Fabrik Inc.

Fabrik Inc.
Type Subsidiary of Hitachi
Founded 2005
Headquarters San Mateo, California, United States
Key people Keyur Patel, Chairman
Mike Cordano, CEO
Mark McEachen, CFO
Mike Williams, Sr. VP and GM
Industry External hard disk drive, backup and content management services

Fabrik Inc. is a manufacturer of external hard drives and digital content management software and services. Fabrik is the third largest supplier of external storage products in North America.[1] It is headquartered in San Mateo, with offices in Santa Ana and Culver City, California.

The company sells external hard drives and online backup software in a bundled product for consumers, small business users and audio/video (A/V) content creation professionals.[2] The company also hosts the free online digital content management and sharing site, Joggle.[3][4][5][6][7][8]

Fabrik’s product lines include SimpleTech, G-Technology, Joggle and Fabrik Ultimate Backup.

Contents

History

Origins and funding

Fabrik was founded as a Web-based software company in August 2005 by former Maxtor executives Mike Cordano and Keyur Patel. Interactive Design Pioneer Anaal Udaybabu envisioned the visual platform and the brand identity of fabrik to create a new form of on-the-web storage platform.[9][10][11][12][13] The following month, the company disclosed the completion of its series A funding of $4.1 million followed by $8 million in series B funding in July 2006 and $14.3 million in February 2007. Then in May 2007, the company received $24.9 million in funding, bringing the total to about $51.3 million in funding. [14][15]

In February 2006, Fabrik teamed with Maxtor (acquired by Seagate in 2005) to develop Maxtor Fusion, a network-attached storage (NAS) device built for organizing and sharing digital files, and in late 2006 the company launched myfabrik.com, which organizes and stores digital media online. [16][17]

Acquisitions

In February 2007, the company acquired the consumer business of SimpleTech, inheriting the SimpleTech product line of external hard drives for consumers and small businesses.[18] Then, in January 2008, Fabrik acquired G-Technology, adding professional storage products for audio and video editing professionals to its portfolio.[19][20][21]

Current situation

Fabrik’s acquisitions and the introduction of Joggle at the DEMO’08 conference in January 2008 has made Fabrik a parent company of four distinct brands; SimpleTech, G-Technology, Joggle and Fabrik Ultimate Backup. SimpleTech and G-Technology products are still branded as such and maintain separate online website entities. [22][23][24][25][26][27] On February 24, 2009 Hitachi acquired the company. [28]

Products and services

The company’s SimpleTech products are external hard drives for mainstream consumers and small business users. It includes portable external hard drives and desktop external hard drives. All SimpleTech products come bundled with free local backup software and online backup capabilities.

The SimpleTech [re]drive has a 100 percent recyclable enclosure and several energy and resource efficiency features.[29] The company claims the [re]drive is the world’s most eco-friendly, resource conscious external hard drive.[30] The original design of the SimpleTech portable external storage product line was inspired by the Ferrari design team Pininfarina.

Near the beginning of 2008, Fabrik acquired G-Technology and inherited a suite of external hard drives for Mac, creative pro, photography and A/V markets, including FireWire eSATA, USB, SCSI and Fibre Channel storage products. [31][32][33]

Fabrik started a free online digital content management site called Joggle in early 2008. The Web site searches for video, photos and music on a user’s computer, external hard drive or online communities and networking sites and automatically consolidates it into a single online organizing and sharing tool.[34][35][36][37][38]

The company also has a pure online backup approach, Fabrik Ultimate Backup, where data can be backed up to remote servers using 128-bit SSL and Blowfish encryption. [39]

