Kennedy Company, often shortened to Kennedy Co., was an American computer storage company active from 1963 to 1988. Founded by Charles J. Kennedy (1920–1996) and based in the Greater Los Angeles area, the company was one of the largest independent manufacturers of magnetic-tape data drives for mainframe and minicomputer users.[1] Beginning in the late 1970s, the company also manufactured hard disk drives. In 1979, Kennedy was acquired by Allegheny Ludlum, where it continued to operate independently as a subsidiary. In 1987, it was acquired by Shugart Corporation, who promptly sold off Kennedy's assets to Irwin Magnetic Systems.
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 Headquarters in Monrovia, California, pictured in 1982 | |
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1963 in Altadena, California, United States |
| Founder | Charles J. Kennedy |
| Defunct | 1988 |
| Fate | Dissolution; assets sold to Irwin Magnetic Systems |
| Products | |
Number of employees | 1,200 (mid-1980s, peak) |
| Parent |
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History
editFoundation (1963–1972)
editKennedy Company was founded by Charles J. Kennedy (1920–1996). Before founding his company, Kennedy served as a major in the U.S. Air Force in World War II, setting up a VHF radio transmitter at the Burma Road that helped the Allies supply materiel to China in their efforts against Imperial Japan. After his service, Kennedy worked for Collins Radio in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, building navigational systems for the military; RCA in Camden, New Jersey, developing mainframe systems; and F. L. Mosley (later acquired by Hewlett-Packard) in Pasadena, California, designing plotters.[2] In 1963, he founded Kennedy Company in Altadena, California, initially to supply magnetic tape drives that recorded data onto tape in one direction (so-called incremental recorders), before moving onto tape drives with more complex transports that could read and write in a random-access fashion.[3] Manufacturing was originally done at the company's Altadena headquarters, but some time later they moved all fabrication to a separate facility in nearby Glendale.[4] Research and development was also eventually moved out-of-state, to Atlanta, Georgia.[5] They also had an office in Pasadena.[6]
One of Kennedy's first products, introduced in June 1963, was the Kennedy M201, an incremental recorder that could store up to 350,000 alphanumeric BCD characters onto standard 3M Scotch Quick-Load Cartridges.[7] By 1969, Kennedy was offering tape drives plug-compatible with IBM's 7-track and 9-track tape systems.[8]
Growth and acquisition (1972–1978)
editBefore 1972, annual sales at Kennedy hovered around $3 million, remaining stagnant. In 1972, the company introduced the 9000 series of tape drives, which significantly improved access times over its predecessors, and began selling drives direct to customers as opposed to systems integrators.[9][10] Helped by these developments, as well as their expansion into the quarter-inch cartridge market, sales grew to $10 million by 1975.[9] The high cost of maintaining national service bureaus began eating into these increased profits, however, and in late 1974 they began winding down their direct-sales program, in favor of reverting to being an OEM.[11] In July 1975, they began piloting expansion into other lines of peripherals, such as 8-inch floppy disk drives and chain printers.[9]
Kennedy expanded heavily from the mid-1970s onward. The company opened up its first overseas office in the Netherlands in 1976.[12] By 1977, Kennedy generated $16 million in revenue and had a market presence in Europe, Australia, Canada, India, Israel, Japan, and South Africa. In November 1977, Kennedy signed onto a ten-year lease to occupy Avon's former building in Monrovia, California. The initial terms of the lease let Kennedy occupy a 190,000-square-foot portion of the 340,000-square-foot building, with the property owners giving Kennedy the right to veto prospective tennants looking to occupy available space in the remaining 150,000 square feet.[13] In December 1977, Kennedy moved its sheet metal fabrication and circuit board manufacturing operations from Glendale to a 35,000-square-foot building in Altadena, nearby their main headquarters.[4] In April 1978, the company began manufacturing hard disk drives, leasing a 30,000-square foot facility in Azusa, California, to house the company's new Disk Division.[5] The company's first hard drive products were Winchester-style 14- and 8-inch drives.[14]: 14 The company also relocated their R&D to this facility from Atlanta.[5]
Kennedy generated revenues of roughly $25 million in 1978.[15] In October that year, Allegheny Ludlum of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, agreed to acquire Kennedy for an undisclosed sum. As part of the acquisition, Kennedy would be placed under Allegheny Ludlum's Magnetics and Electronics subsidiary.[16] The acquisition concluded in March 1979.[17] As a result of the acquisition, Kennedy consolidated their five California locations to their Monrovia facility, the company having expanded their lease there to 242,800 square feet.[6]
