15th Anniversary Issue: Putting it on the line, 03/26/01

A timeline of network developments

By John Dix
Network World, 03/26/01

Download PDF version (6M bytes)

1986	Jan. 1986	Network World Prototype Issue. Lead story: AT&T axes Net 1000. Pulls the plug on a grandiose service that was to link any terminal to any type of computer.
	1986	McDonald's is first to trial ISDN.
	1986	Ethernet interface cards for VAXes cost $3,200.
	May 1986	Wang acquires PBX maker Intecom for $156 million.
	1986	IBM Netview introduced.
	1986	Start-up StrataCom launches the first T-1 multiplexer based on packet switching.
	Aug. 1986	IEEE approves an 802.3 proposal for a 1M bit/sec version of Ethernet similar to that used in AT&T's Starlan product.
1987	1987	AppleTalk introduced.
	1987	IBM unveils the PS/2 family of PCs, including models based on Intel's 8086, 80286 and 80386 microprocessors.
	Apr. 1987	Microsoft and IBM introduce OS/2; Microsoft announces LAN Manager, a network operating system that will compete with Novell's NetWare.
	Jun. 1987	3Com throws weight behind Microsoft LAN Manager effort.
	Aug. 1987	Bridge, 3Com merge.
	Nov. 1987	Unisys acquires mux maker Timeplex for $350 million. Sells it for $207 million in June 1993 to Swiss giant Ascom Holdings.
1988	1988	Regional Bell operating companies allowed to offer enhanced services.
	Feb. 1988	Tandem wades into LAN market with buyout of Ungermann-Bass for $260 million.
	Apr. 1988	Illinois Bell files the country's first general tariff for ISDN.
	Apr. 1988	T-1 mux maker Network Equipment Technologies storms LAN market with acquisition of Excelan for $125 million.
	Apr. 1988	AT&T becomes first carrier to offer ISDN Primary Rate Interface LAN.
	Apr. 1988	Although the release date of Microsoft's OS/2 LAN Manager network operating system is still two months away, 29 major vendors line up as licensees.
	May 1988	Fire in Illinois Bell's Hinsdale central office damages most of the 50,000 circuits supported by the switch.
	Jul. 1988	IBM readies 16M bit/sec Token Ring for fall debut. It is also at work on a 100M bit/sec FDDI LAN.
	Aug. 1988	MCI celebrates 20th anniversary.
	Oct. 1988	3Com ships 3+Open, the first network operating system based on Microsoft's LAN Manager. Digital and the X/Open consortium join the ranks of LAN Manager supporters.
	Dec. 1988	IBM sells the development and manufacturing assets of its Rolm PBX Division to Siemens AG. IBM acquired the PBX maker in 1985.
1989	Feb. 1989	Ark Electronics advertises a 19.2K bit/sec modem in Network World for $3,595, a huge improvement over the dollar/bit cost of modems in the early 1980s.
	March 1989	Tim Berners-Lee of the European Practice Physics Lab proposes the World Wide Web.
	May 1989	The Corporation for Open Systems (COS) unveils its COS Mark program and announces the first three products certified as OSI-compliant under the plan.
	May 1989	AT&T fractional T-1 services hit market.
	Oct. 1989	AOL introduces service for Apple Macintosh and Apple II computers.
	Oct. 1989	Net Frame ushers in the superserver era with introduction of the first �network mainframes.�
1990	Feb. 1990	Cisco goes public. Revenue will grow 40% per year for every year through 2000 except for 1998, when it only grew 31%.
	Apr. 1990	Lotus, Novell announce plans to merge in a stock swap valued at $1.5 billion. They call it off one month later.
	May 1990	AT&T unveils data version of its Software Defined Network voice service.
	Jul. 1990	Compaq rolls out 80486-based SystemPro 486 server.
	Sept. 1990	Microsoft, IBM split on OS/2 and Windows development.
	Oct. 1990	US Sprint becomes the first long-haul carrier to offer frame relay.
	Dec. 1990	Wellfleet and Cisco add support for IBM's SDLC protocol to make it easier for users to construct multiprotocol backbones.
	Dec. 1990	AT&T makes $6.12 billion hostile take-over bid for NCR. Deal is finalized in May 1991.
