NCIX Computer Inc. (formerly known as Netlink Computer Inc.) was an online

computer hardware Computer hardware includes the physical parts of a computer, such as the central processing unit (CPU), random-access memory (RAM), motherboard, computer data storage, graphics card, sound card, and computer case. It includes external devices ...

and

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 ...

retailer based in

Richmond, British Columbia Richmond is a city in the coastal Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada. Mainly a suburban city, it occupies almost the entirety of Lulu Island (excluding Queensborough, New Westminster, Queensborough), between the two estuarine dis ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

, founded in 1996 by Steve Wu (伍啟儀). The company is notably tied to the early career of

Linus Sebastian Linus Gabriel Sebastian (born August 20, 1986) is a Canadian YouTuber, best known for creating and hosting YouTube technology-focused channels. On November 24, 2008, he uploaded the first video to his flagship channel, ''Linus Tech Tips'' (LTT) ...

, a former NCIX employee who went on to found Linus Tech Tips (LTT). Linus initially worked at NCIX as a product manager and later created and presented the company’s

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

channel to market its products.

Outlets

It had retail outlets in

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

Burnaby Burnaby is a city in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada. Located in the centre of the Burrard Peninsula, it neighbours the City of Vancouver to the west, the District of North Vancouver across the confluence of the Burrard In ...

Coquitlam Coquitlam ( ) is a city in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia, Canada. Mainly suburban, Coquitlam is the List of cities in British Columbia, sixth-largest city in the province, with an estimated population of 174,248 in 2024, and one of th ...

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, a city in the United States * Richmond, London, a town in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town ...

and Langley, British Columbia, as well as

Markham Markham may refer to: Biology * Markham's storm-petrel (''Oceanodroma markhami''), a seabird species found in Chile and Colombia * Markham's grass mouse (''Abrothrix olivaceus markhami''), a rodent subspecies found on Wellington Island and the ne ...

Mississauga Mississauga is a Canadian city in the province of Ontario. Situated on the north-western shore of Lake Ontario in the Regional Municipality of Peel, it borders Toronto (Etobicoke) to the east, Brampton to the north, Milton to the northwest, ...

Scarborough Scarborough or Scarboro may refer to: People * Scarborough (surname) * Earl of Scarbrough Places Australia * Scarborough, Western Australia, suburb of Perth * Scarborough, New South Wales, suburb of Wollongong * Scarborough, Queensland, sub ...

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

and

Ottawa, Ontario Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

. At one point, NCIX had 3 shipping facilities, one in

, another in

Markham, Ontario Markham () is a city in Regional Municipality of York, York Region, Ontario, Canada. It is approximately northeast of Downtown Toronto. In the Canada 2021 Census, 2021 Census, Markham had a population of 338,503, which ranked it the largest in ...

, and one in

City of Industry, California The City of Industry is a city in the San Gabriel Valley, in eastern Los Angeles County, California, United States. The city is almost entirely industrial, containing over 3,000 businesses employing 67,000 people, with only 264 residents as of ...

. By July 17, 2017, NCIX had closed the Mississauga, Toronto, and Ottawa retail locations. NCIX declared bankruptcy with the

Supreme Court of British Columbia The Supreme Court of British Columbia is the superior trial court for the province of British Columbia, Canada. The Court hears civil and criminal law cases as well as appeals from the Provincial Court of British Columbia. There are 90 judici ...

on December 1, 2017, and

liquidated Liquidation is the process in accounting by which a company is brought to an end. The assets and property of the business are redistributed. When a firm has been liquidated, it is sometimes referred to as wound-up or dissolved, although di ...

all stores and processing orders.

Demise

As one of the few surviving PC retail chains in Canada, the company "invested heavily in large walk-in retail outlets… all of which were expensive to run", rather than further online sales assets to compete more effectively against

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology company * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek myth ...

and

Newegg Newegg Commerce, Inc., is an American online retailer of items including computer hardware and consumer electronics. It is based in Diamond Bar, California. It is majority-owned by Hangzhou Liaison Interactive Information Technology Co., a Chines ...

. Furthermore, the company prioritized "sales of individual computer parts over complete systems" at a time when consumers and "millennial gamers with relatively high disposable incomes" opted for built systems from trusted brands while "the number of hobbyists who want to build their own hardware is dwindling". In July 2017, NCIX closed all their Ontario retail outlets in Ottawa, Mississauga, and Toronto and shortly after its Markham headquarters office. In November 2017, NCIX closed its Vancouver, Burnaby, and Coquitlam stores. Canada Computers then announced they had taken over the leases on these locations. On November 30, 2017, the last retail store located in Lansdowne Mall, Richmond closed, with only their headquarters in Richmond left. On December 1, 2017, NCIX filed for

bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the deb ...

with the Supreme Court of British Columbia, under File Number 170816.

Server data breach

On August 1, 2018, a Craigslist ad listed as “NCIX Database Servers - $8500 (Richmond BC)” was found by Travis Doering of Privacy Fly, indicating unerased servers and data from NCIX operations were available for sale containing user data dating back 15 years. Employee data, including

social insurance number A social insurance number (SIN) ( (NAS)) is a number issued in Canada to administer various government programs. The SIN was created in 1964 to serve as a client account number in the administration of the Canada Pension Plan and Canada's varie ...

s, was also leaked. Doering stated that in one database alone there were 3.8 million Canadians' information. The data was obtained from an abandoned warehouse where NCIX stored servers before their bankruptcy after the servers were sold to make up for the $150,000 rent fees owed to the owner of the warehouse. This prompted an investigation by the

RCMP The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; , GRC) is the Law enforcement in Canada, national police service of Canada. The RCMP is an agency of the Government of Canada; it also provides police services under contract to 11 Provinces and terri ...

and Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of British Columbia, and the police seized the servers. Despite this, the data on the servers had been copied and sold multiple times before the servers were seized. Software engineer Kipling Warner since sued NCIX and their auctioneer for failing to properly protect the information.

References

External links

{{Commons category, NCIX
NCIX.ca (Canada)

NCIX.com (U.S.)
Online retailers of Canada Defunct retail companies of Canada Consumer electronics retailers of Canada Companies based in Richmond, British Columbia Defunct companies of British Columbia Canadian companies established in 1996 Canadian companies disestablished in 2017 Retail companies established in 1996 Retail companies disestablished in 2017 1996 establishments in British Columbia 2017 disestablishments in British Columbia Companies that have filed for bankruptcy in Canada