Article ID: CBB136746708

The Business of Internetworking: Standards, Start-Ups, and Network Effects (Spring 2022)

unapi

Russell, Andrew Lawrence (Author)
James L. Pelkey (Author)
Loring Robbins (Author)


Business History Review
Volume: 96
Issue: 1
Pages: 109-144


Publication Date: Spring 2022
Edition Details: Special issue on Standards and the Global Economy
Language: English

Historical accounts of the Internet's origins tend to emphasize U.S. government investment and university-based researchers. In contrast, this article introduces actors who have been overlooked: the entrepreneurs and private firms that developed standards, evaluated competing standards, educated consumers about the value of new products, and built products to sell. Start-up companies such as 3Com and Cisco Systems succeeded because they met rapidly rising demand from users, particularly those in large organizations, who were connecting computers into networks and networks into internetworks. We consider a relatively brief yet dynamic period, from the late 1960s to the late 1980s, when regulators attacked incumbent American firms, entrepreneurs flourished in new market niches, and engineers set industry standards for networking and internetworking. As a consequence, their combined efforts forged new processes and institutions for so-called open standards that, in turn, created the conditions favorable for the “network effects” that sustained the formative years of the digital economy.

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Associated with

Article Yates, JoAnne; Murphy, Craig N. (Spring 2022) Introduction: Standards and the Global Economy. Business History Review (pp. 3-15). unapi

Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB136746708/

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Authors & Contributors
Fidler, Bradley Reuben
Ronald W. Schatz
Brian R. Cheffins
Grace Ballor
Taplin, Jonathan
Smith, Andrew
Concepts
Business history
Regulation
Internet
Computers and computing
Computer networks
Standards and standardization
Time Periods
20th century
21st century
20th century, late
19th century
Places
United States
Belarus
Germany
Europe
European Union
Soviet Union
Institutions
Facebook (firm)
Google (firm)
United States. Defense Communications Agency
Chicago School of Economics
United States. Securities and Exchange Commission
American Telephone and Telegraph Company
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