As a 20 year storage veteran, Mike Cordano, Fabrik CEO and co-founder, will join Hitachi GST as a key member of the executive management team. Mr. Cordano has an extensive background in the data storage industry, having previously served as executive vice president of Worldwide Sales and Marketing for Maxtor Corporation. While there, he was instrumental in building the Branded Products Group, which successfully launched the industry’s first “OneTouch” external storage and backup solution, which ultimately defined the category and broke the technology barrier for mass consumer adoption.

HITACHI GST STRATEGICALLY EXPANDS INTO EXTERNAL STORAGE;
TO ACQUIRE FABRIK, INC.

Leading Hard Drive Supplier Gains Immediate Access to Innovative Storage Solutions
for the Consumer, Small Business and Professional Mac and PC Markets

SAN JOSE, Calif. – Feb. 23, 2009 – Hitachi Global Storage Technologies (Hitachi GST) today announced that it has agreed to acquire Fabrik, Inc., a privately-held supplier of personal and professional storage solutions. Fabrik, whose leading storage brands include G-Technology and SimpleTech, strategically positions Hitachi in the fast-growing external storage business.

Industry analyst firm IDC expects worldwide personal storage device shipments to grow from approximately 52 million in 2008 to 123 million in 20121. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed. Closing of the acquisition, which is subject to customary conditions, is expected to occur early in the second quarter of 2009.

Fabrik’s business will continue intact and form the core of Hitachi GST’s newly-formed external storage business. Hitachi GST will fully support the G-Technology and SimpleTech product lines, building upon their success and differentiation in the market. The combined company will also leverage 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. “Fabrik is a key component of our growth and profit strategy going forward and will enable us to deliver a differentiated set of products across a broad range of end-user market segments.”

As a 20 year storage veteran, Mike Cordano, Fabrik CEO and co-founder, will join Hitachi GST as a key member of the executive management team. Mr. Cordano has an extensive background in the data storage industry, having previously served as executive vice president of Worldwide Sales and Marketing for Maxtor Corporation. While there, he was instrumental in building the Branded Products Group, which successfully launched the industry’s first “OneTouch” external storage and backup solution, which ultimately defined the category and broke the technology barrier for mass consumer adoption.

“Hitachi GST provides Fabrik and its customers all the benefits of a vertically integrated company. We gain economies of scale, financial stability, association with a strong brand and a worldwide footprint to accelerate our business growth,” said Mike Cordano, Fabrik CEO and co-founder. “We are pleased that Hitachi is building upon our vision and enabling end-users everywhere to enjoy powerful storage solutions that are unequalled when it comes to performance, style, reliability and innovation.”

Fabrik’s leading storage brands include G-Technology, offering premium external storage solutions for the Mac, content creation and professional A/V markets; and SimpleTech, an innovative leader in PC-based external storage and backup solutions. Both brands have clearly differentiated product lines that complement and build upon the existing Hitachi GST hard drive portfolio.

Enter the SimpleTech [re]Drive. I’d wager that this drive is probably one of the best external devices I’ve seen. It does what drives are supposed to do – it reads and writes data at USB 2.0 speeds – and is surprisingly cool and silent.

The drive is clad in aluminum and bamboo. The top and bottom look like they’re made of balsa wood while the side panels have an odd texture that suggests a clever heat-sink. Even though this is a 500 gigabyte hard drive, it spins up silently and makes nary a whisper during operation. A similar drive, also 500GB sitting next to it, sounds like a jet taking off.

The drive includes a power supply and standard USB cable. It also has backup software stored on the drive along with support for Fabrik, an online sharing system we’ve reviewed before. Fabrik support offers online storage of your images, documents, and media. A link to Joggle.com is also included, which is another service aimed at sharing pictures and video with friends and family.

The drive is formatted in NTFS out of the box and requires a reformat for OS X support. It includes a Turbo USB driver for faster disk access – about 20% over standard rates – offering 480-500 Mbps on a good day. Best of all, the drive turns off when the PC or Mac is turned off, ensuring that the drive’s green pedigree isn’t all just lip service.

Drives can’t really be revolutionary, but the $159.99 [re]Drive comes pretty close.

