 Memorex logo used between 1993 and 2008 | |
| Company type | Public |
|---|---|
| Industry | Computer peripherals, computer media, consumer tape |
| Founded | 1961 |
| Founder | Laurence L. Spitters, Arnold T. Challman, Donald F. Eldridge, W. Lawrence Noon |
| Defunct | November 1996 |
| Fate | Brand currently owned by Digital Products International |
Memorex Corp. began as acomputer tape producer and expanded to become both a consumer media supplier and a major IBMplug compatible peripheral supplier. It was broken up and ceased to exist after 1996 other than as aconsumer electronics brand specializing in diskrecordable media forCD andDVD drives,flash memory,computer accessories and otherelectronics.
Established in 1961 inSilicon Valley, Memorex started by selling computer tapes, and then other media such as disk packs. The company later expanded intodisk drives and other peripheral equipment forIBMmainframes. During the 1970s and into the early 1980s, Memorex was worldwide one of the largest independent suppliers ofdisk drives andcommunications controllers to users of IBM-compatible mainframes, as well as media for computer uses and consumers. The company's name is aportmanteau of "memory excellence".[1]
Memorex entered the consumer media business in 1971 and started the ad campaign, first with its "shattering glass" advertisements and then with a series of legendary[2]television commercials featuringElla Fitzgerald. In the commercials, she would sing a note that shattered a glass while being recorded to a Memorexaudio cassette. The tape was played back and the recording also broke the glass, asking "Is it live, or is it Memorex?" This would become the company slogan which was used in a series of advertisements released through 1970s and 1980s.[citation needed]
In 1982, Memorex was bought byBurroughs for its enterprise businesses; the company's consumer business, a small segment of the company's revenue at that time was sold to Tandy.[3] Over the next six years, Burroughs and its successorUnisys shut down, sold off or spun out the various remaining parts of Memorex.
The computer media, communications and IBM end user sales and service organization were spun out as Memorex International. In 1988, Memorex International acquired theTelex Corporation becomingMemorex Telex NV, a corporation based in theNetherlands, which survived as an entity until the middle 1990s.[4] The company evolved into a provider of information technology solutions including the distribution and integration of data network and storage products and the provision of related services in 18 countries worldwide. As late as 2006, several pieces existed as subsidiaries of other companies, see e.g., Memorex Telex Japan Ltd[5] a subsidiary of Kanematsu[6] or Memorex Telex (UK) Ltd. a subsidiary of EDS Global Field Services.[7]
Over time the Memorex consumer brand has been owned by Tandy, Hanny Holdings and Imation. As of 2016, the Memorex brand is owned by Digital Products International (DPI).[8]
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... Memorex sales of computer tapes were exceeded only by those companies which had been in the industry for 10 or more years.
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