Caelus Memories

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Caelus Memories, Inc.
Company type
  • Private (1967–1969)
  • Subsidiary (1969–1985)
IndustryComputer
Founded1967; 57 years ago (1967) in San Jose, California, United States
Founder
  • Philippe Yaconelli
  • William Benz
  • Sung Pal Chur
  • William Sousa
Defunct1985; 39 years ago (1985)
FateAcquired by Electronic Memories & Magnetics, themselves acquired by Titan Systems
ParentElectronic Memories & Magnetics (1969–1985)

Caelus Memories, Inc., was an American computer hardware company active from 1967 to 1985 and based in San Jose, California. The company focused on the manufacturing of magnetic data storage media, primarily disk packs. For a time, it was the second-largest manufacturer of disk packs in the world, designing units plug-compatible with IBM and Univac mainframes.[1] In 1969, Caelus was acquired in whole by Electronic Memories & Magnetics; the latter was later acquired by Titan Systems in 1985.

History[edit]

Caelus Memories disk drive unit from 1971

Caelus Memories was principally founded by Philippe Yaconelli in 1967 in San Jose, California.[2] Yaconelli had previously worked for Memorex, where he was one of their first employees, working in Memorex's sales division since 1962.[3] With several other employees from IBM, including William Benz, Sung Pal Chur, and William Sousa, Yaconelli founded Caelus with $200,000 of their own capital, with a further $1.8 million supplied by Electronic Memories & Magnetics (EM&M), a computer memory firm also based in San Jose.[2][4] Whereas EM&M was a more-diversified firm producing magnetic tape subsystems, core memory, and expansion cards in service of data storage devices, Caleus was chiefly focused on hard disk drive products, namely disk packs.[2][5]

In September 1967, the company began pilot production of disk packs plug-compatible with IBM's offerings, occupying a facility in San Jose that cost the founders $750,000 to build.[5] Yaconelli described their relationship with IBM as symbiotic in 1967, with the latter eager to supply the licenses for their disk pack patents.[4] Helped by this relationship, Caleus became the second-largest manufacturer of disk packs in the world by July 1968, trailing only IBM.[6] This was only five months after achieving full-scale production from their San Jose facility.[7] The company both sold their drives to end users via distributors as well as taking volume orders from OEM resellers.[1] With a capacity to manufacture up to 40,000 packs per year, Caelus generated roughly £2 million in revenues in less than a year after opening.[5][6]

Caelus' steady rise was punctuated by their acquisition in full by EM&M in January 1969.[2][8] The terms of the acquisition were reportedly $3 million in a stock swap.[9] Following the acquisition, Caelus became a subsidiary of EM&M.[10] Yaconelli left to found his second venture, Katun Corporation, a systems integration company, in San Jose.[11] He eventually returned to Memorex, becoming their VP of marketing.[3]

The company shirked developing any Winchester-style drives, preferring to stay loyal with traditional disk packs despite Winchesters steadily overtaking market share since its invention in the early 1970s by IBM.[1] In 1976, Sperry Rand acquired Caelus' San Jose factory from EM&M for an undisclosed sum.[12] Caelus continued to operate as a subsidiary from EM&M's Encino headquarters but stagnated until 1978 when EM&M charged the executive Ed Farris with a turnaround of the division.[13] Caelus continued to lead the disk pack market until their parent company EM&M was acquired by Titan Systems in 1985.[14][15]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c Upton, Molly (October 31, 1973). "Caelus Plans 3336-11-Type Disk, Will 'Wait and See' on Winchester". Computerworld. VII (44). CW Communications: 34 – via Google Books.
  2. ^ a b c d "Electronics Memories acquires San Jose firm". Palo Alto Times: 7. January 21, 1969 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ a b Spiedel, Marge (June 20, 1973). "Memorex aide sees self as motivator". Palo Alto Times: 9 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ a b "Thinking of Starting Your Own Business?". Computerworld. I (6). CW Communications: 7. September 20, 1967 – via the Internet Archive.
  5. ^ a b c "January Deliveries From Caelus: Another Independent Disk-Pack Supplier". Computerworld. 1 (6). CW Communications: 1, 4. September 20, 1967 – via the Internet Archive.
  6. ^ a b "Attack on computer disc packs market". The Daily Telegraph: 3. July 12, 1968 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ "Paper Supplier Now Selling Disk-Packs". Computerworld. 2 (8). CW Communications: 1. February 1968 – via the Internet Archive.
  8. ^ "Caelus Acquired for Electronic Memories Stock". Los Angeles Times. Times-Mirror Company: 104. January 19, 1969 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ^ "Wall Street News Briefs: Electronic Memories". The Times Recorder: 15. January 21, 1969 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ^ "Office Complex Draws Tenants". The Record: 31. July 19, 1970 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ^ "Katun new computer firm in SF". Palo Alto Times: 10. February 12, 1970 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ^ Fisher, Franklin M. (1983). IBM and the U.S. Data Processing Industry: An Economic History. Praeger. p. 395. ISBN 9780275909796 – via Google Books.
  13. ^ "EMM Officer Turns Around Caelus Operation". Computerworld. XII (18). CW Communications: 73. May 1, 1978 – via Google Books.
  14. ^ "Media, Supply Vendors Graded in User Survey". Computerworld. XII (44). CW Communications: 43. October 30, 1978 – via Google Books.
  15. ^ "Electronic Memories and Magnetics Corporation". Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments. Harvard University. n.d.
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