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USR was one of the first companies to offer high-speed dialup modems for personal computers, inventing its proprietary HST (High-Speed Transfer) protocol as a less-expensive alternative to the industry-standard v.32 family of protocols. Its later Courier Dual Standard modems were popular among BBS operators for a variety of reasons. USR sold its modems to BBS sysops at a significant discount, but even with the discounts, the modems were still expensive. The main draw for the modems was their ability to use both the HST and v.32 protocols, making them compatible with any modem from any manufacturer without having to step down to 2400 bit/s. USR modems also developed a reputation for reliability. Many BBSs would advertise their use of USR modems at logon.
In its modems that ran faster than 14.4 kbit/s, USR used industry-standard protocols. Increased availability of inexpensive v.32 modems in the early 1990s from companies such as Zoom Telephonics made HST a liability.
Later, when 56 kbit/s modems were introduced, USR again went its own direction, with its X2 technology battling rival K56flex before the creation of a formal 56K standard. Once again, after the V.90 industry standard became available, USR abandoned its proprietary protocol.
USR had two major product lines. The Courier modems were aimed at BBS operators and businesses, who were generally willing to pay a higher price in exchange for the promise of greater reliability and performance. The less-expensive Sportster line, introduced later, was aimed at consumers. Thanks to its reputation, USR was able to position itself as a premium brand, and it eventually unseated Hayes Communications as the market leader. In a further effort to reduce the retail price of its modems, USR was one of the first companies to market a Winmodem.
After acquiring Palm, Inc., inventors of the Palm Pilot in 1995, it was in turn acquired by and became a subsidiary of 3Com Corporation in June 19971997 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar), and was designated the International Year of the Reef''. Events January January 3 NBC's Today Show Bryant Gumbel signs off for the last time January 8 Mister Rogers receives a star on t. Some think 3Com purchased USR to get the Palm technology, which was becoming popular.
USR was then recreated as a spin-off of 3Com Corporation in June 2000This page is about the year 2000. See 2000 AD for the UK comic book, Number 2000 for other uses. 2000 is a leap year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar), and also the International Year for a Culture of Peace''. Events Y2K passes without the seri as an independent company, assuming 3Com's entire client modem business, but minus the Palm portion, which itself had been spun off three months earlier. Other portions of the origional US Robotics remained in 3Com as the CommWorks CorporationCommWorks Corporation was the subsidiary of 3Com Corporation based in Rolling Meadows, Illinois and sold to UTStarcom, Inc. of Alameda, California in 2003. Many of the remaining employees of US Robotics were transfered with its sale to UTStarcom. Products. US Robotics then quickly built up its device portfolio, and today makes not only traditional dial-up modems, but also wired and wireless networking components including Ethernet switches, gateways/routers, and wireless access points.
With modems more of a commodity item today than they were in the 1980s and 1990s, the USR brand no longer carries the mystique it once did. Like other modem companies, it sells more Winmodems than anything else. However, its Performance Pro line is one of the handful of controller-based modems still on the market that are universally compatible with operating systems other than Microsoft WindowsImage use policy. Microsoft Windows is a range of commercial operating environments for personal computers. The range was first introduced by Microsoft in 1985 and eventually has come to dominate the world personal computer market. All recent versions of. As a result, USR—or at least the USR Performance Pro line—is still held in regard by computer professionals and users of the LinuxThis article is about Linux-based operating systems, GNU/Linux, and related topics. See Linux kernel for the kernel itself. See Linux (washing powder) for the Swiss brand of washing powder. Tux, a plump penguin, is the official Linux mascot Linux is the n operating system.