FABRIK LAUNCHES WORLD’S MOST ECO-FRIENDLY EXTERNAL DRIVE

New SimpleTech [re]drive with Turbo USB 2.0 Provides Consumers with an Energy-Efficient, Fast, Reliable and More Sustainable Alternative for Storing and Protecting Digital Files

San Mateo and Santa Ana, Calif, July 28, 2008 – Bump up your green meter with Fabrik’s (www.fabrik.com) new SimpleTech [re]drive™, the world’s most energy-efficient, resource-conscious, Turbo USB 2.0 external storage and backup drive. From its sustainable bamboo and recyclable aluminum enclosure, to its packaging and Energy Star® power adaptor, the SimpleTech [re]drive helps make the world a little greener while storing and protecting your data. With Turbo USB 2.0, which delivers up to 25 percent faster performance than USB 2.0, the [re]drive is speedy and reliable with plug n’ play simplicity for both Mac and PC users. To help you steer clear of life’s little digital disasters, the SimpleTech [re]drive’s automated backup software saves copies of your stuff on the drive, and on encrypted, secure servers using Fabrik Ultimate Backup (www.FabrikUltimateBackup.com) for ultimate online backup protection.

“Many consumers are concerned with helping solve the most important environmental issue of our time – protecting our planet from the threats of climate change,” said Matt McRae, vice president of marketing at Fabrik. “At Fabrik, we’re making an effort to support the environment, while adapting our products to better meet consumer needs and interests. We know we have a lot more work to do across the board as a company, but we’re committed to change and hope we’ll make a small dent in improving the environment – through our products, services, partner choices and company best practices.”

[re]think
Blazing a path of innovation in making the products more sustainable, the new SimpleTech [re]drive is the most eco-friendly alternative on the market when compared to standard external hard drives. Renewable and recyclable materials are used in every aspect of the product where plausible and economically possible. For instance, it’s designed using bamboo, which is incredibly strong (16 percent harder than maple) and is one the earth’s most sustainable, environmentally-friendly natural resources. The bamboo is naturally grown local to Fabrik’s manufacturing facility so the material is not transported over long distances.

A thick aluminum casing is used not only for durability, but because it’s the most recycled metal on the planet. It also acts as a heat sink, cooling the drive without the use of a fan, saving additional energy and noise. Add to that a low-power internal hard drive, an Energy Star power adapter, and a feature that automatically powers the drive on and off with your computer, and you’ve got a storage and backup solution that keeps your grid demands to a minimum. Total power savings could equal up to 90 percent when compared to traditional external drives* or the equivalent of reducing approximately 475 lbs of carbon dioxide emissions over the life of the drive**.

In addition, the [re]drive’s simplified, 100 percent recyclable package contains just the bare essentials to reduce waste – there’s no extra bags or inserts, and the backup software and user guide are saved digitally on the drive. For added convenience, the quick set up guide is printed on the inside of the box.

As standard industry practice, Fabrik ensures that all of its products adhere to stringent, regulatory compliance standards such as Grunpunkt, RoHS and WEEE.

[re]store
The SimpleTech [re]drive is a reliable alternative for protecting precious data on a Mac or PC. A simple-to-use wizard guides you through a one-time set up process, where you can easily select what day, time, or specific files or folders you want protected. For PC users, virus protection is included to help prevent the transfer of infected files before the backup occurs. Free updates are continually made available to provide ongoing protection from the latest viruses. The backup software also lets you create a disaster recovery CD that can be used to boot your system in case of system failure, which could save hours of reinstalling the OS and various applications.

While backing up your digital files to the [re]drive is important, Fabrik Ultimate Backup provides the ultimate online backup data protection, so no matter what sort of disaster strikes your external drive or computer – a spilled drink, theft, fire, or other natural disaster – your pics, flicks and tunes are safe. Each SimpleTech [re]drive comes with 2GB of free online backup space, or for less than $5 per month you get unlimited capacity to securely backup all of your important files and media collections offsite. All online backups are secure, encrypted and most importantly are unobtrusive; performing incremental backups, so only the smallest amount of content that has been changed or modified within your files will be updated. Fabrik Ultimate Backup is also available as a standalone online backup service.

Fabrik’s new SimpleTech [re]drives Turbo USB 2.0 external drives are available today at many U.S. retail store and online sites. Manufacturer’s suggested retail pricing (MSRP) is $159.99 for 500GB.

Along with the [re]drive, Fabrik also announced today the availability of the new SimpleTech SimpleDrive and a new 500GB Signature Mini Portable USB 2.0 Drive. For more information about Fabrik’s new products, please visit www.fabrik.com.

