Airespace, Inc., formerly Black Storm Networks, was a

networking hardware Networking hardware, also known as network equipment or computer networking devices, are electronic devices which are required for communication and interaction between devices on a computer network. Specifically, they mediate data transmission in ...

company founded in 2001, manufacturing

wireless access point In computer networking, a wireless access point (WAP), or more generally just access point (AP), is a networking hardware device that allows other Wi-Fi devices to connect to a wired network. As a standalone device, the AP may have a wired ...

s and

Controller Controller may refer to: Occupations * Controller or financial controller, or in government accounting comptroller, a senior accounting position * Controller, someone who performs agent handling in espionage * Air traffic controller, a person w ...

s. The company developed the AP-Controller model for fast deployment and the Lightweight Access Point Protocol, the precursor to the CAPWAP protocol.

Corporate history

Airespace was founded in 2001 by Pat Calhoun, Bob Friday, Bob O'Hara, and Ajay Mishra. The company was venture backed by Storm Ventures,

Norwest Venture Partners Norwest Venture Partners (Norwest) is an American venture and growth equity investment firm. The firm targets early to late-stage venture and growth equity investments across several sectors, including cloud computing and information technology, ...

and

Battery Ventures Battery Ventures is an American technology-focused investment firm. Founded in 1983, the firm makes venture-capital and private-equity investments in markets across the globe from offices in Boston, Silicon Valley, San Francisco, Israel and Lon ...

. In 2003, it entered into an agreement to provide OEM equipment to

NEC is a Japanese multinational information technology and electronics corporation, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo. The company was known as the Nippon Electric Company, Limited, before rebranding in 1983 as NEC. It provides IT and network soluti ...

. In 2004 it signed an agreement with Alcatel and

Nortel Nortel Networks Corporation (Nortel), formerly Northern Telecom Limited, was a Canadian multinational telecommunications and data networking equipment manufacturer headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It was founded in Montreal, Quebec, ...

to provide equipment to the two companies on an OEM basis. Airespace was first to market with integrated location tracking. Within a year and a half, the company grew rapidly into the market leader of enterprise Wi-Fi.

Cisco Systems Cisco Systems, Inc., commonly known as Cisco, is an American-based multinational digital communications technology conglomerate corporation headquartered in San Jose, California. Cisco develops, manufactures, and sells networking hardware, ...

acquired Airespace in 2005 for $450 million; this was one of 13 acquisitions Cisco made that year and the largest up to that point. Airespace products were merged into Cisco Aironet product line.

References

2001 establishments in California 2005 disestablishments in California 2005 mergers and acquisitions American companies established in 2001 American companies disestablished in 2005 Cisco Systems acquisitions Computer companies established in 2001 Computer companies disestablished in 2005 Defunct computer companies of the United States Defunct computer hardware companies Defunct networking companies Networking hardware companies {{tech-company-stub