Quest Development Corporation
Encyclopedia
Quest Development Corporation was a small, privately held software development company in San Luis Obispo, California
that primarily developed backup
software under contract to Symantec Corporation in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Formed in a condominium apartment just before the heyday of technology company mergers and acquisitions during the 1990s, the original Quest operation became part of Astora Software, Arcada Software
, Seagate Software
, VERITAS Software
and Symantec.
The operation continued to develop data-protection software in San Luis Obispo until April, 2008, when Symantec finally closed the site and relocated most of its remaining personnel to their Orem (UT), Mountain View (CA) and Heathrow (FL) facilities. A small fragment of the original backup software operation remains in San Luis Obispo at Sonic Solutions
, located just down the street from the now-defunct site. Sonic acquired the Desktop and Mobile Division from VERITAS in November, 2002.
Quest's principals were Kevin Azzouz, president, and Lennart Mengwall, chairman.
Symantec initially contracted with Quest to develop Norton Backup for MS-DOS
and then for Microsoft Windows
. Quest retained exclusive ownership of all source code
it developed, while Symantec retained exclusive marketing rights over the software. To provide a backup solution for the Norton Utilities
for Macintosh suite, Quest acquired FastBack for Macintosh
from Fifth Generation Systems, bringing its principal author, Tom Chappell, into the company as well. The relationship between Fifth Generation Systems and the principals of Quest was not always harmonious; it spawned litigation that dogged the company for years.
In January 1993, Quest paid Symantec to terminate their development contract, then immediately licensed their backup software to several tape-drive vendors, a step that generated a substantial amount of revenue. These funds allowed Azzouz and Mengwall to position the company for a merger, in spite of severe restrictions that Symantec had placed on Quest as part of their separation agreement. Although Symantec had produced a long list of specifically named companies that were effectively taken off the table as merger partners, company leaders failed to see the potential competition from a hardware company such as Conner Peripherals
, and so Azzouz and Mengwall were able to arrange a merger between Quest and the Conner software division, Conner Software of Lake Mary, Florida
, the producer of Backup Exec
, to form Arcada Software.
Astora Software was the name given to the transitional company that was formed after Quest bought out its development contract with Symantec, but before the founding of its successor company, Arcada. It was in existence for only a two week period during 1994.
Mengwall was bought out during the merger and was not kept on as a principal of Arcada Software. Azzouz became president of Arcada Software.
San Luis Obispo, California
San Luis Obispo is a city in California, located roughly midway between San Francisco and Los Angeles on the Central Coast. Founded in 1772 by Spanish Fr. Junipero Serra, San Luis Obispo is one of California’s oldest communities...
that primarily developed backup
Backup
In information technology, a backup or the process of backing up is making copies of data which may be used to restore the original after a data loss event. The verb form is back up in two words, whereas the noun is backup....
software under contract to Symantec Corporation in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Formed in a condominium apartment just before the heyday of technology company mergers and acquisitions during the 1990s, the original Quest operation became part of Astora Software, Arcada Software
Arcada Software
Arcada Software was a computer software company that was formed in early 1994 by the merger of Conner Software of Lake Mary, Florida, and Astora Software, formerly Quest Development Corporation, of San Luis Obispo, California.Conner Software owned the Backup Exec brand of backup software, while...
, Seagate Software
Seagate Software
Seagate Software was an international software corporation headquartered in Scotts Valley, California, United States. It was a majority owned subsidiary of Seagate Technology, the largest independent disc drive and related components company in the world....
, VERITAS Software
VERITAS Software
Veritas Software Corp. was an international software company that was founded in 1983 as Tolerant Systems, renamed Veritas Software Corp. in 1989, and merged with Symantec in 2005. It was headquartered in Mountain View, California...
and Symantec.
The operation continued to develop data-protection software in San Luis Obispo until April, 2008, when Symantec finally closed the site and relocated most of its remaining personnel to their Orem (UT), Mountain View (CA) and Heathrow (FL) facilities. A small fragment of the original backup software operation remains in San Luis Obispo at Sonic Solutions
Sonic Solutions
Sonic Solutions, acquired by Rovi Corporation in 2010, was a computer software company headquartered in Novato, California. In addition to having a number of offices in the U.S., the company also maintained offices in Europe and Asia.-History:...
, located just down the street from the now-defunct site. Sonic acquired the Desktop and Mobile Division from VERITAS in November, 2002.
Quest's principals were Kevin Azzouz, president, and Lennart Mengwall, chairman.
Symantec initially contracted with Quest to develop Norton Backup for MS-DOS
MS-DOS
MS-DOS is an operating system for x86-based personal computers. It was the most commonly used member of the DOS family of operating systems, and was the main operating system for IBM PC compatible personal computers during the 1980s to the mid 1990s, until it was gradually superseded by operating...
and then for Microsoft Windows
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...
. Quest retained exclusive ownership of all source code
Source code
In computer science, source code is text written using the format and syntax of the programming language that it is being written in. Such a language is specially designed to facilitate the work of computer programmers, who specify the actions to be performed by a computer mostly by writing source...
it developed, while Symantec retained exclusive marketing rights over the software. To provide a backup solution for the Norton Utilities
Norton Utilities
Norton Utilities is a utility software suite designed to help analyze, configure, optimize and maintain the computer. The current version 15 of Norton Utilities Premier Edition for Windows XP/Vista/7 was released December 27, 2010....
for Macintosh suite, Quest acquired FastBack for Macintosh
FastBack (software)
FastBack was a software application developed in the late 1980s and early 1990s for backing up IBM PC and Macintosh computers. It was originally written by Fifth Generation Systems Inc, a company located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana...
from Fifth Generation Systems, bringing its principal author, Tom Chappell, into the company as well. The relationship between Fifth Generation Systems and the principals of Quest was not always harmonious; it spawned litigation that dogged the company for years.
In January 1993, Quest paid Symantec to terminate their development contract, then immediately licensed their backup software to several tape-drive vendors, a step that generated a substantial amount of revenue. These funds allowed Azzouz and Mengwall to position the company for a merger, in spite of severe restrictions that Symantec had placed on Quest as part of their separation agreement. Although Symantec had produced a long list of specifically named companies that were effectively taken off the table as merger partners, company leaders failed to see the potential competition from a hardware company such as Conner Peripherals
Conner Peripherals
Conner Peripherals was a company that manufactured hard drives for personal computers. Conner Peripherals was founded in 1985 by Seagate Technology co-founder Finis Conner but it in itself never produced a product. In 1986 Conner Peripherals merged with CoData, started by MiniScribe founders Terry...
, and so Azzouz and Mengwall were able to arrange a merger between Quest and the Conner software division, Conner Software of Lake Mary, Florida
Lake Mary, Florida
Lake Mary is a city in Seminole County, Florida, United States. The population was 11,456 at the 2000 census. As of 2009, the population recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau is 15,230...
, the producer of Backup Exec
Backup Exec
Backup Exec is proprietary backup software currently developed by Symantec. Backup Exec has a long history of being sold from one company to another. Its earliest roots stretch back to the early 1980s when Maynard Electronics created a bundle of software drivers to help sell their tape drive...
, to form Arcada Software.
Astora Software was the name given to the transitional company that was formed after Quest bought out its development contract with Symantec, but before the founding of its successor company, Arcada. It was in existence for only a two week period during 1994.
Mengwall was bought out during the merger and was not kept on as a principal of Arcada Software. Azzouz became president of Arcada Software.