Organizations

Start-Up Organizations by Sector

Start-ups begin when an entrepreneur decides to act on the vision he or she has for how new products can better serve users' needs. In the communication start-ups of this history, the entrepreneurs are invariably engineers. Having decided to act, the entrepreneur faces three essential challenges: recruit the core members of the founding team, reduce the vision to a business plan, and raise the needed capital. Once successful, the start-up has entered the Collective stage. The essential task of the Collective stage is to create working product. The Competitive stage comes next and lasts until the firm has achieved profitability. It is around this time that the firm has the opportunity to access the public capital markets by launching its Initial Public Offering (IPO). Few firms reach this stage, but those that do next enter the Persistent stage and must not only continually improve their products but must make the risky move into new technology-based products. Again, only a small number of firms can attain the Adaptive stage with the promise of becoming really substantial firms. The unique challenges of each stage will be observed most closely in two firms of each market secor. But to understand the coalesence of the inital surge of start-ups into market order requires also observing some of the history of closely competitive firms. Lastly, other firms that have some impact on the principal firms will also be mentioned. While the narrative schema of stages helps order the histories, each firm's history can vary from the general. The start-ups of every market sector become existing firms to succeeding markets.

Existing Organizations by Sector

For every market sector there already exist firms that offer slightly similar products, or are logical firms to offer products, to those that will come to define the new market. For example, to all three Computer Communication markets, computer as well as telecommunication firms fit the definition of existing firms. However, only a few of them successfully enter one of the Computer Communication markets. Another example of existing firms to Data Communications were defense contractors building modems or multiplexers under military contracts. A third example of existing firms are the Data Communication start-ups serving as existing firms to both Networking and Internetworking and the start-ups of Networking serving as existing firms to Internetworking. While there are generally many existing firms, only a few will be highlighted.

About Government Organizations

The U.S. Government played crucial roles in the historu of Computer Communivations. The Defense Department contracted to buy data communication products when they were not available commercially and through the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) they funded both the creation of the Arpanet and the continuing work to create the TCP/IP networking protocols. The Justice Department forced the breakup of AT&T. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) overturned a long standing practice of protecting AT&T's refusal to allow foreign attachments with the Carterfone decision and participated in the eventual breakup of AT&T through its Computer Inquiry decisions. The National Bureau of Standards played important roles in the advancement of networking technologies and the establishment of netwokring standards.

About Non-Government Organizations

There exist a vast array of ogranizations and institutions that are neither direct market competitors nor governmental organizations that contribute to the history of Computer Communications. The following are examples of organizations and institutions that co-evolved with Computer Communications: venture capital and public Initial Pulic Offering markets for high technology companies; emerged as a consequence of Computer Commuincations: Independent Data Communications Manufacturers Association (IDCMA), the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Committee 002 (IEEE Committeee 802) and a collaboration of Digital Corporation, Intel and Xerox (DIX); or were activities of existing organizations tailored to the needs of Computer Communicaitons: trade shows (Enterprise Networking Event (ENE) and Interop Trade Show), investor conferences (the Alex Brown & Sons Conference: March 1983), and market research reports of either investment banks (Alex. Brown & Sons or Salomon Brothers Inc.) or market research firms (Dataquest or Datapro Research).

About Standards Making & Regulatory Organizations