Editing Digital Equipment Corporation (section)

=== Networking and clusters (1984) ===
In 1984, DEC launched its first 10&nbsp;Mbit/s [[Ethernet]]. Ethernet allowed scalable networking, and [[VAXcluster]] allowed scalable computing. Combined with [[DECnet]] and Ethernet-based terminal servers ([[Local Area Transport|LAT]]), DEC had produced a networked storage architecture which allowed them to compete directly with IBM. Ethernet replaced [[Token Ring]], and went on to become the dominant networking model in use today.

In September 1985, DEC became the [[List of the oldest currently registered Internet domain names|fifth company to register]] a [[.com]] [[domain name]] (dec.com).

Along with the hardware and protocols, DEC also introduced the [[VAXcluster]] concept, which allowed several VAX machines to be tied together into a single larger storage system. VAXclusters allowed a DEC-based company to scale their services by adding new machines to the cluster at any time, as opposed to buying a faster machine and using that to replace a slower one. The flexibility this offered was compelling, and allowed DEC to attack high-end markets formerly out of their reach.