# Netopia

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American computer networking company

Netopia Industry Computer networking Founded 1986, as Farallon Computing, Inc. Defunct 2007 Fate Acquired by Motorola Website netopia.com at the Wayback Machine (archived 2005-09-13)

Logo of Farallon Computing, Inc., the earlier name

**Netopia, Inc.**, formerly **Farallon Computing, Inc.**, was an American computer networking company that produced a wide variety of products including bridges, repeaters and switches, and in its later Netopia incarnation, modems, routers, gateways, and Wi-Fi devices. The company also produced the NBBS (Netopia Broadband Server Software) and, as Farallon, [Timbuktu](/source/Timbuktu_(software)) remote administration software, as well as the MacRecorder, the first audio capture and manipulation products for the Macintosh (later sold to [Macromedia](/source/Macromedia)). Farallon originated several notable technologies, including:

- [PhoneNet](/source/PhoneNet), an implementation of [AppleTalk](/source/AppleTalk) over plain ("Cat-3") telephone wiring or, more commonly, [EIA-TIA 568A/B](/source/ANSI%2FTIA-568) [structured cabling systems](/source/ANSI%2FTIA-568#Structured_cable_system_topologies). Many versions of the product were produced, but the original product was a commercialized version of a kit developed and produced by [BMUG, the Berkeley Macintosh Users Group](/source/Berkeley_Macintosh_Users_Group) in 1986.[1][2][3][4]

- The StarController, a line of LocalTalk and Ethernet bridges and switches released in 1988 which integrated directly with EIA-TIA 568A/B structured cabling systems.[5]

- EtherWave, an [ADB](/source/Apple_Desktop_Bus)-powered serial-to-ethernet bridge in a [dongle](/source/Dongle) form-factor which looked something like a manta ray. The two external ports were [10BASE-T](/source/10BASE-T) and the serial pigtail spoke an [overclocked](/source/Overclocking) 690 kbps version of [LocalTalk](/source/LocalTalk). This served both to allow devices without expansion busses (commonly early [Macintosh](/source/Macintosh#1984–90:_Desktop_publishing) computers and [LaserWriter](/source/LaserWriter) printers) to connect directly to Ethernet networks, and also to allow the daisy-chaining of multiple devices from a single Ethernet switch or bridge port.[6][7][8][9][10] Later versions used Apple's "AAUI" version of the Attachment Unit Interface to achieve full 10 mbps host connections.[11]

- AirDock, a Serial-to-IrDA gateway which allowed devices with LocalTalk ports to communicate on IrDA infrared wireless networks.

Netopia acquired multiple companies in the home networking space including Cayman and DoBox, Inc.[12] DoBox, Inc., founded by Nicole Toomey Davis, Bradley Davis and Matt Smith, was acquired in 2002 [13] for its award-winning[14] DoBox Family Firewall and Home Server Gateway.[15]

## History

Farallon Computing was founded in 1986 in [Berkeley](/source/Berkeley%2C_California). It subsequently moved its headquarters to [Emeryville](/source/Emeryville%2C_California), [California](/source/California), and later still changed its name to Netopia in 1998.[*[citation needed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)*]

Netopia was acquired by [Motorola](/source/Motorola) in the first quarter of 2007 for about $208 million.[16]

ISPs known to use Netopia modems include:

- [AT&T](/source/AT%26T) in the United States

- [Sonic.net](/source/Sonic.net) in the United States

- [Covad](/source/Covad) in the United States

- [eircom](/source/Eircom) in Ireland

- [Swisscom](/source/Swisscom) in Switzerland

- [NextGenTel](/source/NextGenTel) in Norway

- [France Télécom](/source/France_T%C3%A9l%C3%A9com), Cegetel RSS, B3G Telecom, Nerim, [Easynet](/source/Easynet), [Claranet](/source/Claranet), [Magic Online](https://www.magic.fr/) in France

