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SyQuest Technology, Inc. () was an early entrant into the
The company was named partially after the founder, Syed Iftikar, because of a company meeting wherein it was decided that "SyQuest" ought to be a shortened name for "Sy's Quest".
Its earliest product family of 3.9" (100 mm) cartridge disk drives and associated Q-Pak cartridges achieved limited success in government markets where removable media were required for security purposes.
In 1986, SyQuest announced the SQ555 and its SQ400 associated cartridge, a 44 MB 5¼-inch removable cartridge hard disk drive, using the industry standard 130 mm disk as its medium. Double capacity versions, the SQ5110 and SQ800 were introduced in 1991. This generation of products became the ''de facto'' standard in the Apple
Review in Atari Start Magazine March 1990
and sold as part of the
PC Magazine definition
Available for a short time 1998. The 5.25" removable-disk hard drives with 44 MB, 88 MB, and 200 MB capacities were mostly used on Macintosh systems via the SCSI interface.
Syquest
at thefreedictionary.com
Interview of Syed Iftikar (SyQuest member)
at computerhistory.org {{DEFAULTSORT:Syquest Technology 1982 establishments in the United States 2003 disestablishments in the United States American companies established in 1982 American companies disestablished in 2003 Computer companies established in 1982 Computer companies disestablished in 2003 Defunct computer companies of the United States Defunct computer hardware companies Private equity portfolio companies
hard disk drive
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 magnet ...
market for personal computers
A personal computer (PC) is a multi-purpose microcomputer whose size, capabilities, and price make it feasible for individual use. Personal computers are intended to be operated directly by an end user, rather than by a computer expert or techn ...
. The company was founded on January 27, 1982 by Syed Iftikar who had been a founder of Seagate, along with Ben Alaimo, Bill Krajewski, Anil Nigam and George Toldi. Its earliest products were the SQ306R, a 5 MB 3.9" (100 mm) cartridge disk drive and associated Q-Pak cartridge for IBM XT
The IBM Personal Computer XT (model 5160, often shortened to PC/XT) is the second computer in the IBM Personal Computer line, released on March 8, 1983. Except for the addition of a built-in hard drive and extra expansion slots, it is very simila ...
compatibles. Subsequently a non-removable medium version was announced, the SQ306F.
For many years, SyQuest was the most popular means of transferring large desktop publisher documents such as advertisements to professional printers. SyQuest marketed its products as able to give personal computer users "endless" hard drive space for data-intensive applications like desktop publishing, Internet information management, pre-press, multimedia, audio, video, digital photography
Digital photography uses cameras containing arrays of electronic photodetectors interfaced to an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) to produce images focused by a lens, as opposed to an exposure on photographic film. The digitized image is sto ...
, fast backup, data exchange and archiving, along with confidential data security and easy portability for the road.
History
The company was named partially after the founder, Syed Iftikar, because of a company meeting wherein it was decided that "SyQuest" ought to be a shortened name for "Sy's Quest".
Its earliest product family of 3.9" (100 mm) cartridge disk drives and associated Q-Pak cartridges achieved limited success in government markets where removable media were required for security purposes.
In 1986, SyQuest announced the SQ555 and its SQ400 associated cartridge, a 44 MB 5¼-inch removable cartridge hard disk drive, using the industry standard 130 mm disk as its medium. Double capacity versions, the SQ5110 and SQ800 were introduced in 1991. This generation of products became the ''de facto'' standard in the Apple Macintosh
The Mac (known as Macintosh until 1999) is a family of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple Inc. Macs are known for their ease of use and minimalist designs, and are popular among students, creative professionals, and ...
world to store, transfer and backup large amounts of data such as generated by graphic artists, musicians and engineers.
SyQuest went public on the NASDAQ in 1991.
Bankruptcy
In early 1996, the company cut 60% of its workforce; later that year, company namesake Syed Iftikar was fired "in a management shakeup." After 1997, SyQuest did not fare well in the market. Their core desktop publishing customers began increasingly to useCD-R
CD-R (Compact disc-recordable) is a digital optical disc storage format. A CD-R disc is a compact disc that can be written once and read arbitrarily many times.
CD-R discs (CD-Rs) are readable by most CD readers manufactured prior to the in ...
media and FTP
The File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is a standard communication protocol used for the transfer of computer files from a server to a client on a computer network. FTP is built on a client–server model architecture using separate control and data ...
to transfer files, while Iomega
Iomega (later LenovoEMC) produced external, portable, and networked data storage products. Established in the 1980s in Roy, Utah, United States, Iomega sold more than 410 million digital storage drives and disks, including the Zip drive floppy d ...
's Zip drive
The Zip drive is a removable floppy disk storage system that was introduced by Iomega in late 1994. Considered medium-to-high-capacity at the time of its release, Zip disks were originally launched with capacities of 100 MB, then 250 ...
s dominated the small office/home office
Small office/home office (or single office/home office; sometimes short SOHO) refers to the category of business or cottage industry that involves from 1 to 10 workers.
In New Zealand, the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) ...
(SOHO) market. Over the period 1995 to 1997, sales declined, resulting in a series of losses. In the first quarter of 1997 those losses had been reduced to $6.8 million with net revenues increasing to $48.3 million. This compares to a net loss of $33.8 million, or $2.98 per share, on net revenues of $78.7 million for the same period the year before.