G-Technology was founded by Roger Mabon four years ago and is self funded. This is Fabrik’s third acquisition (previously Filmloop and SimpleTech). We’ve been hard on the company in the past (see our coverage of the Filmloop acquisition and CrunchGear’s coverage of MyFabrik), but to be fair the company is executing like crazy. They are on a $200 million revenue run rate for 2008, says CEO Mike Cordono, and are profitable after raising around $50 million in capital. 90% or revenues are from the U.S., so there is lots of room for international expansion. Cordono isn’t talking IPO yet, but it’s clear they are on track for a public offering or a very large acquisition. Cordono says they won’t raise more capital for now, unless its for further acquisitions.

Besides the launch of their portable SimpleTech mini USB drives, Fabrik also launched Fabrik Ultimate Backup at CES. If you’re like me then backing up can be a tedious pain the arse. I avoid it as much as possible. I just don’t have the time or patience to do it. Well, Fabrik realizes many consumers feel the same way and FUB makes the whole process simple.

Makes no difference whether you have a Fabrik portable, either. The software is downloadable and as a trial you get 2GB of free backup space. Data is encrypted at 128-bits when uploading and then re-encrypted at 448-bit. You essentially have unlimited storage space for only $5 a month. Pretty sweet deal, right?

The portables come in seven flavors: espresso, blueberry, kiwi, cool mint, marshmallow, bubblegum and black cherry. Storage sizes range from 120GB to 320GB with pricing starting at $120 on up to $230.

[photopress:blackcherry_320GB.jpg,thumb,pp_image]
[photopress:bubblegum_250GB.jpg,thumb,pp_image]
[photopress:Signature_Mini_Espresso_120GB.jpg,thumb,pp_image]
[photopress:Signature_Mini_Cool_Mint_250GB.jpg,thumb,pp_image]

Fabrik

This sounds like a bit of a coup. The new entity is taking Velocity’s name and will be called Velocity Interactive Group. Two ComVentures partners – Michael Rolnick and Jeb Miller, will be “pursing other interests,” which is probably just a nice way of saying they were booted from the fund.

This is a rare move for a venture fund, and from what we hear ComVentures has been doing well in its investments. But a series of events, such as the FilmLoop debacle, may have left the brand somewhat tarnished. The fund was also ridiculed for stealing Sequoia’s web site look and feel.

A fresh start for ComVentures isn’t a bad idea, and getting talent like Levinsohn and Miller doesn’t hurt, either. The fund will be opening new offices in Santa Monica and New York, adding to existing offices in Palo Alto, India and China.

The fund is also announcing a few investments, including NDTV Networks, IndiaTV, Fabrik, Doppelganger and Mixercast.

More of the story has leaked, from multiple sources close to the company. Here’s a rough timeline of what appears to have happened:

• January 2005: FilmLoop raises $5.5 million from Garage Technology Ventures (Guy Kawasaki) and Globespan Capital Partners.
• May 2006: FilmLoop raises $7 million from troubled venture firm ComVentures. Roland Van de Meer joins the board of directors.
• October 2006: FilmLoop 2.0 launches. Company and investors are optimistic about FilmLoop
• November 2006: ComVentures, under pressure from its own limited partners to clean up its portfolio and discard any unprofitable startups, meets with FilmLoop to tell them they must find a buyer by end of year. The FilmLoop founders made it clear that they thought they had a good chance at success and did not want to sell. However, ComVentures’ ownership percentage, plus certain rights they have (called “drag along rights”), can force the other investors and the company founders to sell.
• December 2006: ComVentures proposes Fabrik, another one of their portfolio companies, as the acquiror. FilmLoop was unable to find any other acquiror in the last two weeks of the year. Fabrik acquires FilmLoop for little more than the cash ($3 million) that FilmLoop has remaining in its bank account. Due to liquidation preference rights, the founders and all employees walk away with exactly nothing.

In effect ComVentures forced a fire sale of FilmLoop and Fabrik, another company ComVentures invested in, happened to be the only viable acquiror in that limited timeframe. FilmLoop’s desktop and other software will play a part in a future Fabrik consumer storage product. SimpleTech, also acquired by Fabrik and announced today, will provide another piece of the product.

It’s clear that ComVentures had a significant interest in forcing a sale to Fabrik on such a short timetable, during the holidays, when competitive bids would be impossible to find. It’s also clear that this sale was not in the best interests of anyone except themselves. One day, the founders and employees of FilmLoop had a viable company with $3 million in the bank. The next day they had no stock, no job, and no company. At the very least, ComVentures should have abstained from voting on the acquisition.