References

  1. ^ Company press release, July 2, 2007. “Fabrik Unveils 250GB of Sleek Portable Storage.” Retrieved on October 21, 2008.
  2. ^ Unknown author, August 12, 2008. “Deal Radar 2008: Fabrik.” sramana mitra. Retrieved on October 21, 2008.
  3. ^ Company press release, January 28, 2008. “Fabrik Introduces Joggle at DEMO 08.” Retrieved on October 21, 2008.
  4. ^ Michael Miller, January 29, 2008. “Demo08: ‘We’re Not Just Conference Producers, We’re Consumers'." PC Magazine. Retrieved on October 21, 2008.
  5. ^ Sean Captain, January 30, 2008. “Tech Startups Rock DEMO Conference.” Popular Science. Retrieved on October 21, 2008.
  6. ^ Dan Farber, January 29, 2008. “Demo 08: Web apps for mere mortals.” ZDNet. Retrieved on October 21, 2008.
  7. ^ Richard Martin, January 29, 2008. “At DEMO, Business Organization Becomes The Key.” InformationWeek. Retrieved on October 21, 2008.
  8. ^ Marshall Kirkpatrick, July 10, 2006. “Fabrik media storage opens limited beta accounts today.” TechCrunch. Retrieved on October 22, 2008.
  9. ^ Om Malik, March 29, 2006. “VC dollars return to the desktop.” Business 2.0. Retrieved on October 21, 2008.
  10. ^ Dan Fost, September 11, 2006. “Personal memories can go in startup’s memory.” San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved on October 21, 2008.
  11. ^ Tom Foremski, March 30, 2006. “Maxtor and Fabrik team up to drive the digital media home.” Silicon Valley Watcher. Retrieved on October 21, 2008.
  12. ^ Unknown author, August 12, 2008. “Deal Radar 2008: Fabrik.” sramana mitra. Retrieved on October 21, 2008.
  13. ^ Marshall Kirkpatrick, July 10, 2006. “Fabrik media storage opens limited beta accounts today.” TechCrunch. Retrieved on October 22, 2008.
  14. ^ Kristen Nicole, May 17, 2008. “Fabrik Raises $24.9M in Funding, Adds Ross Levinsohn to Board.” Mashable. Retrieved on October 21, 2008.
  15. ^ Unknown author, August 12, 2008. “Deal Radar 2008: Fabrik.” sramana mitra. Retrieved on October 21, 2008.
  16. ^ Narasu Rebbapragada, February 8, 2007. “Online media storage makes sharing content easy, though its stylish, minimalist interface hides some features.” PC World. Retrieved on October 22, 2008.
  17. ^ Tom Foremski, May 30, 2007. “Silicon Valley Watcher: MyFabrik.” PodTech. Retrieved on October 22, 2008.
  18. ^ Company press release, February 12, 2007. “Fabrik Acquires SimpleTech’s Consumer Business.” Retrieved on October 22, 2008.
  19. ^ Michael Arrington, January 15, 2008. “Fabrik Acquires G-Technology, Expect 2008 Revenues of $200+ million.” TechCrunch. Retrieved on October 21, 2008.
  20. ^ Alistair Croll, January 15, 2008. “Fabrik Buys G-Tech to Consolidate Consumer Storage Offerings.” GigaOm. Retrieved on October 21, 2008.
  21. ^ Unknown author, August 12, 2008. “Deal Radar 2008: Fabrik.” sramana mitra. Retrieved on October 21, 2008.
  22. ^ Company press release, July 2, 2007. “Fabrik Unveils 250GB of Sleek Portable Storage.” Retrieved on October 21, 2008.
  23. ^ Michael Miller, January 29, 2008. “Demo08: ‘We’re Not Just Conference Producers, We’re Consumers’.” PC Magazine. Retrieved on October 21, 2008.
  24. ^ Sean Captain, January 30, 2008. “Tech Startups Rock DEMO Conference.” Popular Science. Retrieved on October 21, 2008.
  25. ^ Dan Farber, January 29, 2008. “Demo 08: Web apps for mere mortals.” ZDNet. Retrieved on October 21, 2008.
  26. ^ Richard Martin, January 29, 2008. “At DEMO, Business Organization Becomes The Key.” InformationWeek. Retrieved on October 21, 2008.
  27. ^ Marshall Kirkpatrick, July 10, 2006. “Fabrik media storage opens limited beta accounts today.” TechCrunch. Retrieved on October 22, 2008.
  28. ^ http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/24/hitachi-acquires-fabrik-looks-to-expand-market-presence/
  29. ^ Gerry Blackwell, October 22, 2008. “Green Backups: The SimpleTech [re]Drive Review.” Datamation. Retrieved on October 23, 2008.
  30. ^ Company press release, July 28, 2008. “Fabrik Launches World’s Most Eco-Friendly External Drive.” Retrieved on October 23, 2008.
  31. ^ Michael Arrington, January 15, 2008. “Fabrik Acquires G-Technology, Expect 2008 Revenues of $200+ million.” TechCrunch. Retrieved on October 21, 2008.
  32. ^ Alistair Croll, January 15, 2008. “Fabrik Buys G-Tech to Consolidate Consumer Storage Offerings.” GigaOm. Retrieved on October 21, 2008.
  33. ^ Unknown author, August 12, 2008. “Deal Radar 2008: Fabrik.” sramana mitra. Retrieved on October 21, 2008.
  34. ^ Company press release, January 28, 2008. “Fabrik Introduces Joggle at DEMO 08.” Retrieved on October 21, 2008.
  35. ^ Michael Miller, January 29, 2008. “Demo08: ‘We’re Not Just Conference Producers, We’re Consumers’.” PC Magazine. Retrieved on October 21, 2008.
  36. ^ Sean Captain, January 30, 2008. “Tech Startups Rock DEMO Conference.” Popular Science. Retrieved on October 21, 2008.
  37. ^ Dan Farber, January 29, 2008. “Demo 08: Web apps for mere mortals.” ZDNet. Retrieved on October 21, 2008.
  38. ^ Richard Martin, January 29, 2008. “At DEMO, Business Organization Becomes The Key.” InformationWeek. Retrieved on October 21, 2008.
  39. ^ Jon L. Jacobi, November 27, 2007. "Ultimate Backup is a super handy way to keep your files remotely backed up." PC World. Retrieved on November 5, 2008.

External links