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** ["PhoneNET User's Guide"](http://www.applefool.com/se30/files/Farallon-Phonenet.pdf) (PDF). Farallon Computing. 1986.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** ["Farallon PhoneNET"](https://wiki.preterhuman.net/Farallon_PhoneNET). *Vintage Computing Wiki*. Retrieved 23 November 2021.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** [US Expired 5003579A](https://worldwide.espacenet.com/textdoc?DB=EPODOC&IDX=US5003579A), Reese M. Jones, "System for connecting computers via telephone lines", published 1991-03-26, issued 1991-03-26

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** ["BMUG Lab in UCB Eshleman Hall"](http://32by32.com/bmug-lab-in-ucb-eshleman-hall/). 32by32. 4 March 1986.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** ["Farallon PhoneNET StarController"](https://wiki.preterhuman.net/Farallon_PhoneNET_StarController). *Vintage Computing Wiki*.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** Knight, Daniel (17 June 2014). ["Farallon EtherWave FAQ"](https://lowendmac.com/2014/farallon-etherwave-faq/). LowEndMac.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** ["EtherWave Adapters"](https://web.archive.org/web/20000817051243/http://www.farallon.com/products/ether/adapters/ewmprad.html). Farallon, a division of Proxim. 17 August 2000. Archived from [the original](http://www.farallon.com/products/ether/adapters/ewmprad.html) on 2000-08-17.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-8)** Mk.558. ["Classic Mac Networking"](http://www.applefool.com/se30/). Retrieved 23 November 2021.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-9)** ["AirDock with Open Transport"](https://web.archive.org/web/19980524084255/http://www.farallon.com/product/infrared/AirDockOT.html). Farallon. 24 May 1998. Archived from [the original](http://www.farallon.com/product/infrared/AirDockOT.html) on 1998-05-24.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-10)** ["Farallon AirDock"](https://wiki.preterhuman.net/Farallon_AirDock). Vintage Computer Wiki. Retrieved 23 November 2021.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-11)** ["Farallon EtherWave AAUI Transceiver"](https://wiki.preterhuman.net/Farallon_EtherWave_AAUI_Transceiver). *Vintage Computing Wiki*. Retrieved 23 November 2021.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-12)** ["DoBox"](https://web.archive.org/web/20010412103514/http://dobox2.webpipe.net:80/). 2001-04-12. Archived from [the original](http://dobox2.webpipe.net:80/) on 2001-04-12. Retrieved 2022-03-30.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-13)** ["Netopia acquires DoBox"](https://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/stories/2002/04/01/daily4.html). *www.bizjournals.com*. April 1, 2002. Retrieved 2022-03-30.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-14)** Hearst Magazines (April 1, 2002). [*Popular Mechanics*](https://books.google.com/books?id=MtMDAAAAMBAJ&dq=popular+mechanics+dobox+Editor%27s+Choice+Award&pg=PA86). Hearst Magazines. p. 86.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-15)** ["Utah-based DoBox wins coveted award in Vegas"](https://www.deseret.com/2002/1/18/19632163/utah-based-dobox-wins-coveted-award-in-vegas). *Deseret News*. 2002-01-18. Retrieved 2022-03-30.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-16)** Gardner, W. David (November 14, 2006). ["Motorola Acquires Netopia To Beef Up Its Connected Home Strategy"](https://web.archive.org/web/20140106185937/http://www.informationweek.com/motorola-acquires-netopia-to-beef-up-its-connected-home-strategy/d/d-id/1048846). *Information Week*. Archived from [the original](http://www.informationweek.com/motorola-acquires-netopia-to-beef-up-its-connected-home-strategy/d/d-id/1048846) on January 6, 2014.

## External links

- [Official website](https://web.archive.org/web/20050913204557/http://www.netopia.com/) at the [Wayback Machine](/source/Wayback_Machine) (archived 2005-09-13)

- [Official website (Farallon)](https://web.archive.org/web/19971210193714/http://www.farallon.com/) at the [Wayback Machine](/source/Wayback_Machine) (archived 1997-12-10)

- ["Douglas Menuez Photography Collection - Farallon Computing"](https://exhibits.stanford.edu/menuez/browse/farallon-computing?per_page=50). *exhibits.stanford.edu*.

- [Netopia financial news from Google Finance](https://www.google.com/finance/?cid=659020)

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Netopia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netopia) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netopia?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.