Areal Technology, Inc.
TypePrivate[1]
IndustryComputers
Founded1987 (1987) in Santa Clara, California, United States
FounderJack Swartz
Defunct1999 (1999)
FateDissolution
ProductsHard disk drives
Number of employees
105 (1991, peak)
ParentTomen Electronics and Sanyo (1993–1999)

Areal Technology, Inc., was an American hard disk drive manufacturer active from 1987 to 1999. The company was the first to produce hard drives employing glass as the substrate for their platters, allowing for significantly higher data densities and greater shock resistance. Other hard drives manufacturers across the board soon followed suit with this approach.[2][3] In 1993, Areal was sold to Tomen Electronics and Sanyo, who operated the company as a joint venture. Areal continued as a subsidiary until 1999.

History

Areal A340, 2.5-inch, 340-MB hard drive, manufactured in late 1994
Areal A260, 2.5-inch, 260-MB hard drive, manufactured in late 1995

Foundation (1987–1988)

Areal Technology was founded by Jack Swartz in late 1987.[4] Swartz had previously co-founded Maxtor Corporation, one of the largest hard drive manufacturers in the world, in 1982, before leaving them in mid-1987 amid an executive shakeup at the company.[4][5] Several other veterans of the hard drive industry, including top executives from Maxtor, soon followed Swartz to Areal.[4][6] Arena's set up their original headquarters in Santa Clara, California.[7] In March 1988, the company set up a research and development office in Tucson, Arizona.[8] In fall 1988, the company opened up their first production facility in Point Arena, California, within a 10,000-square-foot building formerly occupied by the Arena Bowl bowling alley.[9][10]

Areal's first products were announced in October 1988. They consisted of the BP-50 and the BP-100, 3.5-inch-diameter hard disk drives storing 50 MB and 100 MB of data, respectively.[11] These were the first announced hard drives employing specialized ultra-flat glass as the substrate for their platters.[12][6] The use of glass allows for much higher data densities and greater shock resistance than those of disks using aluminum as the substrate, which was the industry standard at the time.[5][6][13] Areal's main supplier of glass was Hoya Optics, a U.S.-based subsidiary of the Japanese Hoya Corporation which had recently opened a glass factory in the United States for worldwide production.[14] Areal was additionally the first company to build major internal components of their drives using polycarbonate plastic in order to save weight, as their targeted clientele were portable makers.[15][11] These parts included the actuator arm, the top cover, and the base plate. GE Plastics developed a special blend of their Lexan resin specifically for Areal.[15]

Japanese investors and ouster (1988–1990)

In December 1988, Areal received a multi-million-dollar capital injection from Nippon Sheet Glass (NSG) and Tokyo Boeki.[8][14] The two companies received a minority stake in the Areal as a result of their capital infusion.[14] The following April, Areal leased 35,000-square-foot of office space for another research and development facility.[16] The company employed 42 people total in November 1989.[17] Between the end of 1988 and the middle of 1990, Areal had received roughly $7.5 million in funding from their Japanese investors, which now also included Toyo Menka Kaisha and Tomen Electronics. Areal ended their relationship with Hoya in the middle of 1990, switching to NSG as a glass supplier.[18]

Despite the capital investment and multiple hiring rounds at the company's Point Arena plant, Areal's 3.5-inch hard drive products were met with multiple delays owing to recurring bugs in the designs of the drives' logic board; and difficulty in bringing the cost of manfuacturing down by reducing the number of assembly steps.[19] In addition, Areal's Japanese investors pressured the company into entering the nascent market for 2.5-inch-diameter drives, to the chagrin of Kirby, who saw the most potential returns in the well-established 3.5-inch-diameter drive market.[18] Areal relented to the Japanese investors' demands and announced the MicroDrive (MD) line of 2.5-inch glass hard drives in fall 1989, with a trio of drives measuring between 49 MB and 100 MB.[20][21] Meanwhile, the delays in the 3.5-inch product led to deadlines being missed for all of their contracts with computer systems manufacturers to provide the latter with production samples and preparatory design materials.[1][22] A clash between the Japanese investors and Swartz over the direction of the company led to the latter's ouster in July 1990.[18] Swartz's CEO position was filled by Mike Kirby, while Steve Drexler (an early Areal employee) succeeded Swartz as chairman.[1] Kirby terminated all further work on 3.5-inch drives, in favor of developing 2.5-inch drives.[22] By this point, the company had only 25 employees.[1]

Market introduction (1990–1991)

In November 1990, Sanyo announced as part of separate agreements that they had given Areal $7 million in equity infusion and inked a deal to with Areal produce to produce their MD-2000 series of disk drives in volume quantities.[23][24] The first product in the line, the MD-2060, was capable of storing 60 MB on a single glass platter, with two read heads for each side of the platter. It was introduced in late November 1990 in evaluation quantities, these samples manufactured by Areal's employees in Point Area.[25] Areal by December 1990 had 60 employees total.[26]

