Two of the leading pioneers in PC and Mac storage and performance accessories join forces to overdeliver to prosumers and creative professionals who demand only the best
OWC today announced it has acquired Akitio, a maker of premium external computer storage products and accessories with an emphasis on Thunderbolt 3 technology. The acquisition brings together two of the leading innovators in Mac and PC storage, expansion and performance kits in the world. Details of the transaction were not disclosed.
“This acquisition gives us the opportunity to strengthen our core prosumer lineup and market reach with photography, video and music pros with some really exceptional new offerings,” said Larry O’Connor, OWC Founder & CEO. “Our product lines and brands are quite complementary, with Akitio bringing a strong reputation in the Windows space and segments like performance gaming, AR/VR, high-end creative strengths to our base. I see tremendous opportunities ahead for our team and our customers.”
OWC’s Woodstock facility will serve as worldwide headquarters for all OWC brands including Akitio, and the Akitio California and international teams will remain and continue onboard at their current locations. Management was quick to announce that customer support will remain first class for all existing lines including the award-winning support now behind Akitio brand products. All warranties will be honored as provided in the original purchase.
“The new combined organization brings unique market strengths, excellent geographic coverage, an outstanding engineering team, and exceptional design and product development capabilities,” said Tommy Chen, CEO of Akitio. “OWC has developed an incredible reputation in the market for delivering products that are lightning fast, high-performance and reliable, and our entire team is proud to join OWC and take that reputation even higher.”
I hope this doesn’t mean that OWC will now be forced to collect stratospheric CA sales tax from its existing CA customers — that would be an instant price increase of 9%+, across the board :-( :-(.
I have been looking at TB3 products from OWC and Akitio for about a year now and trying to decide which to buy and whether there is really any difference in the hardware other than slightly different case styles. I would love to see this new partnership result in lower prices. I think lowering prices would improve the rate of Thunderbolt adoption. I know I would buy more TB2 and TB3 devices for my 2012 iMac and 2017 iMac and 2017 MBpro. I am currently looking to buy a TB expansion box for my 2012 iMac so I can put a PCIe card with a NVME drive and boot my older iMac from the NVME!
Does this mean the Akitio brand (and product-design-style) will disappear, or will it be an identifier for a segment of OWC products, like Newertech?
I like this. Been a customer of OWC since the old days of G3 macs (IIRC, been awhile), and recently a customer of Akitio after buying a pair of their 2.5″ TB3 enclosures. The design ethos and quality of manufacture (as well as customer support) of both companies is a nice fit. I prefer to buy from OWC anyways, so even better for me.
Congratulations ! Seems like a good mix of technology & customer support !!!
I only discovered Akitio after buying a 2017 iMac and needing TB3 RAID enclosures. I’ve been an OWC customer for a decade at least and couldn’t find any proper TB3 stuff for a long time. I hope this doesn’t mean we will lose component price options.