InterCon Systems Corporation
Encyclopedia
InterCon Systems Corporation (a Virginia
Corporation) was founded in April 1988 by Kurt D. Baumann and Mikki Barry to produce software to connect Macintosh
computers to other computers. At the time, there was no real concept of the Internet
and there was still a question of whether the TCP/IP protocols or OSI protocols
would be adopted widely. Over the next 9 years, the company grew from three employees to over 100 and sold software in the US, Europe
and Japan
.
In June 1995, InterCon was acquired by PSINet
and continued to sell and maintain its suite of TCP/IP software.
In February 1996, PSINet merged InterCon with Software Ventures (another Macintosh communication software company).
In February 1997, InterCon's engineering group and its products were sold to Ascend Communications
.
), and an email product. Unfortunately, the licensing for the email product fell through in negotiations, so it was never sold, and InterCon would have to wait a few more years (until TCP/Connect II) before it could provide email to customers.
in August 1988, the product provided the same features as NCSA Telnet
, with commercial technical support as its only significant added benefit. This was to change rapidly over the next few months, and by October of that year, InterCon was showing the product at the first InterOp Expo with new features including a graphical FTP Client (one of the first on the Macintosh) and IBM 3270 emulation.
Over the next few years, InterCon added more terminal emulation and file transfer capabilities to the product, but no other major protocols until the product was replaced with a significant rewrite: TCP/Connect II.
product from 1990 until 1995. Although TCP/Connect was primarily a terminal emulation and file transfer program, TCP/Connect II branched out into a full-fledged internet suite. At introduction, it featured email and network news reader support along with additional terminal emulations in addition to the already-popular IBM 3270, and DEC VT-240 emulations.
Over the next 5 years, the product evolved quickly and kept or set the pace for many advanced features, including embedded graphics and multimedia content in email; advanced email automation, filtering, and highlighting; a high-speed web browser; a gopher client; and many minor features and protocols.
After the introduction of InterCon's web browser in TCP/Connect II, AOL
licensed the browser in 1995 for use with their dial-up networking services. In order to separate the browser from the rest of the suite, it was dubbed WebShark.
's line of UNIX
servers. NFS/Share's adoption mirrored that popularity, finding a home in many educational institutions and pre-press environments.
NFS/Share used many techniques to increase performance and provide a smooth experience for users, as such providing some of the best performance in the marketplace.
for use with their Macintosh clients to provide access to the web. A rebranded WebShark similarly shipped as Apple's eWorld
Web Browser.
.
printers connected over TCP/IP networks. Mostly used in corporate and prepress environments, the product integrated directly into Apple's printer architecture.
Network Monitoring System
developed for the Macintosh computer Developed by GBP Software (now ClueTrust) and published and sold by InterCon starting in 1990, WatchTower was the first product of its kind on the Macintosh. Although it was never a high volume product (not surprising at a retail price of $2,495), it did represent the first monitor (and agent) for the Macintosh.
ese subsidiary, IIKK and partnered with AT&T JENS (a subsidiary of AT&T) to create one of the first commercial internet service providers in the country.
IIKK's first offices were in an old karaoke bar in Myogadani.
PSINet purchased the IIKK and it became the core of PSINet Japan.
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
Corporation) was founded in April 1988 by Kurt D. Baumann and Mikki Barry to produce software to connect Macintosh
Macintosh
The Macintosh , or Mac, is a series of several lines of personal computers designed, developed, and marketed by Apple Inc. The first Macintosh was introduced by Apple's then-chairman Steve Jobs on January 24, 1984; it was the first commercially successful personal computer to feature a mouse and a...
computers to other computers. At the time, there was no real concept of the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
and there was still a question of whether the TCP/IP protocols or OSI protocols
OSI protocols
The Open Systems Interconnection protocols are a family of information exchange standards developed jointly by the ISO and the ITU-T starting in 1977....
would be adopted widely. Over the next 9 years, the company grew from three employees to over 100 and sold software in the US, Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
and Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
.