Sanyo began producing the MD-2060 in volume quantities in February 1991, after Areal had received their first large contract from Disk Technologies Corporation of Florida worth $4 million in December 1990.[27][28][26] The MD-2060 was the first hard drive made with glass platters available on the market, narrowly beating out Toshiba with their 40-MB MK-1122FC, made with glass platters and produced in volume beginning in April 1991.[2][29][3] Toshiba's factories were able to produce much more than Sanyo's, with the former producing in excess of 1,000 units per month.[2] Toshiba themselves outfitted their laptops with Areal's drives in the same year, however, due to their higher capacity.[13] Areal reached peak employment of 105 workers in February 1991.[17]

Expansion (1991–1993)

In October 1991, Areal introduced their flagship A-Series 2.5-inch drives with the A180 and the A120.[30] The A180 was the highest-capacity 2.5-inch drive to that date, with 180 MB of capacity across two platters.[31][32] In 1991, Areal signed on Wearnes Technology of Singapore as a second source of their hard drives.[32]

Areal branched out from the OEM market in May 1992 and began selling to customers directly with the E-Series of external drives. Drives in the E-Series plugged directly to a computer's parallel port, with a passthrough port on the rear to allow other parallel-port devices such as printers to work with the system in tandem.[33] In November 1992, they announced the AA9180 disk array, composed of nine 2.5-inch, 180-MB hard drives occupying the footprint of one 5.25-inch server drive bay, for a total of 1.2 GB of storage. Areal built the AA9180 with a logic board allowing for different RAID configurations, including RAID 5.[34]

Acquisition and decline (1993–1999)

In 1992, Areal achieved sales of nearly US$44 million, with roughly 150,000 drives shipped that year.[35] In January 1993, Tomen and Sanyo acquired a majority stake in Areal for $3 million, effectively buying out the company and placing it under Japanese control.[36][35] Areal continued as a subsidiary under their joint venture, with employment number dwindling to just under 100 workers by June 1993.[17]

