- Bay Networks
Bay Networks was a network hardware vendor formed through the merger of
Santa Clara, California basedSynOptics Communications andBillerica, Massachusetts basedWellfleet Communications onJuly 6 ,1994 . [cite web|url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9905E2DE1F3CF935A35754C0A962958260|title=Wellfleet and Synoptics Plan $2.7 Billion Computer Union] SynOptics was an important early innovator of ethernet products including a pre-standard twisted pair fast ethernet product. Wellfleet was an important competitor toCisco Systems in the router market.Bay expanded the product lines of Synoptics and Wellfleet and entered the
Asynchronous Transfer Mode product space.Bay was acquired by
Nortel in June of1998 , [cite web|url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0CGN/is_n119/ai_20800562|title=Nortel Buys Bay Networks For $9.1Bil] broadening Nortel's reach from its traditional carrier customer base into enterprise data networking; Nortel renamed itself Nortel Networks after the merger.The Bay Networks product line survives to this day as the
Netgear products that are widely sold by electronics retailers. Netgear originally started as a division of Bay Networks in January 1996, and was spun out as a standalone company in September 1999. [cite web|url=http://files.shareholder.com/downloads/NTGR/219363835x0x92073/cde45f26-b75c-4efc-9962-9b2c95b1be5e/118724.pdf|title=Nortel Networks Spin-Off NETGEAR to Focus on High-Growth Home and Small Business Internet Infrastructure Market]References
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