Global InformationOptiarc information
 | |
 Sony Optiarc DVD drive AD-7240S | |
| Product type |
|
|---|---|
| Owner | Vinpower |
| Country | US |
| Introduced | April 3, 2006 |
| Discontinued | no |
| Previous owners | Sony, NEC |
| Website | www |
Optiarc is a brand of optical disc drives and solid-state drives.[1] It is owned by a US-based Vinpower Digital, Inc.
Initially Optiarc was established on April 3, 2006 as a joint venture between Sony (55% shares) and NEC (45% shares). The company, named Sony NEC Optiarc, focused on manufacturing optical disk drives primarily for the OEM desktop and notebook PC markets.
On September 11, 2008, it was announced that Sony would take over NEC's 45% share, making Optiarc a wholly owned subsidiary of Sony,[2] to be called Sony Optiarc. This took effect on December 5, 2008[3]
In March 2013, Sony closed its Optiarc optical disc drive division,[4][5] laying off about 400 employees globally.
In 2017, an American company, Vinpower Digital, whose main business is manufacturing optical disc and other media duplicators for the commercial market, acquired the rights to the Optiarc brand and product line.[6] The brand PioData is also owned by Vinpower Digital.[7]
- ^ "Optiarc Offers New Line of Robust SSD, Preventing Data Loss and Failures Due to Latent Flash Issues". Retrieved October 16, 2020.
- ^ "Sony Optiarc". Archived from the original on December 18, 2008. Retrieved December 19, 2008.
- ^ "Sony Optiarc <Overview>". Archived from the original on January 24, 2010. Retrieved December 19, 2008.
- ^ Crothers, Brooke (August 27, 2012). "Sony to exit PC-use optical drives, say reports". CNET. Retrieved May 22, 2014.
- ^ Carter, White (August 27, 2012). "Sony Optiarc closed, the subsidiary that manufactures optical drives". Technewspedia. Retrieved May 22, 2014.
- ^ Aldershoff, Jan Willem (June 19, 2017). "U.S. Company VinPower Digital Claims to Be Resurrecting Optiarc CD/DVD Burner Brand". Myce.com. Retrieved October 16, 2018.
- ^ "About Us". PioData.com. Vinpower Digital. Retrieved October 16, 2020.