Network Systems Corporation (NSC) was an early manufacturer of high-performance computer networking products. Founded in 1974, NSC produced hardware products that connected IBM and

Control Data Corporation Control Data Corporation (CDC) was a mainframe and supercomputer firm. CDC was one of the nine major United States computer companies through most of the 1960s; the others were IBM, Burroughs Corporation, DEC, NCR, General Electric, Honeywe ...

(CDC) mainframe computers to peripherals at remote locations. NSC also developed and commercialized the

HYPERchannel HYPERchannel, sometimes rendered Hyperchannel, was a local area networking system for mainframe computers, especially supercomputers, introduced by Network Systems Corporation in the 1970s. It ran at the then-fast speed of 50 Mbits/second, perf ...

networking system and protocol standards, adopted by

Cray Research Cray Inc., a subsidiary of Hewlett Packard Enterprise, is an American supercomputer manufacturer headquartered in Seattle, Washington. It also manufactures systems for data storage and analytics. Several Cray supercomputer systems are listed ...

Tektronix Tektronix, Inc., historically widely known as Tek, is an American company best known for manufacturing test and measurement devices such as oscilloscopes, logic analyzers, and video and mobile test protocol equipment. Originally an independent ...

and others. In the late 1980s, NSC extended HYPERchannel to support the

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

networking protocol and released a product allowing HYPERchannel devices to connect to the emerging Internet.

History

The company was formed by former

employees,

James E. Thornton James E. Thornton (September 25, 1925, Saint Paul, Minnesota–January 11, 2005) was an American computer engineer. Thornton studied electrical engineering at the University of Minnesota earning a bachelor's degree in 1950. Immediately afterwards ...

and Peter D. Jones in 1974. Initially based in

Saint Paul Paul; grc, Παῦλος, translit=Paulos; cop, ⲡⲁⲩⲗⲟⲥ; hbo, פאולוס השליח (previously called Saul of Tarsus;; ar, بولس الطرسوسي; grc, Σαῦλος Ταρσεύς, Saũlos Tarseús; tr, Tarsuslu Pavlus; ...

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over t ...

the company moved to Brooklyn Park,

after delivering their first high-speed networking computers to the

NSA The National Security Agency (NSA) is a national-level intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense, under the authority of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI). The NSA is responsible for global monitoring, collec ...

. It merged with

Storage Technology Corporation Storage Technology Corporation (StorageTek or STK, earlier STC) was a data storage technology company headquartered in Louisville, Colorado. New products include data retention systems, which it calls "information lifecycle management" (ILM). It ...

on September 20, 1995.

was purchased by

Sun Microsystems Sun Microsystems, Inc. (Sun for short) was an American technology company that sold computers, computer components, software, and information technology services and created the Java programming language, the Solaris operating system, ZFS, t ...

during the summer of 2005.

was purchased by

Oracle Corporation Oracle Corporation is an American multinational computer technology corporation headquartered in Austin, Texas. In 2020, Oracle was the third-largest software company in the world by revenue and market capitalization. The company sells da ...

on April 20, 2009. In the late 1980s, after enjoying great success in the mainframe computer market, NSC released its first product supporting the TCP/IP protocol, allowing customers to connect their mainframe computers to their emerging TCP/IP-based corporate and research networks. The market was shifting: * Companies like

and

Apollo Computer Apollo Computer Inc., founded in 1980 in Chelmsford, Massachusetts, by William Poduska (a founder of Prime Computer) and others, developed and produced Apollo/Domain workstations in the 1980s. Along with Symbolics and Sun Microsystems, Apollo ...

had gained momentum showing the efficiency of distributed clusters of smaller workstations connected to a

local area network A local area network (LAN) is a computer network that interconnects computers within a limited area such as a residence, school, laboratory, university campus or office building. By contrast, a wide area network (WAN) not only covers a large ...

. *

Internetworking Internetworking is the practice of interconnecting multiple computer networks, such that any pair of hosts in the connected networks can exchange messages irrespective of their hardware-level networking technology. The resulting system of interc ...

companies, most notably

Cisco Systems Cisco Systems, Inc., commonly known as Cisco, is an American-based multinational digital communications technology conglomerate corporation headquartered in San Jose, California. Cisco develops, manufactures, and sells networking hardware, ...

