Adaptec, Inc., was a computer storage company and remains a brand for computer storage products. The company was an independent firm from 1981 to 2010, at which point it was acquired by PMC-Sierra, which itself was later acquired by Microsemi, which itself was later acquired by Microchip Technology.
Larry Boucher, Wayne Higashi, and Bernard Nieman founded Adaptec in 1981.[2] At first, Adaptec focused on devices with Parallel SCSI interfaces. Popular host bus adapters included the 154x/15xx ISA family, the 2940 PCI family, and the 29160/-320 family. Their cross-platform ASPI was an early API for accessing and integrating non-disk devices like tape drives, scanners and optical disks. With advancements in technology, RAID functions were added while interfaces evolved to PCIe and SAS.
On May 10, 2010, PMC-Sierra, Inc. and Adaptec, Inc. announced they had entered into a definitive agreement of PMC-Sierra acquiring Adaptec's channel storage business on May 8, 2010, which included Adaptec's RAID storage product line, the Adaptec brand, a global value added reseller customer base, board logistics capabilities, and SSD cache performance solutions.[7] The transaction was expected to close in approximately 30 days, subject to customary closing conditions.[8] Following the sale, Adaptec would retain its Aristos ASIC technology business, certain real estate assets, more than 200 patents, and approximately $400 million in cash and marketable securities.[9][10]
On June 8, 2010, PMC-Sierra and Adaptec announced the completion of the acquisition.[11][12] PMC-Sierra renamed the channel storage business "Adaptec by PMC". PMC-Sierra was in turn acquired by Microsemi in January 2016.[13]
The old Adaptec, Inc. changed its name to ADPT Corporation,[14] and then again to Steel Excel, Inc.[15] Steel Excel is now an investment firm.
^Hunt, Laura (August 16, 1999). "1981". Technology Flashback. Computerworld. Vol. 33, no. 33. p. 72. ISSN0010-4841. Retrieved June 4, 2024 – via Google Books. 1981 [...] Larry Boucher founds Adaptec Inc.
