Company:Raxco

From HandWiki
Raxco Software, Inc.
IndustrySoftware
Founded1978
DefunctMay 2024
ProductsPerfectDisk, PerfectUpdater,
PerfectRegistry, PerfectGuard, InstantRescue, PerfectFileRecovery
Websitewww.raxco.com

Raxco Software Inc. was a Gaithersburg, Maryland software company. Founded in 1978,[1] the company's products were sold internationally.[2]

In 1995, a division of the company was split into the spin-off company Axent Technologies[3], which was later acquired by Symantec in 2000[4]. Raxco continued with its own product offerings. PerfectDisk becoming its flagship software package.[5][6]

Raxco transitioned away from its 1980s and 1990s VAX[7][8]/pre-OpenVMS VMS[9] and OpenVMS[10][11] software product lines, and became private after a management buyout in 2001.[1][12]

Interim ownerships

From the later 1990s through the early 2000s, corporate ownership of the two organizations transitioned:

  • 1995: Axent is formed as a spin-off company of Raxco[3]
  • 1995-2000: Axent Technologies Inc functions as an independent company[13]
  • 2000: Axent is acquired by Symantec[4]
  • 2001: Raxco becomes private after a management buyout.

Raxco then changed its course from VAX/VMS to the PC/Server industry in 2003.[14]

Raxco closed operations in May, 2024. All their standalone products will continue to work, but no product activations will be made, and no updates or support will be offered. Subscription-based products will remain functional until their expiration date.[15]

History

During the 1980s, using the collective name RAXCO Rabbit Software,[16] the company marketed a series of nine software packages for the VAX[8]:

  • Resource Accounting
  • Capacity Planner / Performance Analyzer
  • Disk Monitor
  • High-Speed Backup
  • Disk-Optimizer [NB 1]
  • Report Generator
  • System Accelerator[NB 2]

Raxco's VAX product line was still active in the 1990s[17], even as it was building and expanding its PC Product line.[18] By 2003 the PC desktop and server market became the company's focus.[19]

Product line

Aside from PerfectDisk,[20] the company also marketed:

  • PerfectUpdater - improves system stability/minimizes hardware conflicts by detecting/installing appropriate drivers for unknown devices[21]
  • PerfectRegistry - Fix registry errors that slow down booting up[22][NB 3]
  • PerfectGuard - Blocks/removes spyware, helps protect privacy[23]
  • InstantRescue - quicker rollback/system restore
  • PerfectFileRecovery - an advanced undelete tool

Notes

  1. ↑ prior to PerfectDisk, which came a decade or so later!
  2. ↑ full title: V.A.S.T. - VAX Accelerator Software Technology
  3. ↑ noting that it "automatically creates a system restore point before fixing anything so you can undo the changes if needed."

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Company Overview of Raxco Software, Inc". https://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=33632. 
  2. ↑ Japanese site: "PowerX PerfectDisk". 3 October 2024. http://www.powerx.jp/product/catalog/enhancement/xpd. 
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Stan Hinden (February 19, 1996). "Software Firm Looks for Security in Public Offering". The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/business/1996/02/19/software-firm-looks-for-security-in-public-offering/3331e52b-7a52-4320-b561-e7a88733dd73. 
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Symantec Will Purchase Axent in $975 Million Stock Transaction". The New York Times. July 28, 2000. https://www.nytimes.com/2000/07/28/technology/symantec-will-purchase-axent-in-975-million-stock-transaction.html. 
  5. ↑ Les Freed (August 2002). "Defrag with PerfectDisk". PC Magazine (Ziff Davis) 21 (14): 56. ISSN 0888-8507. 
  6. ↑ "Raxco Rabbit Software, Monitors DEC VAX, Provides graphics analysis". Computerworld. October 19, 1987. https://books.google.com/books?id=IIpG6vryR8AC. 
  7. ↑ "Raxco Rabbit Software, Monitors DEC VAX, Provides graphics analysis...". Computerworld. October 19, 1987. https://books.google.com/books?id=IIpG6vryR8AC. 
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 "RABBIT Software from RAXCO ... speed up response times, .. improve your through-put without having to purchase more (hardware)" "Snippet view". Computer Decisions. 1983. https://books.google.com/books?id=kZBVAAAAMAAJ. 
  9. ↑ Len Grzpanka (April 29, 1991). "Raxco releases enhanced VMS monitoring software". Digital News: pp. 27, 73. 
  10. ↑ "Raxco optimizes OpenVMS". Computerworld: p. 84. October 24, 1994. https://books.google.com/books?id=Ilp0BEVTY3gC. 
  11. ↑ "In 1991, Digital announced that the VAX/VMS operating system would ..."Michael D Duffy (2002). Getting Started with OpenVMS: A Guide for New Users. Elsevier. ISBN 0080507352. https://books.google.com/books?isbn=0080507352. 
  12. ↑ led by Robert Nolan "Raxco Has Innovative Recipe for NT Market". 17 July 1998. https://washingtontechnology.com/articles/1998/07/17/raxco-has-innovative-recipe-for-nt-market.aspx. , who back in 1991 – 1993 "Developed and managed channel sales partners for Raxco software products throughout Europe and Asia." "Robert Nolan". https://www.linkedin.com/in/bob-nolan-02009111. 
  13. ↑ "Axent: digital bodyguards". Forbes. May 20, 1998. https://www.forbes.com/1998/05/20/feat.html. 
  14. ↑ "Raxco is a noted name in the business of disk defragmentation." Jeremy Moskowitz (2006). Group Policy, Profiles, and IntelliMirror for Windows 2003, Windows .... John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 0470113219. https://books.google.com/books?isbn=0470113219. 
  15. ↑ "Raxco Software". https://www.raxco.com/. 
  16. ↑ "Raxco Rabbit Software, Monitors DEC VAX, Provides graphics analysis...". Computerworld. October 19, 1987. https://books.google.com/books?id=IIpG6vryR8AC. 
  17. ↑ "Raxco optimizes OpenVMS". Computerworld: p. 84. October 24, 1994. https://books.google.com/books?id=Ilp0BEVTY3gC. 
  18. ↑ "Raxco presents new PerfectDisk 2000". PC Magazine (Ziff Davis). June 8, 1999. https://books.google.com/books?id=XrdgwdYfGrUC. 
  19. ↑ "Raxco is a noted name in the business of disk defragmentation."Jeremy Moskowitz (2006). Group Policy, Profiles, and IntelliMirror for Windows 2003, Windows .... John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 0470113219. https://books.google.com/books?isbn=0470113219. 
  20. ↑ Serdar Yegulalp (March 3, 2009). "What Windows 7 Needs To Succeed". InformationWeek. https://www.informationweek.com/software/operating-systems/what-windows-7-needs-to-succeed/d/d-id/1077206?piddl_msgorder=thrd%26page_number=5. 
  21. ↑ introduced 2011 "RAXCO Markets New Product "Perfectupdater"". https://www.wilderssecurity.com/threads/raxco-markets-new-product-perfectupdater.308108. 
  22. ↑ Reviewed in "Review: PerfectRegistry aims to speed up your PC". PCworld. March 20, 2013. https://www.pcworld.com/article/2029141/review-perfectregistry-aims-to-speed-up-your-pc.html. 
  23. ↑ Trademark file June 20, 2012 "PERFECTGUARD Trademark of Raxco Software, Inc.". https://trademarks.justia.com/856/56/perfectguard-85656279.html. 



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