Certance was a computer tape drive

Tape drive

A tape drive is a data storage device that reads and performs digital recording, writes data on a magnetic tape. Magnetic tape data storage is typically used for offline, archival data storage. Tape media generally has a favorable unit cost and long archival stability.A tape drive provides...

 manufacturer based in Costa Mesa, California

Costa Mesa, California

Costa Mesa is a city in Orange County, California. The population was 109,960 at the 2010 census. Since its incorporation in 1953, the city has grown from a semi-rural farming community of 16,840 to a primarily suburban and "edge" city with an economy based on retail, commerce, and light...

. Certance made DDS

Digital Data Storage

Digital Data Storage is a format for storing computer data on a Digital Audio Tape .DDS uses tape with a width of 3.8mm, with the exception of the latest formats, DAT 160 and DAT 320, which are 8mm wide...

 tape drives and was one of the three original technology partners that created the Linear Tape-Open

Linear Tape-Open

Linear Tape-Open is a magnetic tape data storage technology originally developed in the late 1990s as an open standards alternative to the proprietary magnetic tape formats that were available at the time. Hewlett-Packard, IBM and Seagate initiated the LTO Consortium, which directs development...

 technology. In 2005 Certance was acquired by Quantum Corp.

Quantum Corp.

Quantum Corporation is a manufacturer of tape drive, tape automation, data deduplication storage products and scalable file storage software, based in San Jose, California...

History

The company began as the removable storage systems division of Seagate Technology

Seagate Technology

Seagate Technology is one of the world's largest manufacturers of hard disk drives. Incorporated in 1978 as Shugart Technology, Seagate is currently incorporated in Dublin, Ireland and has its principal executive offices in Scotts Valley, California, United States.-1970s:On November 1, 1979...

. The division was formed in 1996 from storage companies Archive Corp.

Archive Corp.

Archive Corporation was a computer tape drive manufacturer, based in Costa Mesa, California that was acquired by Conner Peripherals in 1993.Of particular note are the Archive DDS tape drives produced for Silicon Graphics that could also read and write Digital Audio Tapes.* Archive Python 4320*...

, Irwin Magnetics, Cipher Data Products, and Maynard Electronics

Maynard Electronics

Maynard Electronics was an American company based in Lake Mary, Florida that produced magnetic tape data storage related products.The company was founded by Kim and Alison Knapp in 1982. It was acquired by Archive Corp. in 1989, but the brand was maintained. In order to make it easier to sell...

. In a restructuring involving Seagate Technology and Veritas Software

VERITAS Software

Veritas Software Corp. was an international software company that was founded in 1983 as Tolerant Systems, renamed Veritas Software Corp. in 1989, and merged with Symantec in 2005. It was headquartered in Mountain View, California...

, the division was spun off in 2000 into the independent company Seagate Removable Storage Systems. The name was changed to "Certance" in 2003. In 2004, Quantum Corp. announced plans to acquire Certance. The acquisition was completed in 2005, at which point Certance ceased to exist as an independent company.

External links

• News Article about Acquisition by Quantum at PCWorld.com