{"id":70113,"date":"2021-01-14T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-01-14T20:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/?p=70113"},"modified":"2021-01-14T16:54:41","modified_gmt":"2021-01-14T22:54:41","slug":"owc-acquires-lumaforge-jellyfish","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/70113-owc-acquires-lumaforge-jellyfish\/","title":{"rendered":"OWC Acquires LumaForge: Jellyfish Finds a New Home"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

“OWC acquires LumaForge.” These will probably be three of the best words you hear\/read in 2021 if you care about storage solutions and the content creation community. For over 30 years, OWC has committed to providing hardware and computing solutions for Mac and PC enthusiasts in disparate industries, particularly media and tech. That commitment has included both quality and affordability. OWC has created a foundation of conservation, hardware sustainability, and cost-efficiency to provide excellent products at excellent prices with their line of Memory<\/a>, External Drives<\/a>, SSDs<\/a>, Mac & PC docking solutions<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Larry<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI am excited to welcome the amazing LumaForge team and solutions into the OWC Family. This acquisition strengthens our enterprise\/server storage capabilities. It enables an even broader lineup of solutions to serve the needs of video, photography, and music professionals with some exceptional new offerings. Jellyfish and LumaForge customers will continue receiving support and development \u2013 and at the same time, this trusted technology will flourish and have a whole new level of support and engagement within the OWC family.\u201d<\/em><\/p>Larry O\u2019Connor<\/strong>, OWC Founder & CEO<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

LumaForge has been on the scene for a much shorter period of time. Since 2015, they have created a respected brand in the shared storage space with their Jellyfish line of products\u2014Jellyfish Mobile, Jellyfish Tower, and Jellyfish Rack. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Jellyfish<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe started this company because we realized there was a need among those in the media community to be able to collaborate with shared storage systems without needing an IT degree,\u201d<\/em> said LumaForge co-founder Sam Mestman<\/strong>. \u201cCreating easy-to-use plug and play options like the Jellyfish has contributed to our accelerated growth and usage in the industry.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

LumaForge is a company that designs solutions for video teams and creatives around the world. Now that it has become part of the OWC family, the team will branch out in ways it hadn\u2019t previously imagined creating solutions that span the entire ecosystem of OWC products.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Similar Origins<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

For Larry O\u2019Connor, OWC started 33 years ago at the age of 14 when he realized he could install RAM for people faster, better, and cheaper than Apple could do it. He never looked back<\/strong> and OWC is now a worldwide vendor of just about every computer peripheral and storage device you can think of.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Neil, Sam, Josh, and Eric, it began five years ago when they realized they could pull servers out of the server room, edit 4k and higher video collaboratively from it, and make it so that anybody could set one up in minutes and not need to call IT. They haven\u2019t looked back<\/strong> since and their Jellyfish servers have transformed the workflows of video teams around the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOWC is one of the most innovative and enduring companies in our space,\u201d<\/em> said Josh Minney<\/strong>, LumaForge\u2019s CEO. \u201cTheir commitment to solving hard problems and putting the customer first perfectly aligns with our values at LumaForge. The team and technology our customers have depended on are only going to get stronger and more robust in the coming months and years.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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What the Future Has In Storage<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Whenever a larger company swallows up a smaller one, there is always the fear among die-hard fans and customers of the smaller one if quality or customer service they\u2019ve been accustomed to are going to devolve. (Just ask any customer of a company acquired by Microsoft.) But as LumaForge Founder Sam Mestman said, \u201cThere is simply no better company to acquire LumaForge than OWC. Their passion for customer satisfaction and support, expertise in manufacturing and engineering, and incredible ecosystem of products is going to be a source of huge inspiration for the LumaForge Team.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

OWC\u2019s acquisition of LumaForge is also a great example of how the expertise and accomplishments of the smaller<\/strong> will only further enhance the offering of the larger<\/strong>, while at the same time empowering the smaller firm (and its customers) to do so much more. Sam continues, \u201cBeing able to layer LumaForge\u2019s workflow expertise, software design, and ability to make things that are complicated easy for the average person, is going to allow us to kick down some big doors and change the game for businesses, schools, and DIY\u2019ers around the world.\u201d<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

Gergana Angelova<\/strong> has been with LumaForge since the beginning. As LumaForge\u2019s VP of Product & Customer Experience, and the first official employee, she has seen the company evolve over the years to become a respected leader in its space. She feels this new stage of the company is the most exciting and significant. \u201cWorking with the OWC team will give us the opportunity to expand our product offerings, build more tools for our software ecosystem, and continue to deliver excellent customer care on an even larger scale.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Fostering Community. Faster. Together.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps the industries that will most benefit from this union is the professional creative artist community<\/strong>. Both companies have grown vibrant communities of followers, particularly in the worlds of creative artists like filmmakers, YouTubers, broadcasters, DIY\u2019ers, photographers, and musicians. In addition to the hardware, network, and computer service-oriented needs, the community also thrives on the sharing of knowledge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

LumaForge and OWC…<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

…have also each leveraged the power of video to reach, educate, and inspire their respective bases. LumaForge has a YouTube channel<\/a> chock full of educational videos<\/strong> on everything from network storage to camera and post-production tutorials. You can also expect a continuation of their Faster Together<\/a> podcast and lecture series<\/strong> featuring leaders in the film and video production worlds. The commitment to educating and solving problems for creatives around the world will not change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Being able to combine the LumaForge community and education efforts with the already thriving OWC community infrastructure is going to be compelling. OWC has a thriving YouTube channel<\/a>, the Rocketyard blog<\/a>, and two podcasts: OWC RADiO<\/a> and Leaders & Game Changers<\/a>. You can expect all of these respective channels to continue to grow, with each taking advantage of the other’s network of professionals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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