Market Order: Networking, 1983–1986

Abstract

array of networking products. Press reports routinely compared various solutions in an effort to make sense of the confusion. A key factor in the growing buzz around networking was the unexpected tsunami created by the introduction of the IBM PC in 1981, which continued to inundate the landscape of business computing. Corporate managers had seen the value in desktop computing with the popular­ ity of spreadsheet applications like VisiCalc for the Apple II, SuperCalc for the Osborne 1 portable computer, and Lotus 1-2-3 for the IBM PC. The success of the IBM PC rapidly accelerated computer purchasing by corporate America. As the bud­ gets for data processing assumed a larger percentage of total corporate spending, Management Information Systems (MIS) departments became ripe targets for net­ working products and services—once every corporate desktop became the home of a computer, a flood of new software applications created a demand for shared information at higher communication speeds. By 1983, the stock market was showing signs of strength after nearly two decades of lackluster performance. The government’s economic policies of the late 1970s and early 1980s were starting to have a positive effect on the economy and the ven­ ture capital industry. New commitments to venture funds soared to $500 million in 1980 and by 1983 they reached nearly $3.5 billion. In that year alone, venture cap­ ital investments exceeded $2.5 billion. 3Com president Bill Krause smiled when he Market Order: Networking, 1983–1986