Industry | Computer Manufacturing |
---|---|
Founded | 1978Culver City, California | in
Founder | Ben C. Wang |
Fate | Bankruptcy, acquired by Legacy |
Rexon Business Machines, later Rexon, Inc., was a manufacturer of small business computer systems founded by Ben C. Wang in 1978 in Culver City, California. It also became a major manufacturer of tape drives and related products. At its height, it played a significant role in the development and sale of magnetic tape data storage products. It traded on the NASDAQ under the symbol REXN until it filed for bankruptcy in 1995 [1] and was acquired by Legacy Storage Systems, a Canadian company. [2] It was last headquartered in Longmont, Colorado.
Rexon computer systems were based on the proprietary RECAP operating system and ran Thoroughbred Basic a superset of Business Basic with operating system primitives right in the language. As of April 2013, there are still functional Rexon computers in use in various places worldwide. encompassIT.ca, [3] a Canadian company, specializes in converting Rexon / RECAP software to a Microsoft Windows environment.
Prior to its bankruptcy filing, Rexon closed the Solon, OH and Ponce, Puerto Rico facilities. [6] and moved its operations to Longmont, CO. When Legacy acquired Rexon (out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy), it was renamed Tecmar Technologies, Inc. (TTInc) and operated as an independent subsidiary. In 1997, Legacy changed its name to Tecmar Technologies International (TTIntl). In 2000, the assets of TTInc were sold to Overland Data, but as of 2007, the Tecmar, WangTek, and WangDAT brands are no longer in use.
Wang Laboratories was a US computer company founded in 1951 by An Wang and G. Y. Chu. The company was successively headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts (1954–1963), Tewksbury, Massachusetts (1963–1976), and finally in Lowell, Massachusetts (1976–1997). At its peak in the 1980s, Wang Laboratories had annual revenues of US$3 billion and employed over 33,000 people. It was one of the leading companies during the time of the Massachusetts Miracle.
Dictaphone was an American company founded by Alexander Graham Bell that produced dictation machines. It is now a division of Nuance Communications, based in Burlington, Massachusetts.
Quantum Corporation is a data storage, management, and protection company that provides technology to store, manage, archive, and protect video and unstructured data throughout the data lifecycle. Their products are used by enterprises, media and entertainment companies, government agencies, big data companies, and life science organizations. Quantum is headquartered in San Jose, California and has offices around the world, supporting customers globally in addition to working with a network of distributors, VARs, DMRs, OEMs and other suppliers.
Storage Technology Corporation was a data storage technology company headquartered in Louisville, Colorado. New products include data retention systems, which it calls "information lifecycle management" (ILM).
Exabyte Corporation was a manufacturer of magnetic tape data storage products headquartered in Boulder, Colorado, United States. Exabyte Corp. is now defunct, but the company's technology is sold by Tandberg Data under both brand names. Prior to the 2006 demise, Exabyte offered tape storage and automation solutions for servers, workstations, LANs and SANs. Exabyte is best known for introducing the Data8 (8 mm) magnetic tape format in 1987. At the time of its demise, Exabyte manufactured VXA and LTO based products. The company controlled VXA technology but did not play a large role in the LTO community.
Intellisync Corporation was a provider of data synchronization software for mobile devices, such as mobile phones and personal digital assistants (PDAs). The company was acquired in 2006 by Nokia.
Pertec Computer Corporation (PCC), formerly Peripheral Equipment Corporation (PEC), was a computer company based in Chatsworth, California which originally designed and manufactured peripherals such as floppy drives, tape drives, instrumentation control and other hardware for computers.
EMTEC is part of the Dexxon Group headquartered in Gennevilliers, France, and markets consumer computer data storage products and other computer related consumables. Dexxon Group's North American subsidiary, Dexxon Digital Storage Inc. is located in Lewis Center, Ohio. EMTEC evolved from BASF Magnetics producing magnetic tapes. Between 1998 and 2002 all of BASF's cassette lineup were rebranded EMTEC. While cassette manufacture has since ceased in 2005, and reel-to-reel tape operations were sold to RMGI, EMTEC continues to manufacture other recordable media such as optical discs, MiniDV and VHS cassettes, USB 2.0 and 3.0 Flash Drives. The Flash drives come in a variety of storage sizes. Distribution channels have decreased and EMTEC presence in the market is a shadow of its former BASF self. Since its sale by BASF, EMTEC has undergone several transformations.
