2Wire

Ghost Corp Apparel — resurrecting iconic corporate ghosts.

Founded in 1998 in San Jose, California, 2Wire arrived when “the connected home” still sounded like an ambitious prediction rather than a household troubleshooting ritual. Its specialty was integrated broadband gear and software for telecommunications providers: the hardware that helped turn a phone line, a modem, and