Areal produced their last hard drives in 1995. The company's apex was the A1080, a 2.5-inch drive with a 1.08 GB capacity.[37][38] Areal operated as a holding company into 1997, with Mitsuhiro Naoe serving as the company's chairman.[39] In March 1999, however, Areal filed its certificate of dissolution, ending the company for good.[40]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "New president, chairman at Areal Technology". The San Francisco Examiner: B-2. July 10, 1990 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. 1 2 3 "New products, new energy in the storage industry". Electronics. Endeavor Business Media. 64 (9): 65 et seq. September 1991 – via Gale.
  3. 1 2 Costlow, Terry (November 2, 1992). "Drive makers eye new technologies". Electronic Engineering Times. UBM LLC (719): 1 et seq. – via Gale.
  4. 1 2 3 Kovsky, Steven (May 30, 1988). "Executive exodus troubles Maxtor". Computer Systems News. UBM LLC (368): 1 et seq. – via Gale.
  5. 1 2 Morrow, George (December 5, 1988). "Expect Advantages in Portable Storage Devices and Displays". InfoWorld. IDG Publications. 10 (49): 52 – via Google Books.
  6. 1 2 3 Seither, Mike (October 1988). "New set of Winchester vendors battle entrenched players". Mini-Micro Systems. Reed Business Information. 21 (10): 17 et seq. – via Gale.
  7. ↑ McDonald, Jeffrey (January 6, 1989). "High Tech Training Coming to Coast". Independent Coast Observer: 3 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. 1 2 Boice, Jennifer (December 29, 1988). "Areal Tech receives funding". Tucson Citizen: D1 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ↑ Staff writer (October 7, 1988). "High-Tech Production Coming to Point Arena". Independent Coast Observer: 9 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ↑ "V-P Hired for Areal Technology". Independent Coast Observer: 3. April 7, 1989 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. 1 2 Angus, Jeff (October 10, 1988). "Areal's Laptop Hard Drive Series to Make Debut at Fall Comdex". InfoWorld. IDG Publications. 10 (41): 37 – via Google Books.
  12. ↑ Begun, Daniel A. (May 25, 1993). "Smooth as Glass". PC Magazine. Ziff-Davis. 12 (10): 32 – via Google Books.
  13. 1 2 Torgan, Emerson Andrew (January 14, 1992). "Glass Hard Disks Offer Lightweight, Rugged Storage". PC Magazine. Ziff-Davis. 11 (1): 60 – via Google Books.
  14. 1 2 3 Waurzyniak, Patrick (January 9, 1989). "Drive Startup Gets Japan Funding: See Move into U.S." Electronic News. Sage Publications. 35 (1740): 19 – via Gale.
  15. 1 2 Staff writer (December 13, 1988). "New uses of GE plastics announced". The Berkshire Eagle: C1 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. ↑ "Deeds and Titles". The Peninsula Times Tribune: C-1. April 8, 1989 – via Newspapers.com.
  17. 1 2 3 Nash, Jim (June 28, 1993). "Areal Technology is proving big isn't necessarily better". The Business Journal. American City Business Journals. 11 (11): 3 – via Gale.
  18. 1 2 3 Deagon, Brian (July 23, 1990). "Areal taps CEO, to stress 2.5-inch drives". Electronic News. Sage Publications. 36 (1819): 20 – via Gale.
  19. ↑ McDonald, Jefferey (April 28, 1989). "Areal Delay Due to Refining". Independent Coast Observer: 1, 2 – via Newspapers.com.
  20. ↑ Copeland, Ron (October 2, 1989). "Areal to Offer 2½-Inch Hard Drive for Laptops". InfoWorld. IDG Publications. 11 (40): 23 – via Google Books.
  21. ↑ Pane, Patricia J. (November 20, 1989). "Areal Unveils 100MB Low-Power Hard Disk for Notebook Market". InfoWorld. IDG Publications. 11 (47): 31 – via Google Books.
  22. 1 2 Krey, Michael (July 23, 1990). "Areal founder gets the boot from start-up's major backers". The Business Journal. American City Business Journals. 8 (14): 10 – via Gale.
  23. ↑ "Storage: major breakthroughs coming to market, Sanyo to build Areal drives: Intros new, 63MB single glass platter unit". EDGE. EDGE Publishing. 1 (24): 4. November 5, 1990 – via Gale.
  24. ↑ Deagon, Brian (January 7, 1991). "Startups, recession challenge dominant disk drive vendors". Chilton's Electronic News. Sage Publications. 37 (1842): 13 et seq. – via Gale.
  25. ↑ Brownstein, Mark (November 26, 1990). "Small Hard Disk Drive for Notebooks Uses Only One Platter, Two Heads". InfoWorld. IDG Publications. 12 (48): 21 – via Google Books.
  26. 1 2 "Storage: Areal, Disctec in $4 million contract for 2.5-inch, removable, 60MB, glass disk drives". EDGE. EDGE Publishing. 1 (29): 8. December 10, 1990 – via Gale.
  27. ↑ Staff writer (December 10, 1990). "Disctec Creates Palm-sized 60MB Disk Cartridge from 2.5" Areal Drive". Computer Business Review. New Statesman Media Group. Archived from the original on November 20, 2023.
  28. ↑ Blankenhorn, Dana (February 27, 1991). "New for PC: Disctec 60MB laptop drives". Newsbytes. The Washington Post Company – via Gale.
  29. ↑ Scanlan, Jim (December 13, 1990). "Drive heights hover around 1 inch; reports also emerge of 1.78-in.-wide prototypes". EDN. UBM Canon. 35 (25A): 3 et seq. – via Gale.
  30. ↑ Staff writer (September 30, 1991). "Areal touts 181-megabyte 2½-inch hard drive". InfoWorld. IDG Publications. 13 (39): 26 – via Google Books.
  31. ↑ "Areal Technology Comes Out with the First 180MB 2.5" Disk Drive". Computer Business Review. October 1, 1991. Archived from the original on November 20, 2023.
  32. 1 2 Khermouch, Gerry (November 11, 1991). "Areal signs Wearnes for glass-disk drives". Electronic News. Sage Publications. 37 (1886): 14 – via Gale.
  33. ↑ Quinlan, Tom (May 18, 1992). "Areal marketing light, portable hard disk drives". InfoWorld. IDG Publications. 14 (20): 33 – via Google Books.
  34. ↑ Stephens, Mark (November 23, 1992). "Areal packs nine hard drives into disk array". InfoWorld. IDG Publications. 14 (47): 34 – via Google Books.
  35. 1 2 Maleval, Jean Jacques (February 1993). "US HDD Maker Areal Technology Becomes Japanese Company". Storage Newsletter. Micro-Journal (61). Archived from the original on November 19, 2023.
  36. ↑ Staff writer (January 11, 1993). "Two Japanese firms buy majority stake in Areal". Electronic News. Reed Business Information. 39 (1945): 16 – via ProQuest.
  37. ↑ "Storage: new family of 2.5-inch Areal drives offers higher capacities". EDGE. EDGE Publishing. 5 (235): 19. November 21, 1994 – via Gale.
  38. ↑ Glover, Thomas J. (1998). Pocket PCref. Sequoia Publishing. pp. 300–301. ISBN 9781885071163 – via the Internet Archive.
  39. ↑ Staff writer (July 6, 1997). "Business Briefing". The Columbian: E1, E8 – via Newspapers.com.
  40. ↑ "Areal Technology, Inc". OpenCorporates. n.d. Archived from the original on November 20, 2023.
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