Spider Systems
Encyclopedia
Spider Systems Ltd. was a computer network
products company, based in Edinburgh
, Scotland
. It was founded in 1983 by several former employees of ICL who had previously worked at ICL's Scottish Development Centre at Dalkeith Palace
until its closure earlier that year.
Spider Systems produced a wide range of products, including terminal server
s, routers, network bridges, network analysers
and network protocol software stacks for various operating systems, including the TCP/IP stack used in Microsoft
Windows NT 3.1
.
The company was acquired by Shiva Corporation
in 1995, becoming Shiva Europe Ltd. Shiva were themselves acquired by Intel in 1998, and Shiva Europe Ltd. was liquidated the following year.
The Spider brand was revived in 1996 when the network software division of the business was bought back from Shiva by one of the founders and renamed Spider Software Ltd.. This company was later sold to Artesyn Technologies (which subsequently became part of Emerson Electric Company
) in 2000. On 9 October 2008 Emerson started the process of closing down the former Spider Software Ltd site, and the office closed at the end of October 2009.
Computer network
A computer network, often simply referred to as a network, is a collection of hardware components and computers interconnected by communication channels that allow sharing of resources and information....
products company, based in Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
. It was founded in 1983 by several former employees of ICL who had previously worked at ICL's Scottish Development Centre at Dalkeith Palace
Dalkeith Palace
Dalkeith Palace in Dalkeith, Midlothian, Scotland, is the former seat of the Duke of Buccleuch.Dalkeith Castle was located to the north east of Dalkeith, and was originally in the hands of the Clan Graham in the 12th century and given to the Douglas family in the early 14th century. James Douglas...
until its closure earlier that year.
Spider Systems produced a wide range of products, including terminal server
Terminal server
A terminal server enables organizations to connect devices with an RS-232, RS-422 or RS-485 serial interface to a local area network . Products marketed as terminal servers can be very simple devices that do not offer any security functionality, such as data encryption and user authentication...
s, routers, network bridges, network analysers
Packet sniffer
A packet analyzer is a computer program or a piece of computer hardware that can intercept and log traffic passing over a digital network or part of a network...
and network protocol software stacks for various operating systems, including the TCP/IP stack used in Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
Windows NT 3.1
Windows NT 3.1
Windows NT 3.1 is the first release of Microsoft's Windows NT line of server and business desktop operating systems, and was released to manufacturing on 27 July 1993. The version number was chosen to match the one of Windows 3.1, the then-latest operating environment from Microsoft, on account of...
.
The company was acquired by Shiva Corporation
Shiva Corporation
Shiva Corporation was a company that specialized in computer networking and associated equipment, in particular remote access products. The company was founded in 1985, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States....
in 1995, becoming Shiva Europe Ltd. Shiva were themselves acquired by Intel in 1998, and Shiva Europe Ltd. was liquidated the following year.
The Spider brand was revived in 1996 when the network software division of the business was bought back from Shiva by one of the founders and renamed Spider Software Ltd.. This company was later sold to Artesyn Technologies (which subsequently became part of Emerson Electric Company
Emerson Electric Company
Emerson Electric Company is a major multinational corporation headquartered in Ferguson, Missouri, United States. This Fortune 500 company manufactures products and provides engineering services for a wide range of industrial, commercial, and consumer markets.Emerson is one of the largest...
) in 2000. On 9 October 2008 Emerson started the process of closing down the former Spider Software Ltd site, and the office closed at the end of October 2009.