U.S. Robotics
NAS Recovery - U.S. Robotics
U.S. Robotics (USR) is an Illinois-based manufacturer of computer modems and related products. The company was founded in 1976 by a group of entrepreneurs. One of the founder members, Casey Cowell, served as the company CEO for most of the company history.
USR became popular in 1980s owing to their high-speed modems. It was one of the many companies to offer dial-up modems for personal computers. However, as the use of voiceband modems dropped from the early 21st century, USR lost its presence in the market. It is now one of the very few such companies left in the market.
Product Development
A significant milestone in USR’s history is the development of High-Speed Transfer (HST) protocol in 1986. HST operated at 9600 bits per second. Later it was expanded subsequently to 14.4 kilobits/sec., 16.8 kilobits/sec., and finally to 21 kilobits /sec. and 24 kilobits /sec.
With HST, USR dominated the market even when off-brand V.32-based modems began selling for cheaper price. USR also maintained its leading position by creating slightly faster HST protocols and dual standard modems that were able to communicate with both HST and V.32 modems at high speeds.
Based on their support for HST and V.32, USR differentiated its products as high-end and low-end product lines. For example, the low-end Sportster models supported only the V.32 modes while its high-end Courier models supported both V.32 and HST. The Courier modems were designed for the BBS and Internet Service Provider market where they could run without problem for extended periods of time.
