Iomega

Iomega Corporation
Company type	Public (before acquisition)
Industry	Computer storage solutions
Founded	April 1, 1980; 46 years ago in Roy, Utah, United States
Founder	Jerome Paul Johnson, David Bailey, David Norton
Defunct	2018 (discontinued as LenovoEMC)
Fate	Acquired by EMC Corporation in 2008; later became LenovoEMC; brand discontinued in 2018
Headquarters	Roy, Utah (original); San Diego, California (from 2001), United States
Area served	Worldwide
Products	External, portable, and network-attached data storage solutions including Zip drive, Jaz drive, Rev drive, external hard drives, NAS units
Parent	EMC Corporation (2008–2013), LenovoEMC (2013–2018)

Iomega Corporation—which later became known as LenovoEMC—specialized in manufacturing external, portable, and network-attached data storage solutions. Established in 1980 in Roy, Utah by founders Jerome Paul Johnson, David Bailey, and David Norton, the company emerged as a significant contributor to the computer storage sector. Over its operational years, Iomega distributed more than 410 million digital storage drives and disks, notably including the pioneering Zip drive floppy disk system. In 2001, the company relocated its headquarters to San Diego, California.

The Zip drive was Iomega’s signature product, delivering a substantial leap in storage capacity compared to conventional floppy disks—initially offering 100MB disks versus the standard 1.44MB. This device gained widespread adoption among users of IBM-compatible and Macintosh computers. Despite later models increasing capacity up to 750MB, sales declined due to reliability problems famously termed the "click of death" and mounting competition from CD-RW drives. Beyond Zip drives, Iomega diversified into CD-RW drives and broadened its offerings to include external hard drives, optical drives, NAS units, and consumer electronics such as the HipZip MP3 player and FotoShow Digital Image Center; however, these products failed to achieve notable commercial traction.

The downturn in proprietary disk sales had a profound negative effect on Iomega’s financial health. Its stock value plummeted from highs above $100 during the 1990s to roughly $2 by the mid-2000s. In 2008, EMC Corporation acquired Iomega, which was subsequently integrated into Lenovo following Lenovo’s acquisition of EMC; the product line was rebranded as LenovoEMC until its discontinuation in 2018.

A security vulnerability was revealed in 2012 when over 16,000 Iomega NAS devices inadvertently exposed user data publicly due to disabled default password protections. Confidential information belonging to prominent organizations such as KLM and ING Group was compromised. Iomega acknowledged this issue and pledged to implement password protection by default on subsequent models starting February 2013 while also promoting awareness about data security best practices.

Acquisition by EMC

On April 8, 2008, EMC Corporation declared its intention to purchase Iomega for , finalizing the transaction in June that year. This acquisition established Iomega as EMC’s division focused on SOHO (small office/home office) and SMB (small and medium business) storage solutions. Under EMC’s ownership, the Iomega brand continued with products including the StorCenter NAS series, ScreenPlay TV Link adapter, and v.Clone virtualization software—a customized version of VMware Player.

Joint venture with Lenovo: LenovoEMC

In 2013, before Dell’s acquisition of EMC, EMC collaborated with Lenovo to create the LenovoEMC joint venture that assumed control of Iomega’s operations and rebranded its product lineup. LenovoEMC concentrated on delivering cost-effective data storage options tailored for small to medium-sized enterprises. This alliance was part of a larger strategic partnership encompassing development of x86-based servers and permitting Lenovo to OEM certain EMC hardware components. LenovoEMC functioned within Lenovo’s Enterprise Products Group until it was dissolved following Dell’s acquisition of EMC.

In November 2013, Lenovo announced plans for a $100 million research and development center near São Paulo, Brazil, aimed at enterprise software innovation and supporting LenovoEMC’s advanced server and cloud storage projects. The facility was intended to employ approximately 100 staff members at the University of Campinas Science and Technology Park. However, by 2016 this Brazilian operation had been scaled back and relocated.

1980–1999

1980: Iomega was established on April 1.
1982: Introduced the initial Bernoulli Box drive with 10MB capacity.
1985: Launched the Bernoulli Box tailored for Macintosh, offering 5MB storage.
1987: Released the Bernoulli Box II featuring 20MB of space.
1988: Delivered the Bernoulli Box drive with 44MB capacity.
1991: Rolled out the Bernoulli Box drive capable of 90MB storage.
1992: Released the Bernoulli MultiDisk 150 drive.
1994: Introduced the Bernoulli 230 drive.
1995: Debuted the Ditto Tape Drive; launched the Zip drive with 100MB capacity; released the Jaz drive with 1GB storage.
1997: Announced the Buz Multimedia Producer; introduced the Clik! drive with 40MB capacity.
1998: Delivered Jaz drives with 2GB capacity and Zip drives with 250MB.
1999: Released their first internal CD-RW drive.

2000–present

2000: Launched HipZip digital audio player and FotoShow Digital Image Center; introduced first external CD-RW drive.
2001: Revealed Peerless Drive System; shipped DataSafe NAS server; reduced staff by one-third and planned relocation of headquarters from Utah to California.
2002: Introduced portable and external hard drives; released Zip drive with 750MB capacity; launched USB Mini Flash Drive.
2003: Debuted iStorage Online Storage service; announced external standard floppy drive and first DVD-RW drive; celebrated shipment of 50 millionth Zip drive; introduced Super DVD QuikTouch technology.
2004: Released CD-RW/DVD-ROM combo card reader, REV 35GB drive, combined floppy and card reader; launched wireless NAS server and REV Autoloader 1000.
2005–2006: Announced ScreenPlay multimedia drive and desktop RAID storage solutions.
2008: Acquired by EMC; introduced eGo portable and desktop hard drives, ScreenPlay HD multimedia drive, ScreenPlay TV Link adapter, and StorCenter ix2 NAS device.
2009: Expanded StorCenter NAS product range; launched new generation of eGo portable drives.
2010: Shipped iConnect wireless data station; introduced ScreenPlay Media Player Director Edition and v.Clone technology; marked 30 years in business; released StorCenter ix12-300r NAS and Skin Hard Drive.
2011–2013: Launched Cloud Edition IX series; in January 2013, rebranded as LenovoEMC Limited following joint venture with Lenovo holding majority ownership.

Products

Iomega focused on developing storage solutions intended to supersede the traditional 3.5" floppy disk, most prominently through the Zip drive. Early iterations connected via SCSI or parallel port, while subsequent models transitioned to USB and FireWire interfaces starting in 1994.

PX4-400d

The PX4-400d was a multi-bay network-attached storage (NAS) system equipped with an Intel Atom processor running at 2.13 GHz, alongside 2 GB of RAM and a SATA 3 controller supporting data transfer speeds up to 6 Gbps. It featured HDMI output for real-time surveillance viewing. Designed for standalone operation without a PC, it could be managed through an external display, keyboard, and mouse. The device operated on LenovoEMC's LifeLine 4.1 software, which offered enhanced Active Directory integration and a comprehensive SDK. Centralized security management was provided via included McAfee ePolicy Orchestrator. Lenovo's THINK series computers came preloaded with Windows 8.1 and LenovoEMC Storage Connector software to facilitate easy setup of the PX4-400d and similar NAS products.

Lenovo Beacon Home Cloud Centre

Introduced at the 2014 International CES, the Lenovo Beacon Home Cloud Centre is a storage solution designed to enable remote sharing and streaming of music, photos, and videos across multiple devices. It is controlled through Android smartphones and tablets and includes an HDMI port for connection to televisions or monitors. The system supports up to 6 TB of storage configured in RAID 0 or RAID 1 arrays, with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity options.