SyQuest Technology

The goal: To maintain world leadership in removable Winchester technology. The new SyQuest is focused, refueled and racing toward the goal. Your company's customer-focused strategy centers on bringing to market the most highly compatible, price competitive, high capacity product lines while upholding the quality standard that is synonymous with the SyQuest name. In an industry where obsolescence is often only months away and a single misstep can sink a company, SyQuest Technology, Inc. has emerged--bruised and battered--a survivor. SyQuest is a pioneer and worldwide leader in removable cartridge computer storage systems using the industry-standard Winchester hard drive technology. After sustaining two years of losses, including more than $136 million in 1996 alone, SyQuest is on the rebound. Leading the way is the company's new product line, including the industry-leading 1.5 gigabyte Syjet drive, and the 230 and 270 megabyte EZ Flyer drives. SyQuest drives, unlike the wildly successful Zip and Jaz drives of archrival Iomega Corp., use Winchester technology to offer access speeds and data transfer rates that rival fixed-disk hard drive systems. Targeted especially at high-end and professional users, but also at an increasingly storage-sensitive consumer market, SyQuest drives combine unlimited storage capacity with near-real-time access for megabyte-hungry graphics, music, and video files and applications. SyQuest's headquarters are in Fremont, California, with a product development plant in Boulder, Colorado, and main manufacturing facilities in Penang, Malaysia. After a restructuring of the company in 1996, which saw the ouster of company founder Syed Iftikar, SyQuest is led by computer industry veterans Ed Marinaro, as chairman, and Edwin Harper, as chief executive officer. Winchester hard drive technology, created in the 1970s by IBM, was a primary factor in the personal computer explosion of the 1980s. Winchester technology (so-called because, like the famous 30-30 repeating rifle, the original Winchester hard drive featured dual 30-megabyte disks) represented a breakthrough in data storage. The Winchester drive made possible not only large data storage, but also fast access to that data as well as the ability to access data randomly. The Winchester drive was also more durable and more reliable than previous storage systems. The new Winchester drives, which used 14-inch disks, were, however, initially suited only to large computer environments. Enter Syed Iftikar. A native of India and a graduate of the University of Madras, Iftikar's involvement in the computer industry began in the 1960s. An engineering student, Iftikar went to his professor for advice on where to direct his future. As Iftikar told The Business Journal : "I asked him whether I should pursue mechanical, electrical or industrial engineering. He said, 'Son, get into the computer industry. Take all the computer classes you can. It's the wave of the future."' Iftikar took his professor's advice to heart, leading him to leave India. "All the exciting things in innovation were happening in America," Iftikar continued, "So I came." Iftikar joined Memorex Corp., where he worked for some 10 years as a part of that company's think tank. But it was his next move that would revolutionize the computer industry. In 1979, Iftikar left Memorex to cofound (with Al Shugart, Finis Conner, later of Conner Peripherals, Inc., and Tom Mitchell) industry powerhouse Seagate Technology. Named vice-president of mechanical engineering, Iftikar led the development team that created the first 5.25-inch hard disk drive using Winchester technology. That drive quickly became the de facto standard of the computer industry, and especially the nascent personal computer market--indeed, that market was only made possible by the development of the smaller hard drive. By the start of the 1980s, Iftikar had identified a new potential for the Winchester technology: removable storage. In 198