Airespace
Former American networking systems company
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Airespace, Inc., formerly Black Storm Networks, was a networking systems company founded in 2001, manufacturing wireless access points and controllers of the former. The company developed the AP-Controller model for fast deployment and the Lightweight Access Point Protocol, the precursor to the CAPWAP protocol.[1][2][3]
- Pat Calhoun
- Bob Friday
- Bob O'Hara
- Ajay Mishra
 | |
| Formerly | Black Storm Networks, Inc. |
|---|---|
| Industry | Computer networking |
| Founded | 2001 in San Jose, California |
| Founder |
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| Defunct | March 2005 |
| Fate | Acquired by Cisco Systems |
| Website | airespace.com at the Wayback Machine (archived 2004-04-13) |
Corporate history
Airespace was founded in 2001 by Pat Calhoun,[4] Bob Friday,[5] Bob O'Hara,[6]: 70 and Ajay Mishra.[7] The company was venture backed by Storm Ventures, Norwest Venture Partners, Fidelity Investments, and Battery Ventures.[8] In 2003, it entered into an agreement to provide OEM equipment to NEC.[9] In 2004 it signed an agreement with Alcatel and Nortel to provide equipment to the two companies on an OEM basis.[10][11]: 8
Airespace was first to market with integrated location tracking.[12] Within a year and a half, the company grew rapidly into the market leader of enterprise Wi-Fi.[13]
Cisco Systems acquired Airespace in 2005 for $450 million;[14] this was one of 13 acquisitions Cisco made that year and the largest up to that point.[15] Airespace products were merged into Cisco Aironet product line.[16]