In June 1995, InterCon was acquired by PSINet
PSINet
PSINet was one of the first internet service providers , based in Northern Virginia, and a major player in the commercialization of the Internet until the company's bankruptcy in 2001 during the dot-com bubble and acquisition by Cogent Communications in 2002.-Growth:PSINet was founded in 1989 by...
and continued to sell and maintain its suite of TCP/IP software.
In February 1996, PSINet merged InterCon with Software Ventures (another Macintosh communication software company).
In February 1997, InterCon's engineering group and its products were sold to Ascend Communications
Ascend Communications
Ascend Communications was an Alameda, California-based manufacturer of communications equipment that was later purchased by Lucent Technologies in 1999....
.
Products
In 1988, InterCon was pursuing two product lines, TCP/Connect (based originally on NCSA TelnetNCSA Telnet
NCSA Telnet is an implementation of the TELNET protocol created at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign National Center for Supercomputing Applications in 1986 and continuously developed until 1995...
), and an email product. Unfortunately, the licensing for the email product fell through in negotiations, so it was never sold, and InterCon would have to wait a few more years (until TCP/Connect II) before it could provide email to customers.
TCP/Connect
TCP/Connect was InterCon's flagship product. Launched at Macworld Conference & ExpoMacworld Conference & Expo
Produced by Boston-based IDG World Expo, Macworld | iWorld is a trade-show with conference tracks dedicated to the Apple Macintosh platform. It is held annually in the United States, usually during the second week of January...
in August 1988, the product provided the same features as NCSA Telnet
NCSA Telnet
NCSA Telnet is an implementation of the TELNET protocol created at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign National Center for Supercomputing Applications in 1986 and continuously developed until 1995...
, with commercial technical support as its only significant added benefit. This was to change rapidly over the next few months, and by October of that year, InterCon was showing the product at the first InterOp Expo with new features including a graphical FTP Client (one of the first on the Macintosh) and IBM 3270 emulation.
Over the next few years, InterCon added more terminal emulation and file transfer capabilities to the product, but no other major protocols until the product was replaced with a significant rewrite: TCP/Connect II.
TCP/Connect II
TCP/Connect II was to remain InterCon's flagshipFlagship
A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, reflecting the custom of its commander, characteristically a flag officer, flying a distinguishing flag...
product from 1990 until 1995. Although TCP/Connect was primarily a terminal emulation and file transfer program, TCP/Connect II branched out into a full-fledged internet suite. At introduction, it featured email and network news reader support along with additional terminal emulations in addition to the already-popular IBM 3270, and DEC VT-240 emulations.
Over the next 5 years, the product evolved quickly and kept or set the pace for many advanced features, including embedded graphics and multimedia content in email; advanced email automation, filtering, and highlighting; a high-speed web browser; a gopher client; and many minor features and protocols.
After the introduction of InterCon's web browser in TCP/Connect II, AOL
AOL
AOL Inc. is an American global Internet services and media company. AOL is headquartered at 770 Broadway in New York. Founded in 1983 as Control Video Corporation, it has franchised its services to companies in several nations around the world or set up international versions of its services...
licensed the browser in 1995 for use with their dial-up networking services. In order to separate the browser from the rest of the suite, it was dubbed WebShark.
tcpCONNECT4
tcpCONNECT4 (renamed from TCP/Connect II and with additional features) was a "do-everything suite of TCP/IP applications for Internet or intranet use" that was released in 1996 and had few changes before the company's sale to Ascend Communications.NFS/Share
NFS/Share was InterCon's second most popular product and provided high-performance access to file servers using the NFS protocol. NFS was used widely in educational environments because it was the key file sharing system for Sun MicrosystemsSun Microsystems
Sun Microsystems, Inc. was a company that sold :computers, computer components, :computer software, and :information technology services. Sun was founded on February 24, 1982...
's line of UNIX
Unix
Unix is a multitasking, multi-user computer operating system originally developed in 1969 by a group of AT&T employees at Bell Labs, including Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, Brian Kernighan, Douglas McIlroy, and Joe Ossanna...
servers. NFS/Share's adoption mirrored that popularity, finding a home in many educational institutions and pre-press environments.
