Quest Development
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Software |
| Founded | 1983 in San Luis Obispo, California, United States |
| Founder | Kevin Azzouz |
| Headquarters | San Luis Obispo , United States |
| Products | Storage management and backup software (e.g. The Norton Backup) |
Quest Development Corporation was a privately owned software enterprise established by serial entrepreneur Kevin Azzouz at a technology hub in San Luis Obispo, California. After suffering data loss due to a Rodime hard drive failure in 1983, Azzouz created a platform focused on storage management and backup solutions.
The original version was licensed to Peter Norton Computing under the name The Norton Backup, and subsequently licensed to Microsoft for integration with Windows 3.1 and Windows NTBackup. When Peter Norton Computing was acquired by Symantec in 1990, Quest maintained exclusive control over its source code, while Symantec gained sole marketing rights. To enhance support for Norton Utilities on Macintosh systems, Quest purchased FastBack for Macintosh from Fifth Generation Systems, recruiting its lead developer Tom Chappell. This collaboration led to legal disputes with Fifth Generation Systems, which Quest ultimately prevailed in.
In January 1993, Quest terminated its partnership with Symantec by buying out the agreement, prompted by strategic conflicts with Symantec CEO Gordon Eubanks amid the rapid expansion of PC hard drives. After this separation, Quest licensed its software across various tape drive and optical drive manufacturers, resulting in substantial revenue growth.
This success allowed Quest to attract venture capital funding, including a significant investment from Conner Peripherals, then the leading manufacturer of hard drives and tape drives. Through an exclusive deal, Quest supplied storage management software for all Conner hardware, fueling remarkable revenue increases. Subsequently, Quest acquired Conner’s software division and rebranded as Arcada Software, with Conner holding a controlling stake.
By 1995, Arcada’s Backup Exec and comprehensive storage management suite had become the worldwide standard for desktop and network server environments such as Windows NT, IBM OS/2, and Novell NetWare.
In 1996, Seagate Technology acquired Arcada Software as part of its strategy to expand into software markets, appointing Kevin Azzouz as President of Seagate Software.
Following this acquisition, Azzouz shifted his focus toward internet technologies and collaborated with mentor Lennart Mengwall to obtain controlling interest in OneWave shortly after its initial public offering led by Goldman Sachs.