	Dec. 1990	3Com exits the network operating system market because of disappointing sales of 3+Open, which is based on Microsoft's OS/2 LAN Manager.
1991	Feb. 1991	AOL adds support for IBM- compatible PCs.
	Sept. 1991	Crescendo unveils the industry's first 100M bit/sec FDDI over unshielded twisted pair.
	Oct. 1991	Linux kernel released.
1992	March 1992	Although some are proclaiming LAN Manager dead, Microsoft pushes on with the announcement of the next generation, LAN Manager for Windows NT.
	Sept. 1992	Cisco offers Advanced Peer-to-Peer Internetworking (APPI) as an alternative to IBM's Advanced Peer-to-Peer Networking to combine SNA peer-to-peer routing with TCP/IP features. Cisco abandons APPI 11 months later.
	Oct. 1992	Start-up Grand Junction reveals it is developing a 100M bit/sec version of Ethernet that will use unshielded twisted-pair cabling.
1993	Feb. 1993	Marc Andreessen introduces Mosaic, the first graphical browser, while working at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications.
	Feb. 1993	Paine-Webber signals an industry shift by cashing in its IBM SNA network, front-end processors and cluster controllers for a TCP/IP net based on LANs, routers and frame relay links.
	March 1993	Novell rolls out NetWare 4.0, saying it is the most important product in the company's history. The new version adds support for multiple servers and Novell Directory Services.
	April 1993	SynOptics, Cisco scrub plans to develop the RubSystem, an integrated hub/router.
	May 1993	Microsoft formally announces Windows NT at Comdex/Spring in Atlanta.
1994	Jan. 10, 1994	MCI forms MCI Metro subsidiary and announces it will spend $2 billion to build alternative access networks in 20 cities.
	Mar. 1994	Novell announces plans to acquire WordPerfect for $1.4 billion and Borland International's spreadsheet business for $145 million.
	Mar. 1994	Bill Gates and Craig McCaw file plans with the Federal Communications Commission for a massive, low-orbit satellite venture called Teledesic.
	Apr. 1994	Robert Frankenberg named CEO of Novell, replacing Ray Noorda, who two months later steps down as chairman.
	Apr. 1994	Yahoo is founded by two Stanford doctoral candidates.
	Jun. 1994	Bell Atlantic becomes the first regional Bell holding company to tariff a public ATM service.
	Jun. 1994	After five years of development, the federal government pulls the plug on the Government Open Systems Interconnection Profile (GOSIP) and gives the nod to TCP/IP.
	Jul. 1994	LAN hub kingpin SynOptics ($713 million) merges with Wellfleet ($323 million), the second largest router maker, to form Bay Networks.
	Aug. 1994	AOL reaches one million subscribers.
	Dec. 1994	Red Hat Software founded.
1995	May 1995	Sun launches Java.
	Jul. 1995	Amazon.com launched.
	July 1995	3Com snaps up router maker Chipcom for $775 million, creating an Internetworking company, larger than the recently formed Bay Networks, but smaller than Cisco.
	July 1995	IBM acquires Lotus for $3.5 billion.
	Aug. 1995	Microsoft releases the oft-delayed successor to Windows 3.1, Windows 95, which includes Internet Explorer 1.0.
	Sept. 1995	Network World launches www.nwfusion.com as a way to fuse print and online delivery of news and analysis.
	Sept. 1995	eBay launched.
	Sept. 1995	AT&T carves itself up, forming AT&T, Lucent and NCR. Lucent officially becomes a separate entity on Oct. 1, 1996.
	Sept. 1995	Cisco agrees to acquire Grand Junction Networks, the inventor and leading supplier of Fast Ethernet (100Base-T) and Ethernet desktop switching products.
	Oct. 1995	Jim Manzi steps down as Lotus CEO 99 days after the company is acquired by IBM.
	Dec. 1995	Compaq, 3Com and Sun pitch 1G bit/sec Ethernet as backbone alternative.
1996	Jan. 1996	After three years, Hewlett-Packard begins to back away from its 100VG-Any LAN for 100M bit/sec Ethernet by announcing support for rival 100Base-T.
	Feb. 1996	Congress issues the Telecommunications Act of 1996, knocking down barriers in local and long-distance services, cable TV and other markets.
	Feb. 1996	AOL reaches five million subscribers.
	Apr. 1996	SBC Communications and Pacific Telesis Group announce merger plan.
