The company now offers the widest range of data storage management and network transfer software in the industry, with a strengthened focus on safety- and mission-critical data.

HELSINKI, Finland and BUDAPEST, Hungary – September 9, 2021 – Tuxera, the world-leading storage software and networking technology company, has signed an agreement to acquire HCC Embedded, the Hungarian developer of embedded file systems, flash management, and network data transfer software. HCC Embedded will officially operate as Tuxera Hungary Kft. Tuxera now offers the most comprehensive range of software and services for managing data as it is stored, used, and moved in and between embedded systems. The acquisition deepens Tuxera’s commitment to deliver reliable data management solutions in a world increasingly fueled and vitalized by data.

Rising global data use demands secure management solutions

The International Data Corporation (IDC) predicts that the global data demand will grow to an estimated 175 zettabytes (ZB) by 2025.¹ Keeping up with the storage needs driven by this global data demand will require over 22 ZB of storage capacity across all media types. Much of this data will be generated by embedded devices and transported through complex and demanding network protocols. As the world becomes more dependent on data for real-time decision making, the requirements for safe and secure data management grow more stringent.

Meeting the need for safety-critical data management

Since its founding in 2002, HCC Embedded has emphasized quality and information security, achieving both ISO 9001:2015 Quality Management and ISO 27001 Information Security Management standards. This complements Tuxera’s focus on serving its customers with demanding safety- and mission-critical data requirements, particularly in the automotive industry. Safety design standards and increasingly rigorous regulations continue to put more demand on embedded systems designs – not only in the automotive sector, but in the avionics, aerospace, medical, rail and shipping transport, and industrial automation industries as well.

New networking expertise and deeper flash storage knowledge

The acquisition also brings deep hardware enablement knowledge and expertise to Tuxera, allowing the company’s storage management software to interact more closely and optimally with an even wider range of hardware environments. Additionally, HCC Embedded brings an extensive range of MISRA-compliant networking products to Tuxera’s portfolio, covering domains such as network management, security, and TCP/IP applications. These new products will enrich Tuxera’s expertise beyond fail-safe storage and management of data-at-rest and data-at-use, to encompass the reliable and secure transport of data in, out, and through limitless data-driven, connected devices.

Leading the way in data management solutions

Since 1983, Tuxera has been developing fail-safe, high-performance software for managing data. The company’s solutions have shipped in billions of consumer devices and vehicles to date. Tuxera develops proprietary implementations of industry-standard file systems such as FAT, exFAT, and NTFS, as well as its own range of proprietary embedded file systems, flash management software, and network storage solutions. In 2021, Tuxera’s storage-industry leadership was recognized by CRN on its annual Storage 100 list of the most innovative providers of storage technology used in enterprise deployments. “Joining forces with HCC Embedded is a great next step for us in strengthening our expertise in embedded data storage solutions and expanding our offering even more towards deeply embedded systems using real-time operating systems and micro-controllers. With the networking and middleware components of HCC Embedded, we’re able to provide a more comprehensive portfolio of solutions spanning the entire lifecycle of data management. Expanding our team will also allow us to more effectively provide engineering services in Central Europe,” says Tuukka Ahoniemi, CEO of Tuxera. ”For the past 20 years at HCC Embedded, we have worked to provide ever-higher quality embedded software components and related services to customers that value quality and reliability. By joining Tuxera, a company of similar aims and values for its customers, partners, and employees, I’m now more confident than ever that we can accelerate our mission to provide quality embedded software to fulfill tomorrow’s needs for secure and safe products,” says Dave Hughes, CEO, HCC Embedded. The combined engineering teams of the two companies now encompasses some of the top experts in file systems, flash memory, embedded storage, and networking technology around the globe. Their experience and understanding of data storage and transfer technology covers any operating system or real-time operating system, any flash memory type, any hardware environment, any storage interface, and a wide range of network protocols.

Solving challenges across the entire data management lifecycle

The merging of the two companies will bring significant benefits to any device, vehicle, or industrial products manufacturer with onboard or edge storage and/or networking requirements. These benefits include:

• comprehensive storage management support for a broad range of devices – from deeply embedded (such as microcontrollers), to vehicles, aircraft, and spacecraft, and for all consumer and industrial IoT devices
• improved file system performance, data reliability, flash memory lifetime, and hardware costs reduction
• data storage support for both managed and unmanaged flash memory
• USB mass storage, USB device, and host drivers
• industry-standard, fail-safe file systems like FAT, exFAT, NTFS, APFS, and HFS+
• industry-standard network data transfer and file sharing protocols support, such as IPv4/6 and SMB
• flash memory quality and cost evaluation services

Transaction advisors

DLA Piper acted as legal advisor to Tuxera, and KPMG acted as financial and tax advisor. RSM Hungary acted as financial, legal, and tax advisor to HCC Embedded.

References

[1] The Digitization of the World From Edge to Core, An IDC White Paper – #US44413318, An IDC Whitepaper Sponsored by Seagate. *This report is no longer accessible online, though is cited in “175 Zettabytes By 2025,” Tom Coughlin, Contributor at Forbes – https://www.forbes.com/sites/tomcoughlin/2018/11/27/175-zettabytes-by-2025/

FAQ for HCC customers

With HCC Embedded becoming a fully owned subsidiary of Tuxera, several HCC products are now rebranded and listed under the Tuxera brand and website. While some HCC products may not appear on Tuxera’s site, support is available for former HCC offerings, including documentation, updates, and licensing queries. The MyHCC portal and HCC documentation server have been discontinued, making user guides available upon request through Tuxera’s support team. Former distributors may still assist HCC customers locally. For questions about HCC products and components, version updates, and general maintenance, customers are encouraged to contact Tuxera’s support team for help navigating the transition and accessing product materials: support@tuxera.com