Fabrik Inc. was a
manufacturer
Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer to a ...
of external
hard drives
A hard disk drive (HDD), hard disk, hard drive, or fixed disk is an electro-mechanical data storage device that stores and retrieves digital data using magnetic storage with one or more rigid rapidly rotating platters coated with magne ...
and digital content management
software
Software is a set of computer programs and associated software documentation, documentation and data (computing), data. This is in contrast to Computer hardware, hardware, from which the system is built and which actually performs the work.
...
and services. Fabrik claims it was the third largest supplier of external storage products in
North America in 2007. It is headquartered in
San Mateo, with offices in
Santa Ana and
Culver City
Culver City is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 40,779. Founded in 1917 as a "whites only" sundown town, it is now an ethnically diverse city with what was called the "third-most d ...
, California.
The company sells external hard drives and online backup
software
Software is a set of computer programs and associated software documentation, documentation and data (computing), data. This is in contrast to Computer hardware, hardware, from which the system is built and which actually performs the work.
...
in a bundled product for
consumer
A consumer is a person or a group who intends to order, or uses purchased goods, products, or services primarily for personal, social, family, household and similar needs, who is not directly related to entrepreneurial or business activities. ...
s,
small business users and audio/video (A/V) content creation professionals. The company also hosts the free online digital content management and sharing site, Joggle.
Fabrik's product lines include
SimpleTech
sTec is an American computer data storage technology company headquartered in California,Bloomberg BusinessWeek. �STEC Profile” September 20, 2010. with research and development, sales, support or manufacturing sites in China, India, Japan, ...
,
G-Technology, Joggle and Fabrik Ultimate Backup.
History
Fabrik was founded as a Web-based software company in August 2005 by former
Maxtor
Maxtor was an American computer hard disk drive manufacturer. Founded in 1982, it was the third largest hard disk drive manufacturer in the world before being purchased by Seagate in 2006.
History
Overview
In 1981, three former IBM employ ...
executives Mike Cordano and Keyur Patel. Anaal Udaybabu designed a brand identity for on-the-web storage. 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.
In February 2006, Fabrik partnered with Maxtor (acquired by
Seagate in 2005) to develop Maxtor Fusion, a
network-attached storage
Network-attached storage (NAS) is a file-level (as opposed to block-level storage) computer data storage server connected to a computer network providing data access to a heterogeneous group of clients. The term "NAS" can refer to both the techn ...
(NAS) device built for organizing and sharing
digital
Digital usually refers to something using discrete digits, often binary digits.
Technology and computing Hardware
*Digital electronics, electronic circuits which operate using digital signals
**Digital camera, which captures and stores digital i ...
files
File or filing may refer to:
Mechanical tools and processes
* File (tool), a tool used to ''remove'' fine amounts of material from a workpiece
**Filing (metalworking), a material removal process in manufacturing
** Nail file, a tool used to gent ...
, and in late 2006 the company launched myfabrik.com, which organized and stored digital
media
Media may refer to:
Communication
* Media (communication), tools used to deliver information or data
** Advertising media, various media, content, buying and placement for advertising
** Broadcast media, communications delivered over mass el ...
online.
In February 2007, the company acquired the
consumer
A consumer is a person or a group who intends to order, or uses purchased goods, products, or services primarily for personal, social, family, household and similar needs, who is not directly related to entrepreneurial or business activities. ...
business of
SimpleTech
sTec is an American computer data storage technology company headquartered in California,Bloomberg BusinessWeek. �STEC Profile” September 20, 2010. with research and development, sales, support or manufacturing sites in China, India, Japan, ...
, inheriting the SimpleTech product line of external hard drives for consumers and small businesses.
In January 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.
Fabrik's acquisitions and the introduction of Joggle at the
DEMO conference in January 2008 created four brands: SimpleTech, G-Technology, Joggle and Fabrik Ultimate Backup. SimpleTech and G-Technology products were still branded as such and maintained separate online website entities.
