behind the towers

Mark Strangio was hired by Dick Kendrick in the spring, 1987. His initial assignment was to create Wellfleet’s first marketing collateral – a company brochure, product brochures and data sheets for the company’s initial products, the Link Node (LN) and Concentrator Node (CN). Mark was an accomplished marketing executive with Codex (the first of the Continue reading

We found the building where we decided to initiate Wellfleet operations in June, 1986. It was a 9,600 sq ft office building on one floor in a small industrial park in Bedford, Massachusetts. The address was 12 De Angelo Drive, then occupied by an MIT human resources group affiliated with Lincoln Labs which was based Continue reading

Steve and I spent practically all of our time in May, 1986, working on the product idea and development plan. It was a daunting task primarily because we had little insight into the product market. Conceptually, we were comfortable with what we wanted the product to do, but we had no idea what price customers Continue reading

The first engineers started in September, 1986, the last beginning in the spring of 1987. The initial task was to create a system architecture around which the hardware and software would be designed. I had discussed this idea with Paul Severino (“the Sev”), the CEO, at some length because we did not launch InterLAN with Continue reading

During the winter of 1987, we interviewed candidates for the Vice President, Sales and Marketing. Dave and Paul took the lead, of course, but Steve and I got a few minutes with each one. It was clear to all that we needed to hear the voice of our prospective customers for the usual reason. Who Continue reading

The summer of 1986 was the time that recruiting the engineering team became urgent. Steve Willis and I realized in late May that we had neglected to even begin the process of finding the core group of engineers that we needed – hardware designers, communications protocol experts, software developers, and technician talent. I was keenly Continue reading

making ethernet a reality Before there was Wellfleet Communications, the founders had all been at InterLAN, Inc. InterLAN was a pioneering manufacturer of Ethernet controller boards, transport and application software, network device servers, transmission components, and cabling. In my view, our experiences at InterLAN proved invaluable in the creation and growth of Wellfleet. InterLAN was Continue reading

the founding of Wellfleet Communications The five founders of Wellfleet – Paul Severino, David Rowe, Bill Seifert (me), Steve Willis, and Jennifer Lamonaikis – had all worked with one another at InterLAN at its original offices in Chelmsford, MA beginning in 1981. Following the acquisition of InterLAN by Micom Systems in early 1985, many of Continue reading

The founders of Wellfleet Communications – Paul, Jennifer, me, Dave, and Steve below – were all early employees of InterLAN, importantly Wellfleet’s predecessor and one of Ethernet’s pioneer proponents. Wellfleet was not our first rodeo. I first met Paul Severino during the summer of 1980. I was a systems engineer with DEC’s Microcomputer Products Line Continue reading

theme Stories about the people who made Wellfleet Communications, the best technology startup, ever. synopsis Few people today have heard the name “Wellfleet Communications”, and likely fewer are familiar with the role that Wellfeet played in the development of router technology that has given us today’s Internet. The purpose of this blog is to provide Continue reading