, entered the market with local and wide-area networking products using off-the-shelf components and custom software. * Prices for workstations, networking infrastructure and routers plummeted. NSC found itself in a strange position. Its HYPERchannel networking gear was being supplanted by cheaper and relatively ''plug-and-play'' LANs. In addition, the rapid evolution of routing protocols and software was not suited to their products which could neither be upgraded by the customer, nor booted from a server elsewhere on the network. In general, NSC products were maintained on-site by NSC technicians. The company attempted to respond to market demands in 1991 by merging with Vitalink Communications Corporation, primarily a bridge manufacturer. Vitalink was well entrenched in the LAN/Network industry, however, bridges and issues with large Spanning-Tree domains were allowing the router manufacturers to gain position. Vitalink had a very good router running SPF, the predecessor to OSPF. Eventually, this nifty router proved to be too little too late. Vitalink was the "bridge company" while

Cisco Cisco Systems, Inc., commonly known as Cisco, is an American-based multinational digital communications technology conglomerate corporation headquartered in San Jose, California. Cisco develops, manufactures, and sells networking hardware, ...

, Wellfleet, Proteon, and others were the router companies. In November 1993 NSC acquired the Boston-based Bytex Corp., a developer and manufacturer of WAN and LAN network switching system products including FDDI, Token Ring, and Ethernet adapters and switches. By 1995, NSC could not adapt to changing market conditions and merged with

StorageTek Storage Technology Corporation (StorageTek or STK, earlier STC) was a data storage technology company headquartered in Louisville, Colorado. New products include data retention systems, which it calls "information lifecycle management" (ILM). ...

Products

* AT10 HyperChannel Coax transceiver * ACT10 HYPERChannel Coax transceiver * A110 HYPERchannel Adapter for

systems * A120 HYPERchannel Adapter for Control Data Cyber 720/730 systems * A130 HYPERchannel Adapter for

Cray Cray Inc., a subsidiary of Hewlett Packard Enterprise, is an American supercomputer manufacturer headquartered in Seattle, Washington. It also manufactures systems for data storage and analytics. Several Cray supercomputer systems are listed i ...

low-speed channels (LSP4). * A140 Sperry univac adapter * A160 Burroughs * A161 Honeywell * A220 HYPERchannel Adapter for IBM Block Multiplexer Channels * A240 ICL adapter * A300 HYPERchannel Adapter for UNISYS systems * A400 HYPERchannel Adapter for VME-bus workstations * A510 IBM remote device support * A515 IBM device support (newer version of A510) * A710 link adapter * AC715 series link adapter (uses ACT 10) * A720 Satellite Adapter * DX Series HYPERchannel Adapters (2nd generation) for all types of mainframes & mini-computers (e.g. IBM, UNISYS, Stratus, Sun, Tandem, DEC, etc.) * DXE Series HYPERchannel Adapters (3rd generation) for all types of mainframes & mini-computers (e.g. IBM, UNISYS, Stratus, Sun, Tandem, DEC, etc.) * EN641 Internet Protocol Router: This product connected HYPERchannel devices to

Ethernet Ethernet () is a family of wired computer networking technologies commonly used in local area networks (LAN), metropolitan area networks (MAN) and wide area networks (WAN). It was commercially introduced in 1980 and first standardized in 1 ...

-based

networks, acting as an inter-network router. It supported simple routing protocols through the use of the public-domain ''gated'' routing

daemon Daimon or Daemon (Ancient Greek: , "god", "godlike", "power", "fate") originally referred to a lesser deity or guiding spirit such as the daimons of ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology and of later Hellenistic religion and Hell ...

and was based on an early version of

BSD Unix The Berkeley Software Distribution or Berkeley Standard Distribution (BSD) is a discontinued operating system based on Research Unix, developed and distributed by the Computer Systems Research Group (CSRG) at the University of California, Berke ...

adapted to run as an

embedded system An embedded system is a computer system—a combination of a computer processor, computer memory, and input/output peripheral devices—that has a dedicated function within a larger mechanical or electronic system. It is ''embedded ...

. * NB130 HYPERchannel Card for connecting

systems. Configurable card for DX Series HYPERchannel Adapters * NB220 HYPERchannel Card for IBM streaming-block-multiplexers. Configurable card for DX Series HYPERchannel Adapters * ERS - Enterprise Routing Switch (aka Nortel Passport). Today's Nortel Passport 20K/15K/7K series being the result of the IP technology devised by NSC. * NetSentry - Software Firewall product for NSC ERS/Nortel Passport based on NSC's BCF (Bridge Control Filter) and PCF (Packet Control Filter) software products.

References

* {{cite book, author=IDG Network World Inc, title=Network World, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oxwEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA16, date=14 September 1987, publisher=IDG Network World Inc, pages=16–, issn=0887-7661 Defunct computer companies of the United States Companies based in Minneapolis