Top 10 Biggest Networking Companies That No Longer Exist | Nortel, Lucent, 3Com, Brocade & More

From the birth of Ethernet to the rise of enterprise networking, many of the companies that shaped today’s IT landscape are now gone. In this episode of IT SPARC Cast Top 10, John Barger and Lou Schmidt count down the Top 10 Biggest Networking Companies That No Longer Exist, exploring the innovations, acquisitions, successes, and mistakes that changed the networking industry forever.

Whether you worked for one of these companies, competed against them, or simply love networking history, this episode is packed with stories, industry insights, and behind-the-scenes perspectives from two veterans with decades of enterprise networking experience.

Chapters

00:00 – Intro

Top 10 Biggest Networking Companies That No Longer Exist

02:18 – #10 – Proteon Corporation

How one of the early networking pioneers helped shape LAN technology before fading into history.

05:47 – #9 – SynOptics Communications

The company behind groundbreaking Ethernet innovations and the merger that created Bay Networks.

07:19 – #8 – Wellfleet Communications

A routing powerhouse whose technology influenced enterprise networking for years.

11:49 – #7 – Foundry Networks