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Happy Birthday ZyXEL!

Celebrating 20 years of networking history by searching for the oldest ZyXEL product

In August 2009, ZyXEL will celebrate its 20 years of success in the network equipment market. To link the past to present, ZyXEL is launching a competition to find the owners of the oldest ZyXEL products in different regions. All contenders for the title of "Owner of the Oldest ZyXEL Product" will have to do is to take some photos of themselves, products and products' serial numbers. For more detail information, please check http://www.zyxel.com. Any accompanying anecdotes are welcome! Whether the product is still in working condition or it's already being exhibited in a computer museum! ZyXEL will be happy to hear from the owner. As a reward to illustrate how far ZyXEL has come over the years, a bundle of ZyXEL's latest multimedia products from digital media adapter to network storage to Powerline adapters will be the prize for the lucky winner.

To mark this anniversary, ZyXEL has developed a unique 20th anniversary logo which, with its migrating geese soaring skyward, symbolizes our "Connecting the Future" catchphrase and depicts corporate values such as cooperation and courage, factors that have contributed to ZyXEL's success. It also portrays the company's determination to continue leading the market by consistently innovating network technology.

Two decades of ZyXEL networking history
In 1989, Dr. Shun-I Chu founded ZyXEL with a team of just 4 engineers working on the development of analog modems. Today, however, we're an entirely different company.

ZyXEL has grown substantially and has become a globally recognized and renowned company with a combined force of 3200 employees worldwide, based in 32 sales offices and two R&D centres. In total, ZyXEL is based in 70 countries and serves 150 regional markets. In 2008, ZyXEL Corporation successfully achieved sales of US$478 million.

In the early 90's, ZyXEL advanced to become a leading modem manufacturer. Later, ZyXEL delivered numerous "World's Firsts" to the market with cutting-edge products that gained critical acclaim as well as substantial market share for ZyXEL. Along the Internet access application product line, gradually ZyXEL broadened its original focus on modems, ISDN TAs and routers to encompass the broadband access market with a focus on individuals, small business and corporate users, and large-scale central offices. Today, ZyXEL is one of the few companies in the world capable of offering complete networking solutions ranging from DSL customer premise equipment, central office equipment, Internet security appliances, switches, WLAN equipment, network-attached storage, multimedia applications and centralized network management systems.

Some examples of ZyXEL's "World´s Firsts" are:

  • 1992    ZyXEL announced U-1496 Series: the world's first integrated voice/fax/modem.
  • 1995    ZyXEL announced Elite 2864I: the world's first analog/digital ISDN modem
  • 1999    ZyXEL entered the broadband arena and released the world's first ADSL router    Prestige 641 to support PPPoE (PPP over Ethernet)
  • 2006    World's first WiMAX 802.16e 2.5/3.5/2.3 GHz PCMCIA card and CPE series
  • 2007    The P-660HWP not only won the CES Innovations 2008 Design and Engineering   Honor, but is also the world's first 802.11g HomePlug AV ADSL2+ Gateway with HomePlug AV technology for small office and home users.

ZyXEL challenges the future
Dr. Chu, who today retains the title of Chairman, recognizes the challenges that lay ahead: "For a company, 20 years in business is the foundation for achieving sustainable development, but it is just the start of another journey. ZyXEL is poised to take our innovation, speed and customer satisfaction to an even higher level during the next 20 years."

Green IT
Against this prestigious product backdrop - and long before the word "green" become hyped in the IT business - an integral part of ZyXEL's company philosophy and mission in the market has always been to embrace eco-friendly strategies and practices wherever possible throughout business and technology development process. This has been reflected in material sourcing, design and product features, manufacturing, sales, marketing and services. Today these have culminated in highest energy-efficiency of products, least possible e-waste and most socially responsible corporate philosophy, embraced by all divisions and all personnel.

In fact, ZyXEL has been recognized as Asia's second best eco-friendly enterprise and Taiwan´s best Green Enterprise in the "Clean & Green 2007 Report" (2007 CG watch, ACGA)  released by the Asian Corporate Governance Association.

Social responsibility
ZyXEL sees itself as a global citizen with global responsibilities. Being "at home" in so many countries, ZyXEL's worldwide subsidiaries are all involved in individual local projects and initiatives to support not only our employees, but also the community and disadvantaged people.

In 2008 and 2009 the company achieved the CSR (Corporate Social Responsibilities) Award from the Global View Magazine, a top business publication in the Chinese-speaking world.