Epoch Systems
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Computer storage, Computer hardware, Software |
| Founded | December 1986 |
| Founder | Ken Holberger, Chuck Holland, Gregory Kenley |
| Fate | Acquired by EMC |
| Headquarters | Westborough , United States |
| Products | Epoch-1 Infinite Storage Server, EpochBackup, Renaissance storage management suite |
| Parent | EMC (from 1993) |
Epoch Systems Inc. was established in December 1986 by Ken Holberger, Chuck Holland, and Gregory Kenley as a company focused on both hardware and software development. The firm specialized in Hierarchical Storage Management (HSM) file servers, distributed storage administration, and data backup solutions. Holberger and Holland had previously worked together on the Eagle initiative described in The Soul of a New Machine, while Kenley contributed significant knowledge in operating systems and storage management. The company initially operated out of Marlboro, Massachusetts before moving its headquarters to Westborough, Massachusetts.
Products
The company's first offering, the Epoch-1 Infinite Storage Server, was released in 1988. This product incorporated a custom-built 68020-based CPU board running a tailored version of the BSD 4.2 Unix operating system. It provided an initial storage capacity of 30GB, expandable up to 150GB, by integrating optical and magnetic media with HSM algorithms that automated the transfer of files between these media types. The base configuration was priced at $158,000 and included a 30GB optical disk library alongside a 760MB magnetic disk drive. By utilizing large-capacity, cost-efficient optical storage, the Epoch-1 offered substantially higher storage volume at a lower cost compared to fully magnetic storage servers available at that time.
Epoch's follow-up product, EpochBackup, delivered features such as automated scheduling, online backup capabilities, and volume management for Unix-based client workstations from manufacturers including DEC, IBM, Hewlett Packard, Silicon Graphics, and Sun Microsystems.
In late 1990, the company launched the Renaissance storage management suite tailored for Sun, HP, and MIPS Technologies Unix workstations. This solution enhanced HSM functionality by automatically relocating rarely accessed files to a centralized Epoch-1 server to conserve local disk space while ensuring transparent retrieval upon access. Due to difficulties in supporting various Unix platforms,[1] Epoch took the initiative to form the Data Management Interfaces Group aimed at creating a standardized API for storage management.[2]
Funding
Across three financing rounds, Epoch Systems raised $15.7 million in venture capital from investors such as Charles River Ventures, Matrix Partners, Sigma Partners, TA Associates, Atlas Venture, Sierra Ventures, and Ampersand Ventures. On August 31, 1993, the company was purchased by EMC for an estimated $140 million.
Sources
- Kidder, Tracy (1981). The Soul of a New Machine. Little, Brown and Company. Reprint edition July 1997 by Modern Library. .
- ↑ Webber, Neil (1993), Operating System Support for Portable File System Extensions, USENIX Winter 1993, pp. 219–228
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