14 DAY TRIAL // Storage specialist EMC has just announced that it has completed the acquisition of its rival company Iomega for $213 million. The acquisition is more than a merger: it's the end of the Zip-drive era, that almost terminated the "obsolete" floppy disk.
Zip drives are a big chunk of history, and readers that have begun their IT quest a while ago should remember the magnetic cartridge that allowed them to store the equivalent information that would fit on 74 1.44-megabyte disks.
Iomega has a rich portfolio of achievements, including Zip drive's sequel, the Zip 250 drive that was able to store 250MB, while preserving backwards compatibility with previous versions of the drive. Higher-end users could also use Iomega's Jaz backup drive for unbelievably large storage capacities.
However, the advent of optical media hammered a huge nail into Iomega's coffin, since they were cheaper and larger in capacity than Iomega's drives. Iomega tried to snatch back its market share with a 750 MB product, but it faced some backwards compatibility problems, corroborated with its large cost.
Although the merger is completed, EMC announced that it will maintain the Iomega brand name, as it has a significant impact on customers. More than that, Iomega's ex-CEO, Jonathan Huberman, will also be assigned to EMC in order to take care of the Iomega division.
"EMC's been working to get into the SMB market for at least four years," Greg Schultz, an analyst with StorageIO Group, told InternetNews.com. "Having Iomega would give it instant brand recognition, especially in the blooming low-end, network-attached storage market."
EMC offered to buy Iomega in March, for 22 percent more than its worth on the stock market. However, the two companies reached the final agreement at this time. The new money influx would allow Iomega to resume its quest in delivering increased-performance products.
"We are just very excited about the opportunity, as EMC provides the opportunity to be on even footing with the multibillion dollar players were competing with," Iomega CEO Jonathan Huberman concluded.