Emergence of Local Area Networks: Networking, 1976–1981

networking. For over a decade it co-evolved with, and finally eclipsed, the data communications market-structure before the two influenced the emergence, and evolution, of the third market-structure of computer communications: internetworking. By the end of this book, in 1988, total revenues for the three industries combined were over $5 billion. In the early 1970s, a number of pioneering engineers began to apply recent learning in the field of networking to innovate the use of networks for their employ­ ers’ in-house productivity, or as solutions to meet specific customer needs. But while these pioneers proved the technology could work, it would take until the end of the decade before the commercial success of networks could be validated in the market. By then, the explosion in business computing—mainframes and the increasingly popular minicomputer—had created a compelling need to con­ nect computers to other computers, peripherals, and terminals throughout the enterprise. Customers began making demands on their vendors for connectivity. This demand was on display in May of 1979 at the Local Area Computer Net­ working symposium presented by MITRE and the National Bureau of Standards (NBS). The result was a watershed moment for the emerging market, which, when combined with the resurgence of venture capital, provided entrepreneurs with the right mix of opportunity and resources. Just 1 month later, in June, three of the leading networking companies, 3Com, Ungermann-Bass, and Sytek, were founded. Each differentiated to take advantage of what they saw as a unique market oppor­ tunity. They quickly discovered they did not have the market to themselves, as the existing data communication firms saw the same market signals and responded with products of their own. Emergence of Local Area Networks: Networking, 1976–1981