Farallon, later renamed Netopia, was a computer networking company headquartered in
Berkeley, and subsequently
Emeryville,
California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
, that produced a wide variety of products including bridges, repeaters and switches, and in their later Netopia incarnation, modems, routers, gateways, and Wi-Fi devices. The company also produced the NBBS (Netopia Broadband Server Software) and, as Farallon,
Timbuktu
Timbuktu ( ; french: Tombouctou;
Koyra Chiini: ); tmh, label=Tuareg, script=Tfng, ⵜⵏⴱⴾⵜ, Tin Buqt a city in Mali, situated north of the Niger River. The town is the capital of the Tombouctou Region, one of the eight administrativ ...
remote administration software, as well as the MacRecorder, the first audio capture and manipulation products for the Macintosh (later sold to
Macromedia
Macromedia, Inc., was an American graphics, multimedia, and web development software company (1992–2005) headquartered in San Francisco, California, that made products such as Flash and Dreamweaver. It was purchased by its rival Adobe System ...
). The company was founded in 1986 and changed its name to Netopia in 1998. Farallon originated several notable technologies, including:
*
PhoneNet, an implementation of
AppleTalk
AppleTalk is a discontinued proprietary suite of networking protocols developed by Apple Computer for their Macintosh computers. AppleTalk includes a number of features that allow local area networks to be connected with no prior setup or the ...
over plain ("Cat-3") telephone wiring or, more commonly,
EIA-TIA 568A/B structured cabling systems. Many versions of the product were produced, but the original product was a commercialized version of a kit developed and produced by
BMUG, the Berkeley Macintosh Users Group in 1986.
* The StarController, a line of LocalTalk and Ethernet bridges and switches released in 1988 which integrated directly with EIA-TIA 568A/B structured cabling systems.
* EtherWave, an
ADB-powered three-port bridge in a
dongle
A dongle is a small piece of computer hardware that connects to a port on another device to provide it with additional functionality, or enable a pass-through to such a device that adds functionality.
In computing, the term was initially synonym ...
form-factor which looked something like a manta ray. The two external ports were
10BASE-T
1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1 ...
and the ADB pigtail spoke an
overclocked 690kbps version of
LocalTalk
LocalTalk is a particular implementation of the physical layer of the AppleTalk networking system from Apple Computer.
LocalTalk specifies a system of shielded twisted pair cabling, plugged into self-terminating transceivers, running at a rate ...
. This served both to allow devices without expansion busses (commonly early
Macintosh
The Mac (known as Macintosh until 1999) is a family of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple Inc. Macs are known for their ease of use and minimalist designs, and are popular among students, creative professionals, and ...
computers and
LaserWriter
The LaserWriter is a laser printer with built-in PostScript interpreter sold by Apple, Inc. from 1985 to 1988. It was one of the first laser printers available to the mass market. In combination with WYSIWYG publishing software like PageMake ...
printers) to connect directly to Ethernet networks, and also to allow the daisy-chaining of multiple devices from a single Ethernet switch or bridge port. Later versions used Apple's "AAUI" version of the Attachment Unit Interface to achieve full 10mbps host connections.
* AirDock, an ADB-to-IrDA gateway which allowed devices with LocalTalk ports to communicate on IrDA infrared wireless networks.
Netopia acquired multiple companies in the home networking space including Cayman and DoBox, Inc. DoBox, Inc., founded by Nicole Toomey Davis, Bradley Davis and Matt Smith, was acquired in 2002 for its award-winning DoBox Family Firewall and Home Server Gateway.
Netopia was acquired by
Motorola
Motorola, Inc. () was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, United States. After having lost $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009, the company split into two independent public companies, Motorola ...
in the first quarter of 2007.
ISPs known to use Netopia modems include:
*
AT&T
AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the world's largest telecommunications company by revenue and the third largest provider of mobile ...
in the United States
*
Sonic.net
Sonic is a telecommunications company and internet service provider based in Santa Rosa, California, acting as a competitive local exchange carrier in the San Francisco Bay Area, Sacramento, and Los Angeles.
History
Sonic began as an effort to b ...
in the United States
*
Covad in the United States
*
eircom
Eircom Limited, trading as Eir ( ; stylised eir), is a large fixed, mobile and broadband telecommunications company in Ireland. The now privatised company, which is currently incorporated in Jersey, traces its origins to the Ireland's former ...
in Ireland
*
Swisscom
Swisscom AG is a major telecommunications provider in Switzerland. Its headquarters are located in Ittigen near Bern. The Swiss government owns 51.0 percent of Swisscom AG. According to its own published data, Swisscom holds a market share of ...
in Switzerland
*
NextGenTel in Norway
*
France Télécom
Orange S.A. (), formerly France Télécom S.A. (stylized as france telecom) is a French multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications corporation. It has 266 million customers worldwide and employs 89,000 people in France, and 5 ...
, Cegetel RSS, B3G Telecom, Nerim,
Easynet
Easynet was a managed services provider and delivered integrated networks, hosting and unified communications services to organisations globally.
The company was later renamed Easynet Global Services, and a sister company, Easynet Connect, was fo ...
,
ClaranetMagic Onlinein France
References
External links
Homepageof Netopia
Netopia financial news from Google Finance
Companies based in Emeryville, California
Telecommunications companies of the United States
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