Binary Research Ltd was a company founded in

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

, New Zealand, by Murray Haszard in 1991 after the sale of his previous company, B32 Software. Binary Research initially considered developing competitors to the file transfer programs Blast and Laplink. The product to compete with Blast was dropped at an early stage, but a program to transfer files over parallel or serial cables was developed and marketed from 1994 to 1996 under several names, including ''Beam'', ''UniBeam'' and ''LinkWiz''. This program was available in

DOS DOS (, ) is a family of disk-based operating systems for IBM PC compatible computers. The DOS family primarily consists of IBM PC DOS and a rebranded version, Microsoft's MS-DOS, both of which were introduced in 1981. Later compatible syste ...

, Windows 3.x,

OS/2 OS/2 is a Proprietary software, proprietary computer operating system for x86 and PowerPC based personal computers. It was created and initially developed jointly by IBM and Microsoft, under the leadership of IBM software designer Ed Iacobucci, ...

2.0 and

SCO Unix Xinuos OpenServer, previously SCO UNIX and SCO Open Desktop (SCO ODT), is a closed source computer operating system developed by Santa Cruz Operation (SCO), later acquired by SCO Group, and now owned by Xinuos. Early versions of OpenServer were ...

versions, and claimed to transfer files more rapidly than Laplink at that time. Later versions of the program could also transfer files using a network cable. Beam was not a financial success, as Laplink was the dominant product in that marketplace. Binary Research's next product, arising from the file transfer and parallel port technologies of Beam, was

Ghost In folklore, a ghost is the soul or Spirit (supernatural entity), spirit of a dead Human, person or non-human animal that is believed by some people to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely, from a ...

, first sold in 1996. Ghost pioneered the field of

disk cloning Disk cloning is the process of duplicating all data on a Digital Storage, digital storage drive, such as a Hard disk drive, hard disk or Solid-state drive, solid state drive, using hardware or software techniques. Unlike file copying, disk cloning ...

software. A network of agents was set up around the world, and a branch of Binary Research Ltd, Binary Research International Inc, was established in

Glendale, Milwaukee County, Wisconsin Glendale is a city in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 13,357 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. A suburb north of Milwaukee, it is part of the Milwaukee metropolitan area. History The Glendale area has ...

as a sales and support centre. Ghost was a very successful product, but Binary Research was a small company and was unable to drive the global sales force which Ghost needed. In 1998, Murray Haszard looked for a company which could acquire and develop Ghost further.

Symantec Symantec may refer to: * Gen Digital, an American consumer software company formerly known as Symantec * Symantec Security, a brand of enterprise security software purchased by Broadcom Broadcom Inc. is an American multinational corporation, ...

expressed an interest, and after a unanimous vote of approval by Binary Research's New Zealand employees, Ghost was purchased by Symantec for US$27.5 million in July 1998.

InfoWorld ''InfoWorld'' (''IW'') is an American information technology media business. Founded in 1978, it began as a monthly magazine. In 2007, it transitioned to a Web-only publication. Its parent company is International Data Group, and its sister pu ...

magazine, 16 november 1998, page 112 Almost all New Zealand employees of Binary Research became Symantec employees, and Ghost continued to be developed in Auckland for over ten years. Binary Research Ltd was closed down after the acquisition, but Binary Research International Inc. continues as a reseller of Ghost, and has expanded into other software products. One of the most significant products BRI distributed was the UI

(Universal Imaging Utility) which facilitates the creation of an Disk cloning, image that can be deployed to a vast range of hardware, irrespective of brand, components and drivers.

References

External links

Binary Research International Inc
{{Symantec Defunct software companies of New Zealand Gen Digital acquisitions