Alteon WebSystems explained

Alteon WebSystems Incorporated
Fate:Acquired by Nortel in 2000
Acquired by Radware in 2009
Location City:San Jose, California
Location Country:United States
Industry:Computer networking
Products:Network switches
Network interface controllers
Parent:Radware

Alteon WebSystems, originally known as Alteon Networks, is a division of Radware that produces application delivery controllers.

Alteon was acquired by Nortel Networks on October 4, 2000.[1] On February 22, 2009 Nortel Networks sold the Alteon application switching line to Radware.

History

Alteon Networks was founded in 1996 by Mark Bryers, John Hayes, Ted Schroeder and Wayne Hathaway. Initial venture capital investors were Matrix Partners and Sutter Hill Ventures. Dominic Orr became chief executive in October 1996.[2]

Alteon introduced innovative products such as the ACEswitch 180, which was the first network switch to deliver Ethernet with selectable speed, 10/100 or 1000 Mbit/s, on every port via autonegotiation. Their ACEdirector Layer 4-7 switch was designed as an integrated services front-end and server load balancer. They also introduced Jumbo Frames (up to 9,000 bytes) with their ACEnic adapters, and supported by their switches.[3]

In addition to server switches, Alteon produced the first network interface controller (NIC) in 1997 that used Gigabit Ethernet (demonstrated at the Networld + Interop trade show in September 1996).[4] Alteon's third generation Gigabit Ethernet NIC (code named "Tigon") became the basis for Broadcom's family of Ethernet controllers (series BCM570x) [5] and has shipped over 60 million copies. It was used in low-cost adapters from vendors such as 3Com.[6]

In July 2000, Nortel Networks announced it was buying Alteon for US$6 billion in stock. The deal had originally been announced with a value of $7.8 billion, but the stock market plummeted before the deal closed in October.[1] [7] Nortel rolled the ACEDirector and ACESwitch products into its Personal Internet product line, but one year later sales had slowed down.[8] On February 22, 2009 Nortel Networks announced they would sell the Alteon application switching line to Radware, for $17.65 million.[9] [10]

In November 2013, Radware announced the Alteon NG, marketed as an application delivery controller.[11]

Notes and References

  1. News: Nortel Networks Completes Acquisition of Alteon WebSystems . October 5, 2000 . News release . Nortel . June 8, 2011 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110716114820/http://www.nortel.com/corporate/news/newsreleases/2000c/10_05_0000660_alteon_closing.html . July 16, 2011 . dead .
  2. News: Alteon Appoints New Chief Executive Officer: Former Bay Networks Executive Dominic Orr Joins Fast Growing Startup . Press release . October 14, 1996 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/19970113130828/http://www.alteon.com/prelease3.html . January 13, 1997 . August 27, 2013 .
  3. News: Alteon still stumping for Jumbo Frames . Jeff Caruso . Network World . October 22, 1998 . July 4, 2011 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20121015084400/http://www.networkworld.com/news/1022alteon.html . October 15, 2012 .
  4. News: Alteon Networks and Network Appliance Demonstrate Gigabit Ethernet Connectivity at NetWorld+Interop Atlanta . Press release . September 18, 1996 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/19970113130927/http://www.alteon.com/prelease1.html . January 13, 1997 . August 27, 2013 .
  5. Web site: bge - Broadcom BCM570x/5714/5721/5750/5751/5752/5789 PCI Gigabit Ethernet adapter driver . Bill Paul . Ubuntu FreeBSD manual . June 8, 2011 . https://web.archive.org/web/20111006211740/http://manpages.ubuntu.com/manpages/intrepid/man4/bge.4freebsd.html . October 6, 2011 . dead . mdy-all .
  6. News: Gbit Ethernet primed for mainstream servers . EE Times . March 16, 2001 . David Lammers . June 8, 2011 .
  7. News: Nortel Networks to Acquire Alteon WebSystems for US$7.8 Billion - Will Establish Leadership Position in Delivering High-Performance Internet Data Centers for the New Networked Economy . News release . Nortel . July 28, 2000 . June 8, 2011 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110103074151/http://www.nortel.com/corporate/news/newsreleases/2000b/07_28_0000483_apache.html . January 3, 2011 . dead . mdy-all .
  8. News: Nortel's Alteon play gets mixed results . Network World . Phil Hochmuth . July 30, 2001 . July 4, 2011 . https://web.archive.org/web/20121015084352/http://www.networkworld.com/news/2001/0727alteon.html . October 15, 2012 . dead . mdy-all .
  9. http://www.radware.com/newsevents/pressrelease.aspx?id=6925 Radware Enters into Agreement to Acquire Nortel’s Layer 4-7 Application Delivery Business
  10. News: Radware pays $18 million for Nortel's Alteon assets . Ann Bednarz . Network World . April 2, 2009 . June 8, 2011 .
  11. Web site: Radware Launches Alteon NG – Next Generation Application Delivery Controller.

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