- SynOptics
SynOptics Communications was a
Santa Clara, California -based earlyEthernet vendor.In the early 1990s, SynOptics produced a series of innovative products including early
10BASE-2 hubs, pre-standard10BaseT (LattisNet ), and100BaseT products. They merged withBillerica, Massachusetts basedWellfleet Communications onJuly 6 ,1994 in aUS$ 1.16 Billion dollar deal to formBay Networks which itself was acquired byNortel in1998 to formNortel Networks .Their headquarters at the time of the merger with Welfleet was in the pair of sloped buildings at the Northeast corner of the intersection of Great America Parkway and Mission College Blvd in Santa Clara.
LattisNet
The most significant product that Synoptics produced was
LattisNet . Before the final, standard version of what is known today as the10Base-T protocol, there were several different methods and standards for running Ethernet overtwisted-pair cabling at 10 Mbit/s. LattisNet is the name applied to SynOptics' Ethernet variant, which was similar to the final 10Base-T protocol except that it had slightly different voltage and signal characteristics. Synoptics updated their product line to the 10Base-T specification, once it was published. The experience and market position that LattisNet gave them helped them to compete in the 10Base-T market.
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