Overland Storage is a wholly owned subsidiary of Sphere 3D Corp. It has acquired Tandberg Data shortly before being acquired by Sphere 3D itself. The two subsidiaries were later rebranded under the common Overland-Tandberg brand.
Archive Corporation was a computer tape drive manufacturer, based in Costa Mesa, California, that was acquired by Conner Peripherals in 1993.
Tecmar Inc. was an American manufacturer of personal computer enhancement products based in Solon, Ohio. The company was founded in 1974 by Martin Alpert, M.D., and Carolyn Alpert. The company's first products were computerized medical equipment; the company shortly after pivoted to data acquisition boards for the first generation of microcomputers. Popular products included the Scientific Solutions LabMaster series of boards for S-100 and Apple Computer.
Everex is a defunct American manufacturer of desktop and notebook personal computers. It was established in 1983 and headquartered in Fremont, California. The company was founded by Steve Hui, John Lee and Wayne Cheung. In 1988, Everex was the leader in tape backup sales with half of the world market. On January 5, 1993 the company filed for bankruptcy and was purchased by Formosa Plastics Group, hence becoming part of a multinational conglomerate alongside companies like First International Computer, the world's leading motherboard manufacturer. On December 29, 2006 Everex Systems, Inc filed a voluntary petition for liquidation under Chapter 7, and in June 2008 NewMarket Technology has taken control of Everex.
PrairieTek was a hard drive manufacturer located in Longmont, Colorado in the late 1980s and early 1990s. It was founded by Terry Johnson in 1985. It manufactured 5 and 10 megabyte "ruggedized" miniature hard drives for the laptop computer market.
Silicon Graphics International Corp. was an American manufacturer of computer hardware and software, including high-performance computing systems, x86-based servers for datacenter deployment, and visualization products. The company was founded as Rackable Systems in 1999, but adopted the "SGI" name in 2009 after acquiring Silicon Graphics Inc. out of bankruptcy.
Synex Systems Corporation, a subsidiary of Synex International Inc. was formed in 1983 in an effort to develop software for the microcomputer market and was run by Synex International Vice President Murray Hendren until 1992. In 2002, Synex Systems was acquired by privately owned Lasata Software of Perth, Australia. In 2005, Lasata was acquired by UK based Systems Union. In 2007, Systems Union was acquired by privately held Infor Global Solutions, a U.S. company that specializes in enterprise software.
The Linear Tape File System (LTFS) is a file system that allows files stored on magnetic tape to be accessed in a similar fashion to those on disk or removable flash drives. It requires both a specific format of data on the tape media and software to provide a file system interface to the data.
NetVault is a set of data protection software developed and supported by Quest Software. NetVault Backup is a backup and recovery software product. It can be used to protect data and software applications in physical and virtual environments from one central management interface. It supports many servers, application platforms, and protocols such as UNIX, Linux, Microsoft Windows, VMware, Microsoft Hyper-V, Oracle, Sybase, Microsoft SQL Server, NDMP, Oracle ACSLS, IBM DAS/ACI, Microsoft Exchange Server, DB2, and Teradata.
Dot Hill Systems Corp was a manufacturer of computer storage area network arrays. Providing computer hardware and software products for small and large computer data storage systems. Dot Hill came into being when Box Hill Systems Corp acquired Artecon, Inc. based in Carlsbad, California. BoxHill was already traded on the NYSE as BHSC. After the combined company changed its name to Dot Hill Systems Corp, the symbol changed to HILL. Box Hill sold hardware products with names including the word Box as well as backup software and renamed OEM tape libraries from manufacturers like ATL Odetics and StorageTek. Artecon sold its own selection of drive array products with the additional selling point of being NEBS certified. Around 1998 or 1999, Box Hill had found itself in a difficult position. Its flagship fibre channel product was unable to deliver the features originally intended and had to rely on software raid instead. It performed well mirroring, but fell short otherwise. After the acquisition by Dot Hill, the inevitable merging of products and talent led to the eventual migration of the headquarters to Carlsbad and a shift away from backup and tape products. The resulting changes lead to a large change in workforce as the former Artecon management team took the lead.
Terry Johnson was an engineer and entrepreneur notable for his pioneering work on hard disk drives (HDD). Johnson's early career included engineering and management roles in magnetic recording at IBM (1964–70) and Memorex (1971–73). He then joined in the development of STC 8000 Super Disk, a high-end, rotary actuator HDD funded by StorageTek.