Post-acquisition (1978–1990)
editIn July 1980, Charles J. Kennedy announced his retirement, while remaining on Kennedy's board of directors.[18][2] He was replaced as president by Frank C. Bumb, who introduced the company's first dedicated data backup systems.[14]: 16 By the end of 1980, Kennedy made between $45 million and $50 million in sales.[14]: 16 [3]
In 1982, Kennedy acquired the hard drive manufacturing lines, designs, and patents from BASF's American branch in Bedford, Massachusetts. As part of the same transaction, Kennedy acquired the license to manufacture BASF's 5.25-inch floppy disk drive designs in the United States.[19]
Kennedy employed around 1,000 people in 1984.[20]: V-19 Employment peaked at 1,200 workers,[21] including at a plant in Luquillo, Puerto Rico, opened up in the 1980s.[22] The company's workforce eventually dwindled to 650 by 1987,[22] and in September 1987, amid financial turmoil at Allegheny Ludlum, the latter sold Kennedy to Shugart Corporation for an undisclosed sum.[23] While Shugart kept Kennedy around as a subsidiary for another year, they eventually dissolved the company and sold its assets to Irwin Magnetic Systems in 1988.[24] Irwin themselves were acquired by Cipher Data Products in 1989, who themselves were acquired by Archive Corporation in 1990. All three were tape backup systems manufacutrers; Kennedy's patents were kept along from acquisition to acquisition, ultimately allowing Archive to leverage them against competitors with the threat of patent infringement suits around the turn of the 1990s.[25]
References
edit- ^ "Kennedy Company Picking Up Rate of Recruitment as Economy Recovers". Electronic Design. Endeavor Business Media: 10. October 1983 – via Gale.
- ^ a b "Kennedy, Charles J." The Daily Breeze: 61. July 14, 1996 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b Myers, Edith (September 1980). "Big Drive for Backup". Datamation. 26 (9). Technical Publishing: 96–104 – via the Internet Archive.
- ^ a b "Expansions". Computerworld. XI (50). CW Communications: 65. December 12, 1977 – via the Internet Archive.
- ^ a b c "Expansions". Computerworld. XII (16). CW Communications: 80. April 17, 1978 – via the Internet Archive.
- ^ a b "Manufacturer relocates". Monrovia News-Post: A-2. July 26, 1979 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Digital Data Recorder". Datamation. 9 (6). Technical Publishing: 73. June 1963 – via the Internet Archive.
- ^ "Independent Tape System for 1130 Uses Storage Access Channel". Computerworld. 3 (45). CW Communications: 42. November 12, 1969 – via the Internet Archive.
- ^ a b c French, Nancy (July 30, 1975). "At Kennedy, Expanded Product Line Aids Growth". Computerworld. IX (31). CW Communications: 25 – via Google Books.
- ^ "Supershorts". Computerworld. VI (45). CW Communications: 27. November 8, 1972 – via the Internet Archive.
- ^ "Kennedy Opts into OEM Market". Computerworld. VIII (40). CW Communications: 29. October 2, 1974 – via Gale.
- ^ "Expansions". Computerworld. X (24). CW Communications: 49. June 14, 1976 – via the Internet Archive.
- ^ "Big electronics firm leases Avon building". Monrovia News-Post: 1. November 6, 1977 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b c "Bumb sees backup memory as key to disk growth" (PDF). Electronics. 53 (22). McGraw-Hill: 14–16. October 9, 1980 – via World Radio History.
- ^ "Alleghney Ludlum Deal". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: 25. October 18, 1978 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Ludlum Buys Firm". The Pittsburgh Press: D-1. October 18, 1978 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Ludlum Buys California Firm; Sells Division". The Pittsburgh Press: A-18. March 30, 1979 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Executive Corner". Computerworld. XIV (28). CW Communications: 85. July 14, 1980 – via Google Books.
- ^ "Supershorts". Computerworld. XVI (22). CW Communications: 60. May 31, 1982 – via Google Books.
- ^ "Vendors". Computerworld. 18 (39A). IDG Publications: V-1–V-38. September 26, 1984 – via the Internet Archive.
- ^ Ferelli, Mark (August 1996). "Data Storage Pioneer Charles Kennedy: In Memoriam". Computer Technology Review. 16 (8). West World Publications: 48 – via ProQuest.
- ^ a b "Allegheny International Inc". The Wall Street Journal. Dow Jones & Company: 1. August 28, 1987 – via ProQuest.
- ^ Tighe, John (September 1, 1987). "Shugart Agrees to Acquisition That Could Double Revenues". Los Angeles Times. Times-Mirror Company: 5 – via ProQuest.
- ^ Lucas, Peter (January 18, 1988). "Irwin Magnetics buys into new markets for tape backup". Computer Reseller News (242). UBM LLC: 106 et seq. – via Gale.
- ^ Deagon, Brian (August 13, 1990). "Archive warns rivals on patents". Electronic News. 36 (1822). Sage Publications: 12 et seq. – via Gale.