Pharsalia Technologies, Inc. was founded in December 1999, located in

Roswell, Georgia Roswell is a city in northern Fulton County, Georgia, United States. At the official 2020 census, the city had a population of 92,883, making Roswell the state's ninth largest city. A suburb of Atlanta, Roswell has an affluent National Registe ...

, as an

emerging company A startup or start-up is a company or project undertaken by an entrepreneur to seek, develop, and validate a scalable business model. While entrepreneurship includes all new businesses including self-employment and businesses that do not intend to ...

developing

network infrastructure A computer network is a collection of communicating computers and other devices, such as printers and smart phones. In order to communicate, the computers and devices must be connected by wired media like copper cables, optical fibers, or b ...

products for the

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...

market. Led by a team of over 28

software engineers Software engineering is a branch of both computer science and engineering focused on designing, developing, testing, and maintaining software applications. It involves applying engineering principles and computer programming expertise to develop ...

, Pharsalia focused on developing software products for the rapidly escalating

content delivery Digital distribution, also referred to as content delivery, online distribution, or electronic software distribution, among others, is the delivery or distribution of information or materials through digital platforms. The distribution of digital ...

market. The company was headed by Chip Howes, whose team is the inventor of record for over 30

patents A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an sufficiency of disclosure, enabling discl ...

in the area of

TCP/IP The Internet protocol suite, commonly known as TCP/IP, is a framework for organizing the communication protocols used in the Internet and similar computer networks according to functional criteria. The foundational protocols in the suite are ...

server Server may refer to: Computing *Server (computing), a computer program or a device that provides requested information for other programs or devices, called clients. Role * Waiting staff, those who work at a restaurant or a bar attending custome ...

load balancing, and are credited with the invention of the technology in 1996. Pharsalia was

acquired ''Acquired'' is a podcast by Ben Gilbert and David Rosenthal about business history and strategy. As of 2024, the podcast has more than 600,000 monthly listeners. History Gilbert and Rosenthal worked together at Madrona Venture Group and ini ...

Alteon WebSystems Alteon WebSystems (originally Alteon Networks, Inc.) is a division of Radware that produces application delivery controllers. Alteon was acquired by Nortel Networks on October 4, 2000. On February 22, 2009 Nortel Networks sold the Alteon app ...

San Jose, California San Jose, officially the City of San José ( ; ), is a cultural, commercial, and political center within Silicon Valley and the San Francisco Bay Area. With a city population of 997,368 and a metropolitan area population of 1.95 million, it is ...

on July 21, 2000 in a stock swap worth about $221 million. Subsequently, Alteon was acquired by

Nortel Networks Nortel Networks Corporation (Nortel), formerly Northern Telecom Limited, was a Canadian multinational telecommunications and data networking equipment manufacturer headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario. It was founded in Montreal, Quebec in 1895 ...

on October 4, 2000. After integrating the company into Nortel Networks, most of the original team was

laid off A layoff or downsizing is the temporary suspension or permanent termination of employment of an employee or, more commonly, a group of employees (collective layoff) for business reasons, such as personnel management or downsizing an organization ...

by August 2003. The

founder Founder or Founders may refer to: Places *Founders Park, a stadium in South Carolina, formerly known as Carolina Stadium * Founders Park, a waterside park in Islamorada, Florida Arts, entertainment, and media * Founders (''Star Trek''), the ali ...

s went on to start another company, Steelbox Networks, and hired back many of the same engineers.

Trivia

Pharsalia ''De Bello Civili'' (; ''On the Civil War''), more commonly referred to as the ''Pharsalia'' (, neuter plural), is a Latin literature, Roman Epic poetry, epic poem written by the poet Lucan, detailing the Caesar's civil war, civil war between Ju ...

is a name related to the location of

Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (12 or 13 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC) was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in Caesar's civil wa ...

's victory over Pompey. Pharsalia Technologies was named after Pharsalia Plantation in Massies Mill, VA, the birthplace of Sarah Howes, mother of founder, Chip Howes.

References

External links

Pharsalia Technologies

Companies based in Roswell, Georgia Defunct software companies of the United States Networking companies of the United States Telecommunications companies established in 1999 Defunct companies based in Georgia (U.S. state) 1999 establishments in Georgia (U.S. state) {{ict-company-stub