network address translation, the technology that permits the vast majority of computers to access the internet without a public IP, was invented in 1994 by a company called "Network Translation, Inc." I assumed it just fell out of the sky and materialized in an RFC, but no, it was a proprietary product.
the obvious follow-on assumption is, "when cisco started shipping NAT devices, these people would have panicked, then spent a decade on a sisyphean series of lawsuits as they watched their sole value to the market get eaten by a megacorporation - unless they got bought, which is definitely what happened."
Just 10 days after starting a job at a Palo Alto networking startup, Cisco Systems bought out the firm for roughly $30 million. Hawkins, 36, one of just 10 employees at Network Translation, ended up with $100,000 in stock, which would be worth roughly $2 million if he still held it today.
notice the name of their product: Private Internet Exchange, or PIX. man. cisco really never invented anything of their own, did they?
(also it looks like someone did a thorough documentary of this on the you'd tube that might be worth watching)
