Fabrik Inc. was a

manufacturer Manufacturing is the creation or Production (economics), production of goods with the help of equipment, Work (human activity), labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of the secondary se ...

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 magnet ...

and digital content management

software Software consists of computer programs that instruct the Execution (computing), execution of a computer. Software also includes design documents and specifications. The history of software is closely tied to the development of digital comput ...

and services. Fabrik claims it was the third largest supplier of external storage products in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

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. It is mostly surrounded by Los Angeles, but also shares a border with the unincorporated area of Ladera Heights to the ea ...

, California. The company sells external hard drives and online backup

in a bundled product for

consumer A consumer is a person or a group who intends to order, or use purchased goods, products, or services primarily for personal, social, family, household and similar needs, who is not directly related to entrepreneurial or business activities. ...

small business Small businesses are types of corporations, partnerships, or sole proprietorships which have a small number of employees and/or less annual revenue than a regular-sized business or corporation. Businesses are defined as "small" in terms of being ...

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, G-Technology, Joggle and Fabrik Ultimate Backup.

History

Fabrik was founded as a Web-based software company in August 2005 by former

Maxtor Maxtor Corporation 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 Technology, Seagate in 2006. It was revived as a bra ...

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 computer data storage server connected to a computer network providing data access to a Heterogeneous computing, heterogeneous group of clients. In this context, the term "NAS" can refer to both th ...

(NAS) device built for organizing and sharing

digital Digital usually refers to something using discrete digits, often binary digits. Businesses *Digital bank, a form of financial institution *Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) or Digital, a computer company *Digital Research (DR or DRI), a software ...

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 gentl ...

, and in late 2006 the company launched myfabrik.com, which organized and stored digital

media Media may refer to: Communication * Means of communication, tools and channels used to deliver information or data ** Advertising media, various media, content, buying and placement for advertising ** Interactive media, media that is inter ...

online. In February 2007, the company acquired the

business of SimpleTech, 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 driv ...

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 Ferrari S.p.A. (; ) is an Italian luxury sports car manufacturer based in Maranello. Founded in 1939 by Enzo Ferrari (1898–1988), the company built Auto Avio Costruzioni 815, its first car in 1940, adopted its current name in 1945, and be ...

design A design is the concept or proposal for an object, process, or system. The word ''design'' refers to something that is or has been intentionally created by a thinking agent, and is sometimes used to refer to the inherent nature of something ...

team

Pininfarina Pininfarina S.p.A. (; ; short for Pininfarina Società per Azioni) is an Italian automotive design, car design firm and coachbuilder, with headquarters in Cambiano, Turin, Italy. The company was founded by Battista "Pinin" Farina in 1930. On 14 ...

. 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, or more generically referred to as an ''image'' or ''picture'') is an image created by light falling on a photosensitive surface, usually photographic film or an electronic image sensor. The process and prac ...

and

music Music is the arrangement of sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm, or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Music is generally agreed to be a cultural universal that is present in all hum ...

on a user's

computer A computer is a machine that can be Computer programming, programmed to automatically Execution (computing), carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations (''computation''). Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic set ...

, external hard drive or online communities and networking 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 Data ( , ) are a collection of discrete or continuous values that convey information, describing the quantity, quality, fact, statistics, other basic units of meaning, or simply sequences of symbols that may be further interpreted for ...

can be backed up to remote servers using 128-bit SSL and

Blowfish Tetraodontidae is a family of marine and freshwater fish in the order Tetraodontiformes. The family includes many familiar species variously called pufferfish, puffers, balloonfish, blowfish, blowers, blowies, bubblefish, globefish, swellfish, ...

encryption In Cryptography law, cryptography, encryption (more specifically, Code, encoding) is the process of transforming information in a way that, ideally, only authorized parties can decode. This process converts the original representation of the inf ...

.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 subsidiaries Hard disk drives Portable hard drives Computer companies established in 2005 Backup software American companies established in 2005 Defunct computer companies of the United States Defunct computer hardware companies