Best is yet to come

It’s been five years since Alex Stoev sat me down and described how we could build a faster, more cost-effective and scalable data backup and recovery platform. At that time,  as a service provider, we were painfully aware there was a huge gap in the marketplace for a technology like that. Once we had the design and technical specifications validated,  we began to deploy the necessary resources toward our development program we codenamed, “SuperVault”.

One of the hallmarks of  our intellectual property was its two-stage block-level de-duplication process while maintaining encyrption. So confident were we in this particular piece of technology and its integration into the platform at large, we applied for a U.S. patent for it. This month that patent was granted by the US Government Patent office. And the blood, sweat and tears we’ve exerted before and since launching Powered By Nine® in April 2010 came to a head this week when Imation Corporation (NYSE: IMN) acquired the technology platform.

Imation has the pedigree, the  world-wide resources, and the scalable storage business plan to take the technology to the next level. And that was our goal all along; we wanted to design, develop, and initially deploy within the confines of a privately held company and then put it in the hands of a group with the global clout to make it an industry leader.  As you might already have heard, Alex and I will be following our technology to Imation to help integrate into Imation offerings and help lead the team that delivers on their robust scalable storage roadmap.

As for Nine Technology, we leave it in capable hands. President Gene Fay and the team that’s been with us from the start will continue to work with the MSP community as a leading service provider of the Powered By Nine® data backup and recovery offerings. Nine’s got a great future ahead of them, and I look forward to the continued  strategic partnership between Imation and Nine Technology.

I offer my sincerest thanks to the Nine team in Massachusetts, Canada and China. They’ve earned my utmost respect and admiration in the years we’ve worked together. And to our partner community, I appreciate the confidence you’ve shown in us, and Nine Technology will continue to bring you the best service and support available as we move into this new phase of data backup & recovery offerings.

Have a great holiday season and a productive and happy new year.

Read Imation's Press Release on Nine acquisition