Dennis C. Hayes invented the PC modem in
1977, establishing the critical technology that allowed today's online and
Internet industries to emerge and grow.
He sold the first Hayes modem products to
computer hobbyists in April of 1977 and founded D.C. Hayes Associates, Inc.,
the company known today as Hayes Corp., in January of 1978. Hayes quality
and innovation resulted in performance enhancements and cost reductions that
led the industry in the conversion from leased line modems to intelligent
dial modems - the PC Modem.
When he started the company, Hayes
already had more than ten years experience working with large and small
computer systems, telecommunications, manufacturing and electronic product
development. While attending the Georgia Institute of Technology, Hayes
participated in a co-op program working for AT&T Long Lines. Later, he
joined Financial Data Sciences where he worked on systems using the first
four-bit microprocessor. After concluding his studies at Georgia Tech, Hayes
worked for National Data Corporation where he developed microcomputer-based
systems to interconnect networks. Hayes attended the School of Management
and Strategic Studies at the Western Behavior Sciences Institute.
D.C. Hayes Associates was founded on a
dining room table in Hayes' home, where he started with a modest $5000
investment and boot-strapped the company to become the leader in the
industry. The first products were modem boards for the S-100 bus and then
for the Apple II computers. Solving the interface problems to allow any
computer using a standard serial port to control the modem functions with
software, he invent ed the Hayes Standard AT command set introducing the
first PC modem in June 1981.
The Hayes Smartmodem quickly became the
standard by which modem compatibility was measured and the company grew
rapidly. In more than twenty years as Chairman of Hayes, he led the company
as a visionary who saw the opportunity for the development of PC
communications and the virtual workplace.
After successfully guiding the company
through a merger that resulted in a new, publicly-owned Hayes Corporation,
Dennis C. Hayes retired as Chairman in late1998 to pursue other industry
interests, among these his chairmanship of the US Internet Industry
Association. He is today President of Virtual Resources, an
Internet consulting firm, and is