Ecrix

About Ecrix

Ecrix Corporation, founded in 1996, operated from Boulder, Colorado, as a specialized developer of data-storage tape products. The company was established by Juan Rodriguez and Kelly Beavers, seasoned veterans of the data storage industry who had previously co-founded both StorageTek in 1969 and Exabyte in 1985. Their extensive background in storage technology was instrumental in shaping Ecrix's strategic direction and product development.

The company's core business involved creating and marketing tape storage solutions for a range of computing systems and network configurations. Ecrix targeted the midrange storage market, aiming to provide a value-oriented alternative to existing products. Its primary offering was the VXA tape storage solution, which distinguished itself through a proprietary packet-based data transfer technology. Unlike traditional tape drives that read and write data in a continuous stream, Ecrix's VXA-1 drive processed data in discrete packets. This method offered greater reliability by more effectively matching the tape's speed with the often inconsistent flow of information from a computer. The initial VXA-1 product could store 66GB of compressed data.

Ecrix pursued a strategy of aligning with emerging market trends, including the growth of storage area networks (SANs) and the Linux operating system. The company secured significant funding to support its growth, raising $30 million in its third round of financing by late 1999. In a strategic move to broaden its market reach and product portfolio, Ecrix merged with Exabyte Corporation. The deal was finalized in November 2001, with the combined entity continuing under the Exabyte name. This merger brought Rodriguez and Beavers back to Exabyte, where they assumed roles as Chief Technologist and VP of Marketing, respectively, integrating VXA technology with Exabyte's existing high-performance tape drive lines.