| Iomega Corporation | |
| Founded: | in Roy, Utah, U.S. (as an IBM spin-off) |
| Founder: | David Bailey[1] and David Norton |
| Fate: | Acquired by EMC Corporation and Lenovo |
| Location: | San Diego, California, U.S. |
| Industry: | Computer |
| Products: | Computer storage |
| Num Employees: | 450 (in 2005)[2] |
Iomega Corporation (later LenovoEMC)[3] was a company that 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 disk system.[4] Formerly a public company, it was acquired by EMC Corporation in 2008, and then by Lenovo, which rebranded the product line as LenovoEMC, until discontinuation in 2018.[5] [6]
Iomega started in Roy, Utah, U.S. in 1980 and moved its headquarters to San Diego, California in 2001.[7] For many years, it was a significant name in the data storage industry. Iomega's most famous product, the Zip drive, offered relatively large amounts of storage on portable, high-capacity floppy disks. The original Zip disk's 100MB capacity was a huge improvement over the decades-long standard of 1.44MB standard floppy disks. The Zip drive became a common internal and external peripheral for IBM-compatible and Macintosh personal computers. However, Zip drives sometimes failed after a short period, which failure was commonly referred to as the "click of death." This problem, combined with competition from CD-RW drives, caused Zip drive sales to decline dramatically, even after introducing larger 250MB and 750MB versions. Iomega eventually launched a CD-RW drive.[8]
Without the revenue from its proprietary storage disks and drives, Iomega's sales and profits declined considerably. Iomega's stock price, which was over $100 at its height in the 1990s, fell to around $2 in the mid-2000s. Trying to find a niche, Iomega released devices such as the HipZip MP3 player, the FotoShow Digital Image Center, and numerous external hard drives, optical drives, and NAS products. None of these products were successful.[8]
In 2012, reporter Vincent Verweij of Dutch broadcaster Katholieke Radio Omroep revealed that at least 16,000 Iomega NAS devices were publicly exposing their users' files on the Internet. This was due to Iomega having disabled password security by default. KLM, ING Group, and Ballast Nedam all had confidential material leaked in this manner. Iomega USA acknowledged the problem and said future models (starting February 2013) would have password security enabled by default. The company said it would clearly instruct users about the risks of unsecured data.[9]
On April 8, 2008, EMC Corporation announced plans to acquire Iomega for .[10] The acquisition was completed in June 2008,[11] making Iomega the SOHO/SMB arm of EMC. EMC kept the Iomega brand name alive with products such as the StorCenter NAS line, ScreenPlay TV Link adapter, and v.Clone virtualization software.[8]
In 2013, EMC (before the Dell purchase) formed a joint venture with Chinese technology company Lenovo, named LenovoEMC,[12] that took over Iomega's business. LenovoEMC rebranded all of Iomega's products under its name. LenovoEMC designed products for small and medium-sized businesses that could not afford enterprise-class data storage. LenovoEMC was a part of a broader partnership between the two companies announced in August 2012. The partnership also included an effort to develop x86-based servers and allowing Lenovo to act as an OEM for some EMC hardware. LenovoEMC was a part of Lenovo's Enterprise Products Group before it ultimately dissolved with the EMC Dell acquisition.[13] [14] [15]
In November 2013, Lenovo announced the construction of a research and development facility near São Paulo, Brazil. This facility was dedicated to enterprise software and supporting LenovoEMC's development of high-end servers and cloud storage. Construction would cost $100 million and about 100 would be employed at the facility. It would be located in the University of Campinas Science and Technology Park, about 60 miles from São Paulo.[16] Later in 2016 the Brazil facility was downscaled and relocated elsewhere.[17]
Iomega designed and manufactured a range of products intended to compete with and ultimately replace the 3.5" floppy disk, notably the Zip drive. Initial Iomega products connected to a computer via SCSI or parallel port; later models used USB and FireWire (1994).
The 400d was a multi-bay network-attached storage (NAS) device. The 400d was powered by an Intel Atom processor running at 2.13 gigahertz, had 2 gigabytes of RAM, and a SATA 3 controller capable of moving data at 6 gigabits per second. The HDMI-out function enabled monitoring live feeds from surveillance cameras. The unit can be set up and managed without a PC using an external display, keyboard, and mouse. The 400d is LenovoEMC's first product sold with its LifeLine 4.1 software, which added functions such as a domain mode, enhanced Active Directory support and a more robust SDK. McAfee ePolicy Orchestrator was included for centralized security management. All THINK-branded systems from Lenovo pre-installed with Windows 8.1 included LenovoEMC Storage Connector in order make discovery and set-up of the 400d and other LenovoEMC NAS devices smoother.[23]
At the 2014 International CES, LenovoEMC announced the Lenovo Beacon Home Cloud Centre. The Beacon is a storage device that allows remote sharing of data such as music, pictures, and video. The Beacon allows music and video streaming to multiple devices. Android phones and tablets can be used to control the Beacon. It also has an HDMI port to allow connection to a television or monitor. Up to 6 terabytes of storage, RAID 0 and 1, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth are all supported.[24]