Iolo technologies
Encyclopedia
iolo technologies is a privately held American software company headquartered in Los Angeles, CA. iolo creates software designed to repair, optimize, and protect Windows PCs
: its flagship product, System Mechanic
, is a top-selling software product in the PC tune-up utility software category, and has received several awards and accolades from reviewers and experts in the industry.
iolo was founded in 1998 by Noah T. Rowles, a self-taught software engineer, inventor, and businessman who today serves as its President and CEO. In 1999, the company released the first version of its popular System Mechanic software, which Rowles initially created and marketed himself.
, is a PC performance and tune-up software program
designed to fix, optimize, and automatically maintain Windows computers. Other products produced by iolo are DriveScrubber, software for secure data deletion
; Search and Recover, software that recovers lost and deleted data files
; and System Shield, an antivirus and antispyware program. Additionally, iolo's System Mechanic Professional suite incorporates all four of iolo’s primary products, plus online data backup
, into one program.
In 2004, iolo’s 979% growth rate over the previous 5 years achieved a #8 ranking on Deloitte's Fast 50 list. iolo's continued growth from 2004-2007 kept the company on Deloitte's list in 2004, 2005, and 2007.
According to retail figures and data gathered by the market research firm NPD Group
, by 2006 iolo’s DriveScrubber software had become the top-selling data removal product, and by 2007, System Mechanic had taken 66% of the utility software market share to become the best-selling software of its kind in the U.S., a position that it has continued to hold since.
In 2008-9, iolo's revenues continued to grow by double digits year over year. In 2009 and 2010, the American Business Awards
named iolo the Fastest-Growing Company of the Year, from among public and private companies, with and without outside capital and funding, and across various industries, regions and sizes. In 2010, Noah T. Rowles was named Executive of the Year in the category of mid-sized computer software companies by the American Business Awards. In the same year, the Tech Awards Circle also honored Rowles as one of their Executives of the Year.
In both 2009 and 2010 The Los Angeles Business Journal
named iolo one of the top 50 "Best Places To Work In Los Angeles", which came alongside a roughly 30% increase in staff during 2010 alone.
Today, iolo has a physical sales presence in 33 countries spanning 6 different languages, including English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, and Dutch. According to NPD data, System Mechanic currently holds over 85% of the retail market share for tune-up utility products in the US, and accounts for 98% of the retail market share in its category in Canada.
iolo officially began to publish research from iolo Labs in 2009. First started in 2001, iolo Labs is an independent research arm of the company that aims to understand issues in computer performance and stability through scientific study. The resulting body of knowledge is intended to improve the effectiveness of iolo technologies' commercial products, and provide a foundation for published scientific papers that will make the Labs' latest research into computer optimization available to the public.
(US Patent No. 7873877) for the technology it invented and subsequently used within several of its products, most notably through the popular ActiveCare feature included with the System Mechanic product family. ActiveCare is a process used in System Mechanic that allows that program's repair and maintenance tools to run automatically in the background when the computer is idle and not in use.
In 2010, iolo filed for a patent on the technology incorporated within its Program Accelerator tool (included in System Mechanic version 10 and later), which works to re-align associated program files for faster and more efficient overall computer performance.
The anti-malware security technology used in iolo's System Shield product has been tested and certified by a number of respected independent labs and agencies, including ICSA Labs, West Coast Labs, and Virus Bulletin
.
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
: its flagship product, System Mechanic
System Mechanic
System Mechanic is an all-in-one PC tune-up utility software suite that analyzes, fixes, optimizes, and maintains Windows computers. It incorporates multiple patented and patent-pending technologies, such as ActiveCare, a technology that allows the program to run automatic maintenance scans and...
, is a top-selling software product in the PC tune-up utility software category, and has received several awards and accolades from reviewers and experts in the industry.
iolo was founded in 1998 by Noah T. Rowles, a self-taught software engineer, inventor, and businessman who today serves as its President and CEO. In 1999, the company released the first version of its popular System Mechanic software, which Rowles initially created and marketed himself.
Products
iolo's most broadly distributed product, System MechanicSystem Mechanic
System Mechanic is an all-in-one PC tune-up utility software suite that analyzes, fixes, optimizes, and maintains Windows computers. It incorporates multiple patented and patent-pending technologies, such as ActiveCare, a technology that allows the program to run automatic maintenance scans and...
, is a PC performance and tune-up software program
Utility software
Utility software is system software designed to help analyze, configure, optimize or maintain a computer. A single piece of utility software is usually called a utility or tool....
designed to fix, optimize, and automatically maintain Windows computers. Other products produced by iolo are DriveScrubber, software for secure data deletion
Data erasure
Data erasure is a software-based method of overwriting data that completely destroys all electronic data residing on a hard disk drive or other digital media. Permanent data erasure goes beyond basic file deletion commands, which only remove direct pointers to data disk sectors and make data...