On February 23, 2009,
Hitachi Global Storage Technologies
HGST, Inc. (Hitachi Global Storage Technologies) was a manufacturer of hard disk drives, solid-state drives, and external storage products and services.
It was initially a subsidiary of Hitachi, formed through its acquisition of IBM's disk dr ...
announced it agreed to acquire Fabrik. At this point Fabrik revenue for the year (2009) was estimated at $350M to $400M range and growing 40% on yearly basis.
On April 6, 2009, Hitachi Global Storage Technologies completed the acquisition, which formed the core of Hitachi GST's new Branded Business division.
Following the acquisition, the subsidiary was branded 'G-Technology by Hitachi'.
Products and services
The company's SimpleTech products are external hard drives for mainstream consumers and small business users. It includes
portable
Portable may refer to:
General
* Portable building, a manufactured structure that is built off site and moved in upon completion of site and utility work
* Portable classroom, a temporary building installed on the grounds of a school to provide a ...
external hard drives and
desktop
A desktop traditionally refers to:
* The surface of a desk (often to distinguish office appliances that fit on a desk, such as photocopiers and printers, from larger equipment covering its own area on the floor)
Desktop may refer to various compu ...
external hard drives. All SimpleTech products come bundled with free local backup software and online backup capabilities.
The SimpleTech
erive has a 100 percent recyclable enclosure and several energy and resource efficiency features. The company claims the
erive is the world's most eco-friendly, resource conscious external hard drive. The original design of the SimpleTech portable external storage product line was inspired by the
Ferrari design
A design is a plan or specification for the construction of an object or system or for the implementation of an activity or process or the result of that plan or specification in the form of a prototype, product, or process. The verb ''to design'' ...
team
Pininfarina
Pininfarina S.p.A. (short for Carrozzeria Pininfarina) is an Italian car design firm and coachbuilder, with headquarters in Cambiano, Turin, Italy. The company was founded by Battista "Pinin" Farina in 1930.
On 14 December 2015, the Indian ...
.
Fabrik started a free online digital content management site called Joggle in early 2008. The Web site searches for
video
Video is an Electronics, electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving picture, moving image, visual Media (communication), media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, whi ...
,
photos
A photograph (also known as a photo, image, or picture) is an image created by light falling on a photosensitive surface, usually photographic film or an electronic image sensor, such as a CCD or a CMOS chip. Most photographs are now create ...
and
music
Music is generally defined as the The arts, art of arranging sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Exact definition of music, definitions of mu ...
on a user's
computer, external hard drive or online communities and
networking
Network, networking and networked may refer to:
Science and technology
* Network theory, the study of graphs as a representation of relations between discrete objects
* Network science, an academic field that studies complex networks
Mathematics
...
sites and automatically consolidates it into a single online organizing and sharing tool.
The company also has a pure online backup approach, Fabrik Ultimate Backup, where
data
In the pursuit of knowledge, data (; ) is a collection of discrete values that convey information, describing quantity, quality, fact, statistics, other basic units of meaning, or simply sequences of symbols that may be further interpret ...
can be backed up to remote
servers using 128-bit
SSL SSL may refer to:
Entertainment
* RoboCup Small Size League, robotics football competition
* ''Sesame Street Live'', a touring version of the children's television show
* StarCraft II StarLeague, a Korean league in the video game
Natural language ...
and
Blowfish
Tetraodontidae is a family of primarily marine and estuarine fish of the order Tetraodontiformes. The family includes many familiar species variously called pufferfish, puffers, balloonfish, blowfish, blowies, bubblefish, globefish, swellf ...
encryption
In cryptography, encryption is the process of encoding information. This process converts the original representation of the information, known as plaintext, into an alternative form known as ciphertext. Ideally, only authorized parties can dec ...
.
[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.
References
External links
Archived Fabrik siteArchived Fabrik by Hitachi Global Storage Technologies site
{{Hitachi
Hitachi
Hard disk drives
Portable hard drives
Computer companies established in 2005
Backup software
American companies established in 2005