Founders are under incredible pressure not to rock the boat when venture capitalists pull stunts like this. Engaging in litigation means other VCs will be very hesitant to invest in them in the future. For reputation purposes, founders tend to simply take their beating and walk away, hoping to start all over again with another venture and, hopefully, non-ethically challenged investors. For founders looking for funding – take heed of the FilmLoop story. Only do business with VCs that have a track record of holding up their end of the implicit bargain – to stay with you during tough times as well as good. VCs don’t have any obligation to put good money after bad, but to liquidate a viable startup simply to help out another portfolio company is evil stuff. And make sure you read those drag along and liquidation preference clauses carefully before signing.

I have an email in to ComVentures for comment on this story.

Update: I haven’t heard back directly from ComVentures, although Baris Karadogan, a partner with the firm, has left a comment below.

Update: VentureBeat is tracking this story as well, and has comments from ComVentures.

Oh boy. I hope you guys are excited on this bitterly cold Tuesday because in Silicon Valley, things are getting HOT! A service called Myfabrik is being released today after beta testing. It’s going to change the way you use the web, I swear. You’ll be able to do things you’d never thought possible, such as share files online (up to 1GB), share videos, photos, and the ability to share your thoughts with other people publicly. Groundbreaking stuff here folks.

Don’t get me wrong, Fabrik has the ability to create a decent website by combining multiple services that we use every day. But for now, Myfabrik is looking like just another Web 2.0 startup capitalizing on the success of others through integration. We’ve used MyFabrik in early stages and run the Maxtor Fusion drive which has it built-in and so far it is a serviceable, platform. The UI is a bit peaked, but that can get ironed out in future builds.

Something to take a look at? Sure. Something to call grandma about? Naw. Let her sleep.

Myfabrik – The YouTube and Flickr of Online Storage? [Read/Write Web]
Product Page

MyFabrik, loosely related to Maxtor, is a new online data storing/sharing/organizing application that lets you manage files remotely with just a web browser. You can upload and download pictures, music, videos and documents privately or publicly, depending on what permissions you set. The Web 2.0-ness of the web-app comes from tagging, sharing with others, and the ability to quickly post the files you choose onto eBay and MySpace.

It’s aiming to be a one-stop shop for media sharing, attacking .Mac and a number of other players with 2GB accounts for $30 a year and seamless interaction with Maxtor’s Fusion line of hard drives.

CrunchGear will have a hands-on update with the beta impressions soon but until then you can give it a go on MyFabrik.com

Company CEO and co-founder Mike Cordano came from storage provider Maxtor, now a Seagate company. Chairman and co-founder Keyur Patel came from Maxtor as well, following time as Senior Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer at Inktomi Corporation (a Yahoo! acquisition).

There are quite a few online storage services available (most new and notable could be Amazon S3 and EarthLink’s WebLife). Online storage is good; giving your data to a company that specializes in keeping data secure and backed up makes sense when it comes to things like family or artistic photos and video. Storage and bandwidth are so cheap now that leveraging economies of scale enables these vendors to offer storage and delivery as a commodity. Fabrik media storage plans will start at $3 per month for 2 GB of data storage with unlimited transfers.

Two things make Fabrik stand out right now. First, they offer a very nice web application for organizing your photos and videos. It’s nothing flashy looking but the functionality is smart. Ajax, both tagging and folders are all nicely used to make organizing your files easy. There are quite a few nice little features like the ability to view items on a time line by either creation data or upload date. The service is intended primarily for long term storage of your personal media, but the included sharing features are good as well.

The second thing that makes Fabrik stand out is that its web application is also available for use with local storage. If you have your own network connected storage device you can subscribe to the Fabrik media organizing service at a reduced price. Owners of a Maxtor/Seagate storage device will get an extra discount, but any networked storage device can be used.

There are a couple of ways this could play out when the service really goes to market. There is a belief held by many people today that the new web is made up of 1% content creators, 10% content distributors and everyone else consumes the stuff. Of the 1% of content producers, a smaller percentage still will be producing large quantities of multimedia. Some people talk about pro-sumers instead of consumers. Serious content producers will want a professional service dedicated to long term storage of their media and the Fabrik UI is a good one.

As all of us switch to digital media to document our lives it only makes sense to store that media outside of our own homes. While systems that support both photos and video are becoming increasingly common, price and data limits are unlikely to become cheaper than they already are. Thus a system’s organizing tool is likely to be the key point of differentiation. Fabrik’s combonation of usable metadata and public sharing with an intuitive web based UI is a well executed example of a storage company moving ahead of the pack.