Early History
Dennis C. Hayes left the Georgia Institute of Technology in the mid-1970s to work at an early data communications company, National Data Corp, a company that handled electronic money transfers and credit card authorizations. Hayes' job was to set up modem connections for NDC's customers.
At the time, modems generally came in two "flavors", one for the end-user that required the user to dial the phone manually and use an acoustic coupler for connection, and another dedicated to answering incoming calls that was intended for use on the minicomputer or mainframe the user was calling. No single modem offered all of these features, at least not at a price-point that would be attractive to non-business users.
Hayes was a computer hobbyist, and felt that modems would be highly compelling to users of what would soon be known as home computers. However, existing modems were simply too expensive and difficult to use or be practical for most users. What was needed was a single modem that could "do it all"; connect directly to the phone, answer incoming calls, dial numbers to initiate outgoing calls and hang up when the call was complete.
The main problem with producing such a modem was forwarding commands from the computer. This could be addressed in internal modems that plugged directly into the computer's motherboard. Such modems had access to the computer's main memory, and by dedicating certain memory locations (or registers) to various status readouts or commands, software programs running on the computer could control the modem. This was a straightforward and thus a popular solution; the Novation APPLE-CAT II for the Apple II computer was an early programmable modem of this type.
Hayes started producing similar products at a "hobby level" in his kitchen in April 1977 with his friend and co-worker, Dale Heatherington. Their first product was the 80-103A, a 300 bit/s Bell 103-compatible design for S-100 bus machines. Business picked up quickly, and in January 1978 they quit their jobs at National Data to form their own company, D.C. Hayes Associates.
Sales were further improved in early 1979 with the introduction of the 300 bit/s Micromodem 100 for S-100 bus computers and the Micromodem II for the Apple II that used an external "microcoupler" to connect to telephone lines. In 1980 the company changed its name to Hayes Microcomputer Products, under which it operated for most of its history.
Read more about this topic: Hayes Microcomputer Products
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