Fabrik brings 1TB SimpleDrive to market

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Monday, 09 April 2007 21:10

Your IT - Entertainment

It’s simple, says Fabrik, makers of the SimpleTech SimpleDrive – if you want 1TB of storage in a sexy design, Fabrik can deliver!

Funky designs for computer technology have transformed the PC and its accessories from having a beige look to something much more in tune with the modern era. Naturally, Apple are at the forefront of modern design, but companies such as LaCie have also played an important part in bringing technology design to the masses.

Now, the relatively unknown Fabrik, Inc, has engaged design firm Pininfarina, responsible for designing Ferraris and other “cutting edge products” for more than half a century, to come up with some svelte new designs for the SimpleDrive range, of which the 1TB capacity, using Hitachi’s latest 1TB drive, is the standout tech spec amongst all the design goodness.

Paolo Pininfarina, Deputy Chairman of Pininfarina Group and CEO of Pininfarina Extra, said that: “Like high-end sports cars, which marry performance and aesthetics, we set out to make the most beautiful desktop storage products on the planet. With its unique shape, smooth lines and rich colors, the new SimpleDrive family is designed to catch attention. Paired up with the engineering under the hood, and they're true trophies of technology."

Fabrik used Pininfarina previously in the design of a range of portable drivers, with Fabrik claiming it positioned their SimpleTech range of drivers into the no.2 provider “after only three months on the market”, although this must in the US or Europe, as the brand is unknown here in Australia.

The SimpleDrive comes with USB 2.0 and ‘One-Click’ Backup software from Arcsoft, similar to all other backup drives on the market, and also has a ‘ring of light’ that gives you an approximation on how much space has been taken up on the hard drive.

Fabrik have also gone one step further, and offer all purchasers of a SimpleDrive 2Gb of free secure online storage, redeemable at www.myfabrik.com. The storage space can be shared with others who wish to view and/or access your stored files for convenience, and allow access from any net connected computer.

Mike Cordano, Fabrik CEO and co-founder says that: “We're a company to watch this year. Our vision is to simplify storing, accessing and sharing content whether at home, online or on the road by weaving our SimpleTech products and myfabrik services into user-friendly, purposeful solutions. The expansion of the SimpleDrive family is the first of many steps we are taking to drive market transformation.”

Of course, being only really a seller of fancy hard drive cases designed by someone else, with yet other manufacturer’s drives inside the case, Fabrik has a big challenge ahead of it should they truly want to compete and survive against companies like Seagate (and Maxtor, which Seagate owns), Western Digital, Hitachi, Fujitsu, Toshiba and others, as those companies could easily engage Pininfarina or another respected design firm themselves and could easily undercut Fabrik should they so desire, although the same challenge hasn't stopped LaCie from being a very successful company, albeit one that sells far more than just hard drives.

The SimpleDrive range starts at 160Gb, and goes up in sizes of 250Gb, 320Gb, 500Gb, 750Gb and all the way up to 1TB, with prices starting at US $99 for the 160Gb model. Combo models with both USB 2.0 and FireWire 400 (as opposed to USB 2.0 only) are due to go on sale in May.