NFS/Share used many techniques to increase performance and provide a smooth experience for users, as such providing some of the best performance in the marketplace.
Shark Series
In 1995, InterCon decided to more directly approach the consumer market with a series of "Shark" branded products; NetShark, WebShark, and MailShark. The products were directly derived from the source code for TCP/Connect II (or 4 at the time) and was missing the Terminal Emulation technology.NetShark
NetShark (and the derivative MailShark) was an internet suite product based on TCP/Connect but including only email and web clients. The slimmed-down version was aimed at consumers, but never really became a popular offering.MailShark
MailShark was created but never sold. It contained only the email portions of TCP/Connect.WebShark
WebShark contained only the web browser portion of TCP/Connect. WebShark was licensed by AOLAOL
AOL Inc. is an American global Internet services and media company. AOL is headquartered at 770 Broadway in New York. Founded in 1983 as Control Video Corporation, it has franchised its services to companies in several nations around the world or set up international versions of its services...
for use with their Macintosh clients to provide access to the web. A rebranded WebShark similarly shipped as Apple's eWorld
EWorld
eWorld was an online service operated by Apple Inc. between June 1994 and March 1996. The services included email , news, and a bulletin board system...
Web Browser.
InterPPP/InterSLIP
InterSLIP and InterPPP were software packages that enabled Macintosh users to communicate over TCP/IP using dial-up lines without having to use an embedded TCP/IP stack. These products worked with Apple's MacTCPMacTCP
MacTCP was the standard TCP/IP implementation for the Macintosh operating system through version 7.5.1. It was the first application-independent implementation of a TCP stack for a non-Unix platform and predates Winsock by over 5 years...
.
InterPrint
InterPrint was a printing product designed to allow Macintoshes to print to PostScriptPostScript
PostScript is a dynamically typed concatenative programming language created by John Warnock and Charles Geschke in 1982. It is best known for its use as a page description language in the electronic and desktop publishing areas. Adobe PostScript 3 is also the worldwide printing and imaging...
printers connected over TCP/IP networks. Mostly used in corporate and prepress environments, the product integrated directly into Apple's printer architecture.
InterServer Publisher
InterServer Publisher was a web server package designed to run in the background on a Macintosh.Planet X
Planet X was an X Window System client for Macintosh that allowed you to send the screen from your Macintosh as a window to any X Window System server. The product was developed by a third party and was marketed and sold by InterCon starting in 1991.WatchTower
WatchTower was the first SNMPSimple Network Management Protocol
Simple Network Management Protocol is an "Internet-standard protocol for managing devices on IP networks. Devices that typically support SNMP include routers, switches, servers, workstations, printers, modem racks, and more." It is used mostly in network management systems to monitor...
Network Monitoring System
Network monitoring
The term network monitoring describes the use of a system that constantly monitors a computer network for slow or failing components and that notifies the network administrator in case of outages...
developed for the Macintosh computer Developed by GBP Software (now ClueTrust) and published and sold by InterCon starting in 1990, WatchTower was the first product of its kind on the Macintosh. Although it was never a high volume product (not surprising at a retail price of $2,495), it did represent the first monitor (and agent) for the Macintosh.
IPv6 Participation
When the initial research for IPv6 was being done, InterCon participated by creating an implementation of the SIPP protocol running on the Macintosh as part of an experimental version of TCP/Connect II. Although SIPP wasn't adopted, this early effort confirmed the interest of Internet software vendors in creating IPv6-capable software.Internet Services in Japan (IIKK)
In 1992, InterCon saw the need to expand commercial internet services in Japan in order to bolster its position in the TCP/IP market there. To do this, the company created a JapanJapan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese subsidiary, IIKK and partnered with AT&T JENS (a subsidiary of AT&T) to create one of the first commercial internet service providers in the country.
IIKK's first offices were in an old karaoke bar in Myogadani.
PSINet purchased the IIKK and it became the core of PSINet Japan.