Thomas-Conrad

Thomas-Conrad Corporation was founded by Walter Thomas Thirion and Scott Conrad Johnson in Austin, Texas, in 1985. Before founding the company, Johnson had practiced internal medicine at the Cleveland Clinic in the 1970s,{{cite journal | last=Cowles | first=Ginger | date=August 13, 2002 | url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A90337134/GPS?u=wikipedia&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=15c1d920 | title=Former physician is at home in high technology | journal=Austin American-Statesman | page=C2 | via=Gale}} while Thirion had been pursuing a doctorate in nuclear physics. Both had met each other while working for a networking hardware company in the late 1980s. This company went bankrupt and liquidated in around 1984, prompting the duo to found Thomas-Conrad in 1985. The founders derived the name of the company from each of their middle names.{{cite journal | last=Brambert | first=Dave | date=September 1992 | url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A12535783/GPS?u=wikipedia&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=84461420 | title=Walt Thirion: Chief Executive Officer, Thomas-Conrad | journal=LAN | publisher=UBM LLC | volume=7 | issue=9 | page=28 et seq | via=Gale}}

After investing $1,000 into the start-up of Thomas-Conrad, the duo leveraged a pre-existing networking product they had developed to fulfill a client contract at their older employer. The proceeds from this contract was later invested back into the company as capital to develop original hardware. After about a year, the company introduced its first product to the market, which was a commercial success and provided the foundation for the company's later hardware.{{cite journal | last=Green | first=Tim | date=September 17, 1990 | url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A8923586/GPS?u=wikipedia&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=5be0cf95 | title=Thomas-Conrad Plugs into Growing Market | journal=Austin Business Journal | volume=10 | issue=30 | pages=11 et seq | via=Gale}} Within a year or two company hired a secretary as its first employee.{{cite journal | last=Windle | first=Rickie | date=March 23, 1992 | url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A12115792/GPS?u=wikipedia&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=0b56d4c8 | title=Inc. 500 Companies Reveal Success Secrets | journal=Austin Business Journal | volume=12 | issue=5 | pages=1 et seq | via=Gale}} Thirion's wife Lorraine was later hired as Thomas-Conrad's bookkeeper; she was eventually promoted to the vice president of marketing and the director of human resources.{{cite journal | last=Ladendorf | first=Kirk | date=June 29, 1993 | url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/austin-american-statesman-tech-firm-adds/167500072/ | title=Tech firm adds duo to its board | journal=Austin American-Statesman | page=E1 | via=Newspapers.com}}

By September 1990, the company had between 175 and 200 employees and was the second-largest manufacturer of high-speed local area networking equipment. Its growth was facilitated entirely without venture capital nor private equity, its founders keeping eschewing an IPO in favor of keeping the company private. By 1992, Thomas-Conrad's hardware roster included hubs, routers, switches, NICs, and other products for networks based on Ethernet, Token Ring, and ARCNET. It also developed and marketed a network management software package called the Sectra Network Management System.{{cite journal | last=Staff writer | date=January 1994 | url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A14822039/GPS?u=wikipedia&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=74ffb9bb | title=Thomas-Conrad's Sectra hub and NMS: delivering the details that often elude | journal=LAN | publisher=UBM LLC | volume=9 | issue=1 | pages=18 et seq | via=Gale}} In June 1990, the company introduced a proprietary token bus network technology called Thomas Conrad Networking System (TCNS) that was marketed as a low-cost alternative to Fiber Distributed Data Interface (FDDI). The company's innagural TCNS hub had a data transfer rate of 100 MB/s.{{cite journal | last=Briedenbach | first=Susan | date=June 11, 1990 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XB0EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA22 | title=TCNS token-bus network a low-cost option to FDDI | journal=Network World | publisher=IDG Publications | volume=7 | issue=24 | page=22 | via=Google Books}} Newer implementations of TCNS continued to be developed into at least 1994.

The company experienced high executive churn between the fall and summer of 1993,{{cite journal | last=Loudermilk | first=Stephen | date=September 13, 1993 | url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A14367194/GPS?u=wikipedia&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=fb1364fa | title=Exodus fails to slow Thomas-Conrad: Adapter firm posts positive numbers despite departures | journal=PC Week | publisher=Ziff-Davis | volume=10 | issue=36 | page=171 | via=Gale}} punctuated by the hiring of Rod Canion, the co-founder of Compaq, and John Gribi, formerly Compaq's chief financial officer, to Thomas-Conrad's board of directors in June 1993.{{cite journal | last=Patch | first=Kimberly | date=June 28, 1993 | url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A13989917/GPS?u=wikipedia&sid=bookmark-GPS&xid=0324c7c4 | title=Canion resurfaces, now at Thomas-Conrad: New board member for networking firm | journal=PC Week | publisher=Ziff-Davis | volume=10 | issue=25 | page=6 | via=Gale}} Canion's position at Thomas-Conrad was his second at technology company since his widely publicized ouster at Compaq in 1991; following his departure from Compaq, he founded a small technology consulting company in Houston. Following their hiring of these Compaq veterans, Thomas-Conrad began an initiative to ramp up production of Ethernet and Token Ring products to attack the low-end of the high-speed LAN market, primairly aiming to cut into IBM's market share (IBM were the progenitors of Token Ring). As well, the company continued to compete with FDDI's dominance in wide area networks with TCNS.

Employment at Thomas-Conrad peaked at 220 employees in 1995, while monthly output of circuit boards peaked at 100,000 circuit boards in the same year.{{cite journal | last=Ladendorf | first=Kirk | date=October 19, 1995 | url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/austin-american-statesman-compaq-to-acqu/167500093/ | title=Compaq to acquire Austin firm | journal=Austin American-Statesman | page=C1, [https://www.newspapers.com/article/austin-american-statesman-compaq-to-acqu/167500123/ C8] | via=Newspapers.com}}{{rp|C8}} In the summer of 1995, the company moved from an over 44,000-square-foot office in north Austin to a 150,000-square-foot office closer to the heart of Austin.{{rp|C8}} Around this time, Thomas-Conrad began talks with Compaq that year to supply the latter with networking technology that year. These conversations eventually led Compaq to acquire Thomas-Conrad for an undisclosed amount in October 1995 (this amount rumored to be US$15 million).{{rp|C1}} This was Compaq's first-ever acquisition of an entire company; the company had heretofore depended on joint ventures and co-marketing agreements.{{cite journal | last=Staff writer | date=November 7, 1995 | url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/fort-worth-star-telegram-compaq-intends/168478845/ | title=Compaq intends to purchase NetWorth | journal=Fort Worth Star-Telegram | page=B3 | via=Newspapers.com}} Following the acquisition, the Thomas-Conrad name was dropped, and its assets were absorbed into Compaq's networking division.{{rp|C1}}{{cite journal | last=Templin | first=Neal | date=November 7, 1995 | url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/398641165/ | title=Compaq agrees to acquire NetWorth in move to expand network business | journal=The Wall Street Journal | publisher=Dow Jones & Company | page=B6 | via=ProQuest}}

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Category:1985 establishments in Texas

Category:1995 disestablishments in Texas

Category:American companies established in 1985

Category:American companies disestablished in 1995

Category:Computer companies established in 1985

Category:Computer companies disestablished in 1995

Category:Compaq acquisitions

Category:Defunct computer companies of the United States

Category:Defunct software companies of the United States

Category:Defunct networking companies

Category:Networking companies of the United States

Category:Networking hardware companies

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