Found this link on Yahoo, interesting history:
mediacity.com
Historical Roots
To be the world wide leader in high speed integrated voice/data products for the emerging alternative access telecommunications market.
Com21 Business
More than a decade ago, Paul Baran, a Com21 co-founder and founder of several other Silicon Valley companies, including Equatorial Communications (acquired by GTE), Packet Technologies (now Stratacom/CISCO), Telebit Corporation and Metricom, Inc., recognized the need to couple the broadband efficiency and throughput capabilities of cable with packet-switching technology to achieve the high-speed, high-capacity functionality that would be essential for information needs into the 21st century.
It was Mr. Baran's pioneering work in packet switching in the 1960s which eventually garnered him the title of "Grandfather of the Internet." Put simply, packet switching is a data transmission technique whereby user information is segmented and routed in discrete data envelopes called packets, each with its own appended control information for routing, sequencing and error checking. The technique allows a communications channel to be shared by many users, each using the circuit only for the time required to transmit a single packet. Packet switching networks revolutionized the data transmission industry and made possible massive information networks like the Internet and its World Wide Web. It is in this context that Com21, under Baran's leadership, began development in 1991 of technology and products to accommodate the transmission needs of the new interactive multimedia industry.
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Com21 Today
Since its initial venture funding in June 1994, the company has assembled a 10-person Advisory Board, comprising some of the most distinguished and recognized telecommunications experts in the country. Com21 investors include 3Com Corporation, AMD, DACOM Corporation, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, New Enterprise Associates (NEA), Crosspoint Venture Partners, Charter Venture Capital, and Japan Associated Finance Company (JAFCO) and Vertex Corporation.
The Company's ATM based communications technology has been well received. Today, technology trials are underway in several locations to test both network nuances and technology feasibility. In Palo Alto, California, several schools are utilizing Com21 cable modems for high speed Internet and email access. Palo Alto residents and telecommuters are utilizing the Com21 service for remote LAN connections and other applications such as spreadsheets and large graphic files.
In anticipation of open industry standards setting, key Com21 personnel are involved in numerous organized standards efforts such as the IEEE 802.14, ATM Forum, IETF, and the XWIT. It is as a result of these standards setting activities, Company philosophy and technology, that Com21 has attracted and secured both technology partners and financial backing from such multi-billion dollar companies as 3Com Corporation, DACOM and AMD Corporation.
In preparation for commercial product launch, and to ensure volume deliveries of the ComUNITY system, Com21 has accelerated engineering and manufacturing efforts. In fact, the Company will re-locate this summer to new 45,000 square foot facilities.
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"For Historical Perspective Only" Interesting though. |
