Memorex began as a computer tape producer and expanded to become a major IBM plug compatible peripheral supplier. It is now a consumer electronics brand of Imation specializing in disk recordable media for CD and DVD drives, flash memory, computer accessories and other electronics. Established in 1961 in Silicon Valley, Memorex started by selling computer tapes, then added other media such as disk packs. Memorex entered the consumer media business in 1971 first with its "shattering glass" advertisements and then with a series of famous television commercials featuring Ella Fitzgerald. In the... commercials she would sing a note that shattered a glass while being recorded to a Memorex audio cassette. The tape was played back and the recording also broke the glass, asking "Is it live, or is it Memorex?" The company expanded from disk packs to disk drives and other peripheral equipment for IBM mainframes. During the 1970s and into the early 1980s Memorex was worldwide a leading independent supplier of disk drives and communications controllers to users of IBM-compatible mainframes as well as a leading supplier of media for computer uses and consumers.
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