Hitachi to Acquire Personal Storage Maker Fabrik

In a direct move into competition with external storage makers such as Iomega, Seagate, Toshiba, Dell and EMC, Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Feb. 24 said it has agreed to acquire Fabrik, a privately held supplier of personal storage products and services.

Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed. The deal is expected to close in the second quarter of 2009.

San Mateo, Calif.-based Fabrik, founded in 2005, offers both primary and offsite-based backup and owns brands that include G-Technology and SimpleTech.

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G-Technology makes external storage systems for the Macintosh, content creation and professional A/V markets. SimpleTech makes PC-based external storage and backup packages.

Fabrik's business will continue intact and form the core of Hitachi GST's newly formed external storage business, the company said. Hitachi GST will fully support the G-Technology and SimpleTech product lines.

The new Fabrik division will share with the parent company operational, technical and product development resources; distribution channels; and global reach to accelerate delivery of a full portfolio of traditional hard drives, solid-state drives, and branded personal and professional storage products.

"The Fabrik acquisition becomes the cornerstone for the next phase of our business transformation. It strategically expands our market presence, strengthens our product portfolio and increases our customer base," said Steve Milligan, president of Hitachi GST.

Mike Cordano, Fabrik's CEO and co-founder, will join Hitachi GST as a member of the executive management team. A 20-year storage veteran, Cordano previously served as executive vice president of worldwide sales and marketing for Maxtor, which was acquired by Seagate three years ago.

IDC expects worldwide personal storage device shipments to grow from approximately 52 million in 2008 to 123 million in 2012.