; Search and Recover, software that recovers lost and deleted data files
Data recovery
Data recovery is the process of salvaging data from damaged, failed, corrupted, or inaccessible secondary storage media when it cannot be accessed normally. Often the data are being salvaged from storage media such as internal or external hard disk drives, solid-state drives , USB flash drive,...
; and System Shield, an antivirus and antispyware program. Additionally, iolo's System Mechanic Professional suite incorporates all four of iolo’s primary products, plus online data backup
Remote backup service
A remote, online, or managed backup service is a service that provides users with a system for the backup and storage of computer files. Online backup providers are companies that provide this type of service to end users ....
, into one program.
Company growth
Starting in 1998, iolo focused almost entirely on online sales and marketing, with the majority of its customers purchasing directly from the company’s website. In 2002, iolo launched its product line into the traditional software retail channel, gaining access to a worldwide marketplace and broad set of distribution opportunities. By 2003, iolo’s software was carried in more than 10,000 retail storefronts; by 2008, that number had grown to more than 18,000 globally.In 2004, iolo’s 979% growth rate over the previous 5 years achieved a #8 ranking on Deloitte's Fast 50 list. iolo's continued growth from 2004-2007 kept the company on Deloitte's list in 2004, 2005, and 2007.
According to retail figures and data gathered by the market research firm NPD Group
NPD Group
The NPD Group, Inc. is a leading North American market research company. The NPD Group consistently ranks among the top 25 market research companies in the independent Honomichl Top 50 report, which the media and the research industry acknowledge as a credible source of information on the market...
, by 2006 iolo’s DriveScrubber software had become the top-selling data removal product, and by 2007, System Mechanic had taken 66% of the utility software market share to become the best-selling software of its kind in the U.S., a position that it has continued to hold since.
In 2008-9, iolo's revenues continued to grow by double digits year over year. In 2009 and 2010, the American Business Awards
Stevie Awards
The Stevie Awards were created in 2002 to honor and generate public recognition of the efforts, accomplishments, and positive contributions of companies and business people worldwide...
named iolo the Fastest-Growing Company of the Year, from among public and private companies, with and without outside capital and funding, and across various industries, regions and sizes. In 2010, Noah T. Rowles was named Executive of the Year in the category of mid-sized computer software companies by the American Business Awards. In the same year, the Tech Awards Circle also honored Rowles as one of their Executives of the Year.
In both 2009 and 2010 The Los Angeles Business Journal
Los Angeles Business Journal
The Los Angeles Business Journal, established c. 1979, is a weekly newspaper in Los Angeles, California, which covers general business news. According to the journal's website, it has over 12,000 online subscribers, and a weekly print circulation of 30,000...
named iolo one of the top 50 "Best Places To Work In Los Angeles", which came alongside a roughly 30% increase in staff during 2010 alone.
Today, iolo has a physical sales presence in 33 countries spanning 6 different languages, including English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, and Dutch. According to NPD data, System Mechanic currently holds over 85% of the retail market share for tune-up utility products in the US, and accounts for 98% of the retail market share in its category in Canada.
iolo officially began to publish research from iolo Labs in 2009. First started in 2001, iolo Labs is an independent research arm of the company that aims to understand issues in computer performance and stability through scientific study. The resulting body of knowledge is intended to improve the effectiveness of iolo technologies' commercial products, and provide a foundation for published scientific papers that will make the Labs' latest research into computer optimization available to the public.
Certifications and Patents
In 2011, iolo received a patentPatent
A patent is a form of intellectual property. It consists of a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for the public disclosure of an invention....
(US Patent No. 7873877) for the technology it invented and subsequently used within several of its products, most notably through the popular ActiveCare feature included with the System Mechanic product family. ActiveCare is a process used in System Mechanic that allows that program's repair and maintenance tools to run automatically in the background when the computer is idle and not in use.
In 2010, iolo filed for a patent on the technology incorporated within its Program Accelerator tool (included in System Mechanic version 10 and later), which works to re-align associated program files for faster and more efficient overall computer performance.
The anti-malware security technology used in iolo's System Shield product has been tested and certified by a number of respected independent labs and agencies, including ICSA Labs, West Coast Labs, and Virus Bulletin
Virus Bulletin
Virus Bulletin is a magazine about the prevention, detection and removal of malware and spam. It regularly features analyses of the latest virus threats, articles exploring new developments in the fight against viruses, interviews with anti-virus experts, and evaluations of current anti-malware...
.