Alteon WebSystems

Alteon WebSystems, originally Alteon Networks, Inc., was a computer networking company founded in 1996 by John Hayes, Ted Schroeder, Wayne Hathaway, and Mark Bryers. The founders, who had a background in firmware, chip design, and software, decided to focus on the emerging Gigabit Ethernet technology. The company received initial venture capital funding from Matrix Partners and Sutter Hill Ventures.

Alteon became a key player in internet infrastructure by developing innovative products that managed web traffic and improved network performance. It introduced one of the first network switches, the ACEswitch 180, which featured selectable speeds of 10/100 or 1000 Mbit/s on every port. The company also pioneered one of the first network interface controllers (NIC) for Gigabit Ethernet in 1997. A significant innovation was the accidental discovery and subsequent development of load balancing, which led to their ACEdirector Layer 4-7 switch, designed as an integrated services front-end and server load balancer. This shift in focus prompted a name change to Alteon WebSystems to reflect its new direction in "webworking".

The company went public on September 24, 1999, with shares priced at $19 each. On July 28, 2000, Nortel Networks announced its acquisition of Alteon for approximately $7.8 billion in stock, a deal that officially closed in October 2000 for a final value of around $6 billion due to market fluctuations. The Alteon product line was later sold by Nortel to Radware in February 2009 for $17.65 million. Today, the Alteon brand lives on as a division of Radware, producing application delivery controllers and security solutions.

Keywords: network switching solutions, gigabit ethernet, application delivery controller, web traffic management, server load balancing, network interface controller, ACEswitch, ACEdirector, content networking, layer 4-7 switch, data center solutions, Radware, Nortel Networks acquisition, network infrastructure