StorageTek

Storage Technology Corporation

Company type	Public (formerly)
Industry	Data storage technology
Founded	1969 (1969)
Founder	Jesse Aweida, Juan Rodriguez, Thomas S. Kavanagh, Zoltan Herger
Fate	Acquired by Sun Microsystems (2005), then Oracle Corporation (2010)
Successor	Oracle StorageTek
Headquarters	Louisville , United States
Area served	Worldwide
Products	Tape backup hardware, storage management software, disk arrays, tape drives, tape libraries, virtual tape libraries
Owner	Oracle Corporation
Parent	Oracle Corporation
Website	www.oracle.com/storage/storage-archive/

Storage Technology Corporation (commonly known as StorageTek or STK, and previously as STC) was a company specializing in data storage technologies, headquartered in Louisville, Colorado. Its offerings encompassed data retention solutions marketed under the term "information lifecycle management" (ILM). Currently, these products are part of Oracle Corporation's portfolio as Oracle StorageTek, with a primary emphasis on tape backup hardware and storage management software.

History

Established in 1969 by four ex-IBM engineers—Jesse Aweida, Juan Rodriguez, Thomas S. Kavanagh, and Zoltan Herger—StorageTek set up its main office in Louisville, Colorado.

Throughout the 1970s, the firm created its Disk Products division but encountered difficulties with an IBM-compatible mainframe and optical disk products that did not succeed commercially. After declaring Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1984, a management overhaul in 1987 redirected the company’s efforts towards automated tape libraries utilizing robotic tape handling technology. This strategic realignment enabled StorageTek to become a dominant player in tape automation.

Significant acquisitions included Documation in 1980, Aspen Peripherals Corporation in 1989, Network Systems Corporation in 1995, and Storability in 2005.

The company adopted the "StorageTek" name officially in 1983.

Sun Microsystems

In June 2005, Sun Microsystems, Inc. declared its intention to purchase StorageTek for $4.1 billion in cash, equating to $37.00 per share. The deal was finalized by August 2005.

Oracle

On January 27, 2010, Oracle Corporation completed its acquisition of Sun Microsystems for $7.4 billion. Following this transaction, the StorageTek product range was rebranded as "Oracle StorageTek."

Products

• Disk array models: ST9990, ST9985, ST6540, ST6140, Iceberg, IBM RVA, SVA, BradeStor, FLX380, FLX280, FLX240, FLX210, D178, 9176, 9153, 9140, 9130
• Disk drives: STK 8000 SuperDisk, STK8350, STK8650, STK N2700
• Fibre Channel, SAS, RAID and SCSI HBAs
• Tape drives: STC 2450, STC 2470, STC 3400, STC 3600; StorageTek models 4670, 4480, 4490, 9490; SD-3; 9840 series (T9840B-D); T9940 series (T9940B); T10000 series (A-D)
• Tape drives under other brands: LTO, SDLT, DLT
• Tape libraries: models 4400, 9310, 9360; series 9710 (9714), 9730 (9738); L-series (L20-L700e); SL-series (SL500-SL8500)
• Virtual tape libraries: VSM1 through VSM6
• Printer: StorageTek (Documation) model 5000

Product timeline

• 1970 - Launched initial product: tape drive models 2450/2470
• 1971 - Released the 3400 tape storage system
• 1973 - Established disk division
• 1974 - Delivered first units of the 3600 tape drive
• 1975 - Introduced the initial 8000 Super Disk and announced the 8350 disk subsystem
• 1978 - Created first solid-state disk
• 1984 - Developed first intelligent disk technology
• 1986 - Released first cached disk
• 1987 - Debuted tape automation systems and emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy
• 1994 - Rolled out virtual disk Iceberg
• 1998 - Launched Flexline disk arrays
• 2001 - Introduced virtual networking capabilities
• 2002 - Unveiled BladeStore disk array utilizing ATA technology
• 2003 - Released EchoView data protection appliance and StreamLine SL8500 modular library system
• 2012 - Oracle introduced Streamline SL150 modular library system
• 2013 - Oracle launched T10000D tape drive featuring an 8.5 TB capacity and a transfer speed of 252 MB/s

External links

• Official Oracle StorageTek product page