OWC: Mac upgrades grow into creator storage and docks

Other World Computing was founded in Illinois in 1988 by Larry O’Connor, who was 14 at the time.

The first business re-inked printer ribbons before shifting into memory upgrades, hard drives and performance products for Apple computers. By 1990 the company was building its own external SCSI drives.

Mac upgrades grow into creator storage and docks

OWC expanded from reseller and upgrade specialist into a hardware developer, with storage arrays, docks, SSDs, Thunderbolt products and workflow systems for creative professionals. Acquisitions later extended it into shared media storage.

Its niche has long been extending the capability or useful life of existing computers: memory, storage, interfaces and external expansion products bridge gaps that platform vendors leave open.

OWC today

OWC now sells high-performance storage, docks, cards and collaborative storage systems to Mac, PC and creator markets while maintaining its upgrade-oriented roots.

That continuity is the interesting part of the story. Interfaces changed from SCSI to FireWire, USB and Thunderbolt, but OWC kept solving the same user problem: getting more performance and longevity from hardware already owned.