Adaptec
| Company type | Public (formerly) |
|---|---|
| Industry | Computer storage solutions |
| Founded | 1981 |
| Founder | Larry Boucher, Wayne Higashi, Bernard Nieman |
| Defunct | 2010 (as independent company) |
| Fate | Acquired by PMC-Sierra in 2010; brand now owned by Microchip Technology |
| Headquarters | Sunnyvale, California , United States |
| Products | Host bus adapters, RAID controllers, SAS expander cards, cables, CD/DVD authoring software, network-attached storage devices |
Adaptec, Inc. was a firm specializing in computer storage solutions and continues as a brand name within the storage product market. Operating independently from its inception in 1981 until 2010, it was purchased by PMC-Sierra, which itself was later acquired by Microsemi, and eventually became part of Microchip Technology.
History
Adaptec was established in 1981 by Larry Boucher, Wayne Higashi, and Bernard Nieman, initially concentrating on hardware utilizing Parallel SCSI interfaces. Among its notable offerings were widely used host bus adapters including the 154x/15xx series for ISA, the 2940 series for PCI, and the 29160/-320 models. The company developed the cross-platform ASPI, an early software interface enabling integration of non-disk peripherals such as tape drives, scanners, and optical drives. Over the years, Adaptec expanded its portfolio to incorporate RAID capabilities and advanced technologies like PCIe and SAS.
To strengthen its position in the SCSI peripheral sector during the 1990s, Adaptec strategically acquired several companies: Trantor Systems Ltd. in 1993 for $10 million, Future Domain Corporation in 1995 for $25 million, and Distributed Processing Technology in 1999 for $236 million.
On May 10, 2010, PMC-Sierra declared an agreement to purchase Adaptec’s channel storage division—which included its RAID product range, brand identity, reseller network, board logistics operations, and SSD caching technologies—for roughly $34 million. This deal was finalized on June 8, 2010. After this sale, Adaptec retained ownership of its Aristos ASIC technology unit, real estate holdings, more than 200 patents, as well as approximately $400 million in cash and securities.
The acquired division was rebranded by PMC-Sierra as "Adaptec by PMC." Later, PMC-Sierra itself was acquired by Microsemi in January 2016.
Following the divestiture of its storage business, the original Adaptec corporation changed its name first to ADPT Corporation and subsequently to Steel Excel, Inc., an investment entity that merged with Handy & Harman Ltd., forming the diversified conglomerate Steel Partners.
Products
Adaptec produced interface hardware compatible with multiple protocols including SCSI, USB, IEEE 1394 (FireWire), iSCSI, Fibre Channel, as well as video interfaces. The company also marketed CD and DVD authoring software under the Easy CD Creator and Roxio Toast brands. Additionally, it provided network-attached storage devices such as those in the Snap Server series.
Currently, the Adaptec trademark is associated with products including host bus adapters, RAID controllers, SAS expander cards, cables, and related accessories.