier still runs on the ms4.com domain today.
Printing and video, early.
Alongside the health systems workFrontier also built software that printed computer artwork straight onto t-shirts, an early form of what the apparel industry later called direct-to-garment printing.
It worked on video compression, the math that makes digital video small enough to store and send, as video moved onto optical discs like the LaserDisc and the CD. Logan was one of the early centers of that field.
The web, under the MS4 name.
2000s to 2014In the 2000s the MS4 name moved online. MS4 built interactive media for the web and worked with hundreds of online advertisers, while Frontier built an online reputation management service for small businesses and formed a new division through a three-way partnership.
From 2011 Frontier wrote subscription licensing, recurring billing, mobile and tablet apps and administrative dashboards for software startups.
From health records to healthcare AI.
2015 to todayIn 2015 the next generation formed FDEV, short for Frontier Development, and built websites, online stores and custom software. By 2017 the printing work had come back as print-on-demand stores connected to print partners through their APIs.
In 2018 FDEV took on the systems of a new outpatient infusion company at its founding and grew with it into one of Utah's fastest-growing companies. Today it builds AI agents, data platforms and portals for healthcare and private equity, the same industry Frontier wrote hospital software for in the 1980s.
Forty-seven years, year by year.
Founded in Logan
Frontier Computing is founded in Logan, Utah, two years before the IBM PC goes on sale.
Electronic health records
Frontier builds hospital and electronic health record software, the systems that register patients, bill for care and keep the record.
A Utah hospital system
Med/38, the hospital information system Intermountain Health Care built in Salt Lake City, is sold to GTE and renamed MedSeries4. It later passes to Shared Medical Systems in 1994 and to Siemens in 2000.
Health systems for Siemens
Frontier's health systems group, Med Series 4 or MS4, builds software for Siemens.
Digital garment printing
Frontier builds software that prints computer artwork straight onto t-shirts.
Video compression
Frontier works on video compression for digital video.
Online marketing
The MS4 name moves online: interactive media for the web and work with hundreds of online advertisers.
Reputation management
Frontier builds an online reputation management service for small businesses and forms a new division through a three-way partnership.
Software for startups
Subscription licensing, recurring billing, mobile and tablet apps and administrative dashboards for software startups.
Frontier Development
The next generation forms FDEV and builds websites, online stores and custom software for Utah businesses.
Print on demand
Online stores for family history and quilting designs printed to order, and guest messaging software for vacation rental managers.
Healthcare systems
FDEV takes on the systems of a new outpatient infusion company at its founding.
Scale
That company is named Utah's fastest-growing, running on systems FDEV keeps building.
Val
FDEV builds Val, a voice-first assisted living device for older adults at home, and takes it to pilot with families.
AI engineering
Agents, data platforms and portals in production for healthcare and private equity clients.