Spider Systems Ltd. was a

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 ...

products company, based in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

. It was founded in 1983 by several former employees of

ICL ICL may refer to: Companies and organizations * Idaho Conservation League, environmental organisation in the United States * Imperial College London, a UK university * Indian Confederation of Labour * Indian Cricket League * Inorganic Chemistry ...

who had previously worked at ICL's Scottish Development Centre at

Dalkeith Palace Dalkeith Palace is a country house in Dalkeith, Midlothian, Scotland. It was the seat of the Duke of Buccleuch, Dukes of Buccleuch from 1642 until 1914, and is owned by the Buccleuch Living Heritage Trust. The present palace was built 1701–1711 ...

until its closure earlier that year. Spider Systems produced a wide range of products, including

terminal server A terminal server connects devices with a serial port to a local area network (LAN). Products marketed as terminal servers can be very simple devices that do not offer any security functionality, such as data encryption and user authentication. ...

s, routers,

network bridge A network bridge is a computer networking device that creates a single, aggregate network from multiple communication networks or network segments. This function is called network bridging. Bridging is distinct from routing. Routing allows mu ...

s, network analysers and

network protocol A communication protocol is a system of rules that allows two or more entities of a communications system to transmit information via any variation of a physical quantity. The protocol defines the rules, syntax, semantics, and synchronization of ...

software Software consists of computer programs that instruct the Execution (computing), execution of a computer. Software also includes design documents and specifications. The history of software is closely tied to the development of digital comput ...

stacks for various

operating systems An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware and software resources, and provides common daemon (computing), services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems scheduler (computing), schedule tasks for ...

, including the

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 ...

stack used in

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...

Windows NT 3.1 Windows NT 3.1 is the first major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft, released on July 27, 1993. It marked the company's entry into the corporate computing environment, designed to support large networks and to be ...

. The company was acquired by

Shiva Corporation Shiva Corporation was a company that specialized in computer networking and associated equipment, in particular remote access products. The company was founded in 1985, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Shiva was co-founded by Massachus ...

in 1995, becoming Shiva Europe Ltd. Shiva were themselves acquired by

Intel Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California, and Delaware General Corporation Law, incorporated in Delaware. Intel designs, manufactures, and sells computer compo ...

in 1998, and Shiva Europe Ltd. was

liquidated Liquidation is the process in accounting by which a company is brought to an end. The assets and property of the business are redistributed. When a firm has been liquidated, it is sometimes referred to as wound-up or dissolved, although di ...

the following year. The Spider brand was revived in 1996 when the network software division of the business was bought back from Shiva by one of the founders and renamed Spider Software Ltd..Shiva Corporation Sells Software Protocol Business to Create Centre of Excellence for Existing Customer Base
/ref> This company was later sold to Artesyn Technologies (which subsequently became part of

Emerson Electric Company Emerson Electric Co. is an American multinational corporation headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. The Fortune 500 company delivers a range of engineering services, manufactures industrial automation equipment, climate control systems, and p ...

) in 2000. On 9 October 2008 Emerson started the process of closing down the former Spider Software Ltd site, and the office closed at the end of October 2009.

References

Defunct networking companies Defunct computer companies of the United Kingdom Companies based in Edinburgh Companies established in 1983 Companies disestablished in 1995 1983 establishments in Scotland {{ict-company-stub