Memorex

Memorex

Type	Subsidiary of Imation
Founded	1961
Founder(s)	Laurence L. Spitters
Headquarters	17777 Center Court Dr., Ste. 800 Cerritos, California, USA 90703
Website	http://www.memorex.com/

Memorex began as a computer tape producer and expanded to become a major IBM plug compatible peripheral supplier. It is now a consumer electronics brand of Imation specializing in disk recordable media for CD and DVD drives, flash memory, computer accessories and other electronics.

Established in 1961 in Silicon Valley, Memorex started by selling computer tapes, then added other media such as disk packs. Memorex entered the consumer media business in 1971 first with its "shattering glass" advertisements and then with a series of famous television commercials featuring Ella Fitzgerald. In the commercials she would sing a note that shattered a glass while being recorded to a Memorex audio cassette. The tape was played back and the recording also broke the glass, asking "Is it live, or is it Memorex?"

The company expanded from disk packs to disk drives and other peripheral equipment for IBM mainframes. During the 1970s and into the early 1980s Memorex was worldwide a leading independent supplier of disk drives and communications controllers to users of IBM-compatible mainframes as well as a leading supplier of media for computer uses and consumers.

In 1982 Memorex was bought by Burroughs. Over the next six years, Burroughs and its successor Unisys shut down, sold off or spun out the various parts of Memorex.

The computer media, communications and IBM end user sales and service organization were spun out as Memorex International which subsequently merged with Telex becoming Memorex Telex NV, a corporation based in The Netherlands, which survived as an entity until the middle 1990s^[1].. The company evolved into a provider of information technology solutions including the distribution and integration of data network and storage products and the provision of related services in 18 countries worldwide. As late as 2006, several pieces existed as subsidiaries of other companies, see e.g., Memorex Telex Japan Ltd^[2] a subsidiary of Kanematsu^[3] or Memorex Telex (UK) Ltd. a subsidiary of EDS Global Field Services^[4].

Today, Memorex is an Imation brand for consumer electronics and accessories such as portable audio players, iPod accessories, flat panel TVs, Blu-ray players, flash drives, CDs and DVDs.^[5] Few if any of these products are actually manufactured by Memorex or Imation; for example, CD-Rs are made by CMC Magnetics Corp of Taiwan, Ritek of Taiwan and Moser Baer of India. CD-Rs were formerly made by Daxon of Malaysia and Prodisc Technology of Taiwan.

Timeline

• 1961 - Memorex is founded by Laurence L. Spitters
• 1962 - Memorex is first independent company to ship computer tape.
• 1966 - Memorex is first independent company to ship a disk pack.
• Jun 1968 - Memorex is first to ship an IBM-plug-compatible disk drive
• 1970 - Memorex ships 1270 Communications Controller
• 1971 - With CBS Memorex forms CMX Systems, a company formed to design videotape editing systems
• Sep 1971 - Memorex launches its consumer tape business
• 1972 - Memorex launches its "Is it live, or is it Memorex?" campaign
• Apr 1981 - Burroughs acquires Memorex
• Apr 1982 - Burroughs sells Memorex consumer brand to Tandy
• May 1985 - Burroughs exits OEM disk drive business, selling sales and service to Toshiba
• Sep 1986 - Burroughs acquires Sperry and renames itself as Unisys
• Dec 1986 - Unisys spins off Memorex Media, Telecommunications and International businesses as Memorex International NV.
• Jan 1988 - Memorex-Telex merger^[6]
• Dec 1988 - Unisys mainly shuts down large disk business and spins off service and repair as Sequel.
• Nov 1993 - Tandy sells Memorex consumer brand to Hanny Holdings of Hong Kong ^[7]
• Jan 2006 - Hanny Holdings sells Memorex consumer brand to Imation in an all-cash transaction.^[8]

References

External links

• Memorex History at Computer History Museum website