Proteon, Inc. was a pioneering designer and manufacturer of

computer network 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 ...

equipment based in

Westborough, Massachusetts Westborough is a New England town, town in Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 21,567 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, in over 7,000 households. Incorporated in 1717, the town is governed under the N ...

. Proteon created the first commercial

Token Ring Token Ring is a Physical layer, physical and data link layer computer networking technology used to build local area networks. It was introduced by IBM in 1984, and standardized in 1989 as IEEE Standards Association, IEEE 802.5. It uses a sp ...

products and created the first commercially available multiprotocol

Internet router A router is a computer and networking device that forwards data packets between computer networks, including internetworks such as the global Internet. Routers perform the "traffic directing" functions on the Internet. A router is connect ...

as well as the

OSPF Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) is a routing protocol for Internet Protocol (IP) networks. It uses a link state routing (LSR) algorithm and falls into the group of interior gateway protocols (IGPs), operating within a single autonomous sys ...

routing protocol.

History

Proteon designed and manufactured of some of the earliest commercial

local area network A local area network (LAN) is a computer network that interconnects computers within a limited area such as a residence, campus, or building, and has its network equipment and interconnects locally managed. LANs facilitate the distribution of da ...

and

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 ...

Internet Router products. Although founded in 1972 by Howard Salwen as communications consulting firm, Proteon became a manufacturer when they produced the first commercial Token Ring network interfaces and media access units in conjunction with

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of modern technology and sc ...

. In 1981, they released the 10 Mbit/sec Pronet-10 Token Ring network. and evolved the speeds through 16 MBit/sec, 80 Mbit/sec and 100 Mbit/sec. IBM released a competing Token Ring system in 1984. In 1986, Proteon released the first commercially available multi-protocol router, the p4200, based on the MIT multi-protocol router, using code developed by Noel Chiappa. Proteon's router products made them one of the key companies producing products to support the growing

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 ...

, among rivals such as

Cisco Cisco Systems, Inc. (using the trademark Cisco) is an American multinational digital communications technology conglomerate corporation headquartered in San Jose, California. Cisco develops, manufactures, and sells networking hardware, s ...

and

Wellfleet Communications Wellfleet Communications, Inc., was an Internet router company founded in 1986 by Paul Severino, Bill Seifert, Steven Willis and David Rowe based in Bedford, Massachusetts, and later Billerica, Massachusetts. In an attempt to more effectively c ...

. Proteon went public in 1991, issuing 3.1 million shares. Proteon was renamed and relaunched as OpenROUTE Networks in 1998. OpenRoute Networks merged into Netrix in 1999. The combined company was rebranded as NX Networks, which was acquired by NSGDatacom in 2002, and who dropped the NX Networks name in favor of Netrix.

References

External links

* {{Portal bar, Companies, Internet Defunct networking companies Networking companies of the United States Companies based in Westborough, Massachusetts Defunct companies based in Massachusetts 1991 initial public offerings Companies formerly listed on the Nasdaq Networking hardware companies Defunct computer companies of the United States Defunct computer hardware companies