The world of IT is changing by the minute...
Computer Storage Services is relentlessly driving forward with technological innovation. Our vision is pursued with passion and heart-felt enthusiasm, with our dedicated team constantly striving in its focus on excellence. This is who we are, and this is how we are to ourselves, our shareholders and customers
Audited by EMPOWERDEX. Rated: “AAA” Level 2 – BEE Rated Company (2007/2008)
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- Technology Top 100 Winner
- Best Small Enterprise in Gauteng (2003)
- Ministers Award for Technological Excellence
- Finalist for the NSTF (National Science and Technology Forum) Awards
- National Productivity Institute (NPI) - Gold Winner
- T-Systems Age of Innovation Awards Finalist for Data Recovery development
- Top 300 Companies (2007, 2008)
- Go-4-Growth - Top 5 finalists for South Africa's fastest growing companies
- IT Personality of the Year - James Grcic (2006, 2007)
Computer Storage Services (CSSI) is rated one of SA’s top 300 companies, and is a leading data storage specialist firm providing a host of quality data storage products and full hosting services ranging from data storage devices such as hard disk drives, backup systems to services such as data recover, data migration, forensics and data archival services. The head office is located in Midrand, with office locations in Cape Town and Durban. The company has advanced state of the art data recovery labs and a research and development team focused on DR development and storage technology research labs which led to the winning of the Ministers Award for Technological Excellence. The company distribution division distributes hard drives, RAID systems, NAS, DAS and SAN boxes and a host of ancillary product lines to complement any data storage requirement clients may have. The company to date operates the only category 5 secure biometric data vault on the continent for off-site storage hosting, data backup, archiving and virtual hosting environment. CipherVault is the electronic and physical data storage facility offered and available to all customers requiring physical and electronic off-site data storage, hosting and backup facilities.
The company was launched in South Africa in 2000, as a subsidiary of Computer Storage Services Inc. (CSSI), based in California, USA. From its humble beginnings, the company set to work and began to specialise in the servicing, testing and re-certification of hard drive and tape drive storage devices. The response to the company was overwhelming. CSSI entered the market promising to reduce down time, provide a fast service and could predict failure and remove suspect storage devices before they were even installed in notebooks, servers or computers. The company also began offering certified and re-certified hard drives to its reseller channel at reduced prices, allowing its customer base to improve margins in a very competitive industry. The strategy worked. In the third month the company had paid back its entire investment capital and showed its first profit.
During these years, numerous IT companies closed their doors. The bubble had burst and the competition intensified with shrinking budget spends on technology and IT equipment. The company made a strategic decision to focus on streamlining its service offering to its customer base, and during this time to invest in Research and Development (R&D) and explore new business units that would fit in-line with its data storage expertise and niche. During these years, an average of 27% of the company profits was re-invested into R&D.
The strategy was a success. After numerous months of development with engineers from four different countries and 3 global research centres, the company developed a Data Recovery Technology that had in the same year won the Ministers Award for Technology Excellence in the field of Science. The company clientele grew to include government departments, Fortune 500 companies, the United Nations and local entities from the private professionals to large corporates. Computer Storage Services was on the map as a leading global data recovery company and a true specialist in data storage
product offering.
During these years the company showed strong growth in all its business units and in 2003 had won the TT100 award as South Africa’s best emerging company.
At the end of 2004, the company had acquired its international holding stake, and the company was officially independent and proudly South African from December 2004
During 2005, the company started construction on its new head quarter facility in Midrand, South Africa – commonly regarded as the silicon valley of Africa. The facility was to be a Triple-A grade facility, boasting the latest biometric security and to house Computer Storage Services six business units.
- Hard Drive Department
- Tape Drive Department
- Media/Consumables Division
- Hi-end Storage Distribution Business
- Data Recovery and Digital Forensic Lab
- CipherVault – Physical and Electronic (CipherArchive & CipherStore) off-site storage
With the structure of these business units, Computer Storage Services is a one stop shop for all your storage and data requirements and service needs.
During 2005, the company launched its own CipherWave ™ brand of products. These products were designed, built and tested to meet the latest emerging trends and needs of the corporate and retail sectors in the economy related to storing of personal files or large volumes of important data. The products are niche, built from the highest quality materials and Quality Assurance (QA) passed before leaving the sub-assembly facility.
Computer Storage Services also expanded geographically and launched to new offices in Cape Town (Montague Gardens) and Durban (Umhlanga Ridge)
In late 2006, the company opened its doors to its newly developed facility and is home to the first Category 5 data vault ever built on the continent, another first for the company.
During 2007, the company officially launched CipherVault ™ and CipherArchive ™ on its own technology platform and software. These 2 products offer our customers the ability to store data physically and/or electronically in our Category-5 Data Vault.
In 2009, Computer Storage Services furthered its data service offerings by introducing CipherStore™ to the market, allowing clients to digitise paper documents, storing them off-site in the CipherVault™ and managing them through a web portal accessible from anywhere in the world.
Computer Storage Services will continue to be a niche specialist company in data storage and backup related technology, closely monitoring and delivering new technologies as they emerge. With the focus on service, the company has dedicated 24-hour engineers and technicians on hand to support our customers and dealers across the country and all our locations. The company also offers service level agreements (SLA) on all high-end storage products sold