Editing Digital Equipment Corporation (section)

=== Networking ===
* DEC, [[Intel]] and [[Xerox]], through their collaboration to create the DIX standard, were champions of [[Ethernet]], but DEC is the company that made Ethernet commercially successful. Initially, Ethernet-based DECnet and [[Local Area Transport|LAT]] protocols interconnected VAXes with [[DECserver]] [[terminal server]]s. Starting with the [[Unibus]] to Ethernet adapter, multiple generations of Ethernet hardware from DEC were the de facto standard. The CI "computer interconnect" adapter was the industry's first network interface controller to use separate transmit and receive "rings".
* DEC also invented [[Computer cluster|clustering]], an operating system technology that treated multiple machines as one logical entity. Clustering permitted sharing of pooled disk and tape storage via the HSC50/70/90 and later series of Hierarchical Storage Controllers (HSC). The HSCs delivered the first hardware [[RAID 0]] and [[RAID 1]] capabilities and the first serial interconnects of multiple storage technologies. This technology was the forerunner to architectures such as [[Network of Workstations]], which are used for massively cooperative tasks such as web searches and drug research.
* The [[X Window System]] is the network transparent window system used on [[Unix]] and [[Linux]] and available on other operating systems such as [[MacOS]]. It was developed at [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology|MIT]] jointly between [[Project Athena]] and the [[Laboratory for Computer Science]]. DEC was the primary sponsor for the project, which was a contemporary of the [[GNU Project]] but not associated with it.
* In the period 1994–99 [[Linus Torvalds]] developed versions of Linux on early [[AlphaServer]] systems provided by the engineering department.{{Disputed inline|Linux_not_DEC-accomplishment|date=August 2014}} Compaq software engineers developed special Linux kernel modules.<ref>{{cite press release|url=http://www.informatica.co.cr/linux/research/1999/0302-a.htm|title=Compaq Offers Linux-ready ProLiant Servers, AlphaServers and Professional Workstations|publisher=[[Compaq]]|date=March 2, 1999|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140812183609/http://www.informatica.co.cr/linux/research/1999/0302-a.htm|archive-date=August 12, 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref> A well-known [[Linux distribution]] that ran on AlphaServer systems was [[Red Hat]] 7.2.<ref>{{cite press release|url=http://www.informatica.co.cr/linux/research/2002/0108.htm|title=Red Hat and Compaq Announce Port of Red Hat Linux 7.2 to Compaq's Alpha Processors|publisher=[[Red Hat]]|date=January 8, 2002|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140812183611/http://www.informatica.co.cr/linux/research/2002/0108.htm|archive-date=August 12, 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref> Another distribution that ran on Alpha was [[Gentoo Linux]].
* DEC was one of the first businesses connected to the Internet, with ''dec.com'', registered in 1985,<ref>{{cite web |date=January 30, 1998 |title=dec.com |url=https://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/people/gbell/Digital/timeline/1985-6.htm |access-date=September 6, 2022 |work=DIGITAL Computing Timeline}}</ref> being one of the first of the now ubiquitous ''.com'' domains. DEC's ''gatekeeper.dec.com'' was a well-known [[software repository]] during the pre-[[World Wide Web]] days, and DEC was also the first computer vendor to open a public website, on October 1, 1993.<ref>{{Cite web|title=LISTSERV 16.5 - Archives - Error|url=https://listserv.buffalo.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind9402&L=dectei-l&T=0&P=200|access-date=February 18, 2021|website=listserv.buffalo.edu|archive-date=June 12, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210612055442/https://listserv.buffalo.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind9402&L=dectei-l&T=0&P=200|url-status=dead}}</ref> The popular [[AltaVista]], created by DEC, was one of the first comprehensive Internet [[search engine]]s. (Although [[Lycos]] was earlier, it was much more limited.)
* DEC once held the [[Classful network|Class A]] [[IP address]] block 16.0.0.0/8.