U.S. Robotics
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- USR redirects here. For the Unix directory, see /usr.
U.S. Robotics (popularly nicknamed USR), based in Schaumburg, Illinois and founded in 1976, is a company that makes computer modems and related technologies.
History
USR was one of the first companies to offer high-speed dialup modems for personal computers. Prior to the development of the high-speed standards such as the v.32 family of protocols, in 1986 USR introduced its own HST (High-Speed Transfer) protocol that operated at 9600 bps. In 1989 HST was expanded to 14.4 kbs, 16.8 kbps in 1992 and finally 21 kbps/24 kbps as phone lines improved and the system was adapted to use more bandwidth.
USR was not the only company making propietary high-speed modems; Telebit's TrailBlazer series offered speeds up to 19.2 kbps even in its first model, and Hayes eventually responded to USR and TeleBit by introducing their own 9600 bps Express 96 (or "Ping-Pong") system. However, USR became the most popular of the three, by far, due to a clever marketting scheme that offered large discounts to BBS sysops. This was an extremely attractive deal, as it allowed large long-distance file transfers, such as FidoNet packets, to be exchanged far more quickly. Of course end users wanting to take advantage of these higher speeds would invariably have to turn to USR in order to be compatible. In contrast, TeleBit became very popular in the Unix world through their ability to "spoof" the UUCP protocol to greatly improve transfers, while the Hayes system never became popular.
The proprietary nature of HST allowed USR to maintain its market dominance even when off-brand v.32-based modems began selling for less than an equivalent HST modems. As the price differential increased, however, v.32-based modems eventually became a popular and viable alternative to HST. Even still, US Robotics maintained its popularity and prestige by such tactics as creating slightly faster HST protocols (in particular, a 16.8 kbps mode), by maintaining its mystique of exceptional quality, and by producing "dual standard" modems which were able to communicate with both HST and v.32 modems at high speeds.
During this period they differentiated their high and low-end product lines by supporting only the v.32 modes on their low-end Sportster models, while their high-end Courier models supported v.32, HST, or both in the Courier Dual Standard models. The Courier remained a favourite in the BBS and emerging ISP world, where they were known to run without problem for extended periods of time.
Later, when 56 kbit/s modems were introduced, USR again went its own direction, with its X2 technology battling rival K56flex before the creation of a formal 56K standard. Once again, after the V.90 industry standard became available, USR abandoned its proprietary protocol. In a further effort to reduce the retail price of its modems, USR was one of the first companies to market a Winmodem.
After acquiring Palm, Inc., inventors of the Palm Pilot in 1995, it was in turn acquired by and became a subsidiary of 3Com Corporation in June 1997.
USR was then recreated as a spin-off of 3Com Corporation in June 2000 as an independent company, assuming 3Com's entire client modem business, but minus the Palm portion, which itself had been spun off three months earlier. Other portions of the original U.S. Robotics remained in 3Com as the CommWorks Corporation. U.S. Robotics then quickly built up its device portfolio, and today makes not only traditional dial-up modems, but also wired and wireless networking components including Ethernet switches, gateways/routers, and wireless access points.
With modems more of a commodity item today than they were in the 1980s and 1990s, the USR brand no longer carries the mystique it once did. Like other modem companies, it sells more Winmodems than anything else. However, its Performance Pro line is one of the handful of controller-based modems still on the market that are universally compatible with operating systems other than Microsoft Windows. As a result, USR—or at least the USR Performance Pro line—is still held in regard by computer professionals and users of the Linux operating system.
Trivia
The name for the company is a reference to Isaac Asimov, who is widely credited with inventing the term robotics, and whose Robot stories featured a fictional company named U.S. Robots and Mechanical Men. The 2004 Will Smith movie I, Robot, loosely based on Asimov's works and set in Chicago, uses U.S. Robotics as the name of the fictional robot manufacturer. The film's U.S. Robotics corporate logo resembles a former real-life USR logo.