Emulex

Emulex Corporation was an American computer hardware company active from 1978 to 2015. The company was a provider of computer network connectivity, monitoring and management hardware and software. The company's I/O connectivity offerings, including its line of Ethernet and Fibre Channel-based connectivity products, are or were used in server and storage products from OEMs, including Cisco, Dell, EMC Corporation, Fujitsu, Hitachi, HP, Huawei, IBM, NetApp, and Oracle Corporation. In 2015, the company was acquired by Avago Technologies.

History

1979–1999

Emulex was founded in 1978 by Fred B. Cox "as a supplier of data storage products and data communications equipment for the computer industry." By 1983, Emulex was able to advertise its products as if it were grocery items: a 2-page spread headlined "One stop shopping for VAX users? Emulex, of course" showed 3 paper bags, each with the Emulex name and logo and each holding a large computer board. One bag also said, "Disk Controllers" while the second bag said, "Communication Controllers;" the third said "Tape Controllers".

Much of Emulex's early market was for Digital Equipment Corporation's VAX and PDP-11 systems. One of the company's most successful products early on was the Performance series of low-cost, low-profile terminal servers. The inaugural Performance 4000 (P4000), released in August 1988, was the first third-party terminal server compatible with DEC's Local Area Transport protocol. As one of the industry's first compact design terminal servers, it was instantly profitable for Emulex, selling well in shops that were looking for low-cost access methods to a fast-growing base of DEC VAX server products. The P4000 was fixed in port count (16) and housed in a plastic shell with an LCD status screen.

In 1992, Emulex spun off their disk controller business into QLogic.

2000 to present

Headquartered in Costa Mesa, California, Emulex employed more than 1,200 people in 2013. In 2000, Emulex acquired Giganet for $645 million, and in 2013, it acquired Endace, based in New Zealand. On April 21, 2009, Broadcom made a proposal to the Emulex board of directors to buy all existing shares of Emulex for $764 million, or $9.25 per share, a 40% premium over the stock's closing price on April 20, 2009. After Emulex's board of directors recommended against the sale, Broadcom increased their offer to $11 per share on June 30, which valued the company at $925 million. On July 9, 2009, it too was rejected Broadcom subsequently withdrew its offer.

In February 2015, Avago Technologies Limited announced it would acquire Emulex for $8 per share, in cash. Avago, a spinoff of Hewlett Packard, merged with Broadcom in May of that year. Avago assumed the Broadcom name.''avagotech.com'' redirects to ''broadcom.com''

See also

* Emulex hoax

References

External links

*

{{Hard disk drive manufacturers

2015 mergers and acquisitions
American companies established in 1978
American companies disestablished in 2015
Broadcom
Cloud storage gateways
Companies based in Costa Mesa, California
Companies formerly listed on the New York Stock Exchange
Computer companies established in 1978
Computer companies disestablished in 2015
Computer storage companies
Defunct computer companies based in California
Defunct computer companies of the United States
Defunct computer hardware companies
Technology companies established in 1978
Technology companies disestablished in 2015