In August 1998, they cut 50% of their staff, and SyQuest subsequently filed for bankruptcy; portions of the company were purchased by Iomega
Iomega (later LenovoEMC) produced external, portable, and networked data storage products. Established in the 1980s in Roy, Utah, United States, Iomega sold more than 410 million digital storage drives and disks, including the Zip drive floppy d ...
Corp. in January, 1999. SyQuest retained the rights to sell their remaining inventory, on condition of renaming themselves SYQT in order to continue operations. For several subsequent years, a Web site at www.SYQT.com sold disk drives and media, and provided software downloads in support of those products. As of January 22, 2009, that Web site ceased to exist. The domain of www.SYQT.com is available for purchase on the Chinese market.
A website located at http://www.syquest.com, last updated July 31, 2003, offers contact information for product repair and technical support.
Products
Syquest's product line included such devices as the following: Fixed Media Drives (unformatted capacity): * SQ306F fixed-disk hard drive. 6.38 MB. 5.0 MBit/sec. 3msec track-to-track. 3547 rpm. 12000 bpi. 306 cyl, 2 heads, 1 disc.http://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/syquest/brochures/SQ306_Brochure_Sep82.pdf * SQ312F fixed-disk hard drive. 12.75 MB. * SQ325F fixed-disk hard drive. 25.5 MB using MFM encoding. Specs: 612 cylinders, 4 heads, no WPC, no RWC, fastest step rate. * SQ338F fixed-disk hard drive. 38.2 MB. Supports MFM or RLL encoding. Specs: 615 cylinders, 6 heads, no WPC, no RWC, fastest step rate. Removable Media Drives (formatted capacity): * SQ306RD drive/SQ100 disk. 5 MB using MFM encoding. * SQ312RD drive/SQ200 disk (SyQuest used the SQ200 model number again for a desktop drive in 1994). 10 MB using MFM encoding. * SQ319RD drive/SQ300 disk. 15 MB using RLL encoding (10 MB using MFM encoding). * SQ2542 drive/disk – 42 MB 2.5" The Iota series. * SQ555 drive/SQ400 disk – 44 MB 5.25". internal SCSI. Also used in the Atari Megafile 44Review in Atari Start Magazine March 1990
and sold as part of the
E-mu Systems
E-mu Systems was a software synthesizer, audio interface, MIDI interface, and MIDI keyboard manufacturer. Founded in 1971 as a synthesizer maker, E-mu was a pioneer in samplers, sample-based drum machines and low-cost digital sampling musi ...
RM45 – Removable Media Storage System.
* SQ5110 drive/SQ800 disk – 88 MB 5.25". internal SCSI. Compatible with SQ400 disk.
* SQ5200C drive/SQ2000 disk – 200 MB 5.25" internal SCSI. The external desktop version of the SQ5200C was named SQ200, not to be confused with the earlier model SQ200 10 MB disks. Compatible with SQ400 and SQ800 disks.
* SQ3105 drive/SQ310 disk – 105 MB.
* SQ3270 drive/SQ327 disk – 270 MB. Compatible with SQ310 disk.
* EZ135
The EZ 135 Drive is a 3.5" removable platter hard disk drive. It was introduced by SyQuest Technology in 1995. It had a maximum capacity of 135 MB per disk.
A successor drive, known as the SyQuest EZFlyer, was released in 1996. It was backwa ...
aka EZDrive 135/EZ135 disk – 135 MB 3.5" removable-disk hard drive. Competitor to Iomega's Zip drive
The Zip drive is a removable floppy disk storage system that was introduced by Iomega in late 1994. Considered medium-to-high-capacity at the time of its release, Zip disks were originally launched with capacities of 100 MB, then 250 ...
. This was available in SCSI, IDE and parallel port versions.
* EZFlyer aka EZFlyer 230 drive/EZ230 disk – 230 MB 3.5" removable-disk hard drive. EZ135 compatible. Positioned as an upgrade to the EZ135.
* SyJet drive/SQ1500 disk – 1.5 GB removable-disk hard drive. Competitor to Iomega's Jaz drive).
* SparQ drive
The SparQ drive is a removable-disk hard drive made by SyQuest Technology. It was introduced in 1997, available as an internal or external version. The internal version utilized an IDE interface, and the external version used a parallel port. T ...
/SparQ disk – 1.0 GB 3.5" removable-disk hard drive. Lower cost per MB than the SyJet.
* Quest drive/Quest disc – a 4.7 GB removable-disk hard drivePC Magazine definition
Available for a short time 1998. The 5.25" removable-disk hard drives with 44 MB, 88 MB, and 200 MB capacities were mostly used on Macintosh systems via the SCSI interface.
See also
* Jaz drive, a competing storage technologyReferences
External links
Syquest
at thefreedictionary.com
Interview of Syed Iftikar (SyQuest member)
at computerhistory.org {{DEFAULTSORT:Syquest Technology 1982 establishments in the United States 2003 disestablishments in the United States American companies established in 1982 American companies disestablished in 2003 Computer companies established in 1982 Computer companies disestablished in 2003 Defunct computer companies of the United States Defunct computer hardware companies Private equity portfolio companies