LaCie
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
LaCie is a computer hardware company specializing in external hard drives, RAID arrays, optical drives, and computer monitors. They market several lines of hard drives with a capacity of up to many terabytes of data, with a versatile choice of interfaces (FireWire 400, FireWire 800, Serial ATA, and USB 2.0). LaCie also has a series of mobile bus-powered hard drives.
Their computer display product line is targeted specifically to graphics professionals, with an emphasis on color matching.
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[edit] Company history
LaCie began life as two separate computer storage companies: LaCie in Portland, Oregon, USA; and électronique d2 in Paris, France. The two organisations focused their businesses on IT storage solutions, based around the SCSI interface standard for connecting external devices to computers. SCSI was adopted by Apple Computer as its main peripheral interface standard and the market for both LaCie and d2 became closely, but not exclusively, associated with the Macintosh platform.
In the US, LaCie was acquired by the storage manufacturer Quantum. As a subsidiary of Quantum, LaCie was licensed as the exclusive manufacturer of Apple-branded external SCSI hard drives, using Quantum hard disks.
In Europe, the French électronique d2 was founded in 1989 as a small company by Pierre Fournier and Philippe Spruch, trading from their apartment in the 14th arrondissement of Paris. d2's main activity was assembling hard drives in external SCSI casings and selling them as peripheral devices.
By 1990 the company had outgrown its small beginnings and moved to new 900 square meter premises in rue Watt, also in Paris. By this stage, simply designing casings was no longer sufficient for d2 to maintain a competitive edge, and so the company began to develop its own products and invest in R&D. d2 began to open subsidiaries around Europe, the first in London in 1991, followed by offices in Brussels and Copenhagen. The company began to expand its business beyond the Mac market and target products at PC users.
In 1995, électronique d2 acquired the US company LaCie, a subsidiary of Quantum. LaCie was operating on the same market niche as électronique d2, and the buyout gave d2 to gain a foothold into the North American market.
In 1998, it was decided to adopt the name LaCie as a worldwide brand, dropping the d2 name from its product range (although even today, several products still retain reference to it). The company has been known since then just as LaCie.
[edit] Timeline
1989 Pierre Fournier (32) and Philippe Spruch (26) found électronique d2 in Paris.
1990 d2 expands and moves to new premises in rue Watt, Paris.
1991 Establishment of the first subsidiary in London (UK); development of the first d2 SCSI card for PC environment.
1992 Belgian offices open in Brussels and Danish offices in Copenhagen; Philippe Starck and Neil Poulton design new drive models.
1993 German subsidiary established in Düsseldorf; d2 moves its HQ to larger premises in Massy (southern suburbs of Paris).
1994 Subsidiaries opened in Rotterdam and Basel.
1995 Subsidiaries opened in Madrid and Milan; électronique d2 buys LaCie, a subsidiary of Quantum; d2 gains a foothold in the North American market.
1996 Offices open in Stockholm and the Canadian subsidiary of LaCie is opened in Toronto. électronique d2 is listed at the Nouveau Marché in Paris.
1997 Transfer of LaCie US to new premises in Portland; électronique d2 acquires NATI, a repair and maintenance company; LaCie launches range of high-end 21" monitors and colour management devices.
1998 the name "LaCie" replaces " électronique d2" as the worldwide brand name of the group. 1999 LaCie disposes of NATI.
2000 Establishment of the Australian subsidiary; launch of the PocketDrive, a 2.5" peripheral disk drive.
2001 Creation of the Japanese subsidiary; launch of the first 18-inch flat panel monitor and DVD players.
2002 Launch of the Fusion CD-RW and the first DVD rewritable drives.
2003 Launch of first 500GB external Hard Drive: LaCie Big Disk; portable drives designed by F.A Porsche line of storage solutions; first Triple Interface Hard Drives.
2004 First 1TB external Hard Drive the LaCie Bigger Disk.
[edit] Products
LaCie's original business was external SCSI hard drives, but its range has expanded over the years to include early CD writers, some of the first DVD drives, magneto-optical drives, SyQuest drives, tape backup, RAID arrays, and mobile USB and FireWire drives.
[edit] Design
Little attention was paid during the 1980s to aesthetics in computer hardware design - devices were generally beige metal boxes with no frills. Because d2's original target market was Apple Macintosh users, the end users tended to work in creative, artistic professions - designers, printers, digital video etc. Tailoring its product more carefully to the tastes of these "content creators" was one of the keys to the success of d2/LaCie, and they did this by offering "designer drives".
In 1992 électronique d2 began to make a name for itself by hiring designers like Philippe Starck and Neil Poulton. The emphasis was on ergonomics, distinctive moulding and some downright shocking designs. Starck's chrome "toaster" drive was a classic of this period (so called because the dual hard-disk enclosure resembled classic a 1950s popup toaster), and Poulton's phallic "le coq" hard drive was an eye-catching favourite. In 2003 a range of portable drives designed by F.A. Porsche was launched.