	Apr. 1996	Cisco acquires StrataCom, a supplier of ATM and frame relay WAN switching equipment.
	Aug. 1996	Robert Frankenberg resigns as chairman, president and CEO of Novell. Joseph Marengi, executive vice president of sales, is named president.
	Aug. 1996	Microsoft releases Internet Explorer 3.0 a week before Netscape releases Navigator 3.0. The browser wars start in earnest.
	Nov. 1996	Microsoft gives developers preview copies of Windows NT Server 5.0 distributed directory, security and management services.
1997	Feb. 1997	Alteon, Foundry and other Gigabit Ethernet players show first wares at NetWorld+Interop.
	Mar. 1997	Juniper Networks, Avici Systems and Pluris out to develop super routers.
	Mar. 1997	Novell uses BrainShare '97 to show off new CEO Eric Schmidt.
	June 1997	Dancing baby prances across the Internet.
	Oct. 1997	Responding to a British Telecom effort to take over MCI, WorldCom swoops in with a surprise $30 billion offer.
	Nov. 1997	AOL reaches 10 million subscribers
1998	Jan. 1998	AT&T spends $11 billion to acquire Teleport Communications Group, an industry-leading competitive access provider with facilities in 57 U.S. markets.
	Feb. 1998	Compaq ends the Digital era, paying $9.6 billion for the once-dominant minicomputer maker.
	Apr. 1998	Catastrophic failure takes all 145 switches in AT&T's frame relay network down for the count.
	May 1998	SBC complements the 1997 acquisition of Pacific Telesis with the $56 billion planned acquisition of Ameritech.
	May 1998	Ethernet turns 25.
	May 1998	Napster created by Northeastern University student Shawn Fanning.
	June 1998	Microsoft releases Windows 98.
	June 1998	Nortel buys Bay Networks for $9.1 billion, targets integration of data, voice and video.
	June 1998	AT&T buys cable TV giant TCI for $48 billion.
	Aug. 1998	One year after merging with Nynex, Bell Atlantic marries GTE in $53 billion merger.
	Nov. 1998	AOL acquires Netscape for $4.2 billion.
1999	Jan. 1999	Lucent acquires Ascend for $20 billion in an effort to round out IP and ATM product offerings.
	Apr. 1999	AT&T fleshes out bold cable bid with proposal to pay $58 billion for MediaOne, the fourth-largest cable TV operator.
	Apr 1999	Melissa virus runs rampant on Internet, afflicting millions.
	June 1999	Former CEO of Bay Networks David House resigns as president of Nortel a year to the day after Nortel's acquisition of Bay.
	June 1999	Akamai launches industry's first Internet content delivery service.
	Aug. 1999	MCI WorldCom frame relay network brownout plagues 3,400 of the company's 14,000 frame users.
	Sept. 1999	IBM throws in the net towel, sells its switching and routing businesses to arch rival Cisco.
	Oct. 1999	WorldCom proposes audacious $115 billion acquisition of Sprint, but the deal is shot down by the U.S. Department of Justice on June 27, 2000.
	Nov. 1999	U.S. Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson rules that Microsoft is a monopoly.
	Dec. 1999	AOL surpasses 20 million subscribers.
2000	Jan. 1, 2000	Y2K arrives with a whimper.
	Feb. 2000	Cabletron is chopped into four chunks: Riverstone, Enterasys, Global Network Technology Services and Aprisma.
	Feb. 2000	Web attackers take down Yahoo, eBay, Amazon, CNN.com and E*Trade with massive distributed denial-of-service attacks.
	Feb. 2000	Microsoft ships Windows 2000, which includes directory, security and management improvements.
	March 13, 2000	3Com spins off its Network Systems business, which includes enterprise LAN switches and remote access gear.
	May 2000	Cisco acquires ArrowPoint Communications, a provider of switches used to optimize delivery of Web content, for $5.7 billion.
	July 2000	Nortel snaps up Alteon Web Systems for $7.8 billion.
	Oct. 2000	Five years after divesting Lucent and NCR, AT&T breaks itself up again, this time creating AT&T Business, AT&T Broadband, AT&T Consumer and AT&T Wireless.
2001	2001	Tech-heavy Nasdaq tumbles to 2000 from a high of 5000 in March 2000.