Paradyne made data communications equipment for decades, first on its own and then as part of AT&T and Lucent. Then an investment firm bought it and set it loose on DSL, the technology for sending broadband over ordinary copper phone lines. Paradyne became an early leader. When it filed to go public in the summer of 1999, phone companies were rushing to sell DSL, and Paradyne's gear sat at the heart of many deployments.

Faster Than a Giant Parent

Texas Pacific Group bought Paradyne from Lucent in 1996. The bet was that a focused company could move faster than a giant parent. Paradyne pushed its broadband access products, which let carriers reuse the copper already running into homes and offices. Fast data over old wires promised to turn the phone network into a broadband network without digging new lines.

Swapped for Zhone Stock

Paradyne priced at $17 a share in July 1999 and soared during the DSL boom. When many young DSL carriers failed in 2000 and 2001, demand for its equipment fell sharply. The company cut costs and kept selling broadband access gear to carriers. In 2005 Zhone Technologies bought Paradyne in an all-stock deal worth about $180 million. Its gear lived on in Zhone's broadband access line.

Cover: The Storm, Georges Michel. Art Institute of Chicago, public domain. Chosen for a storm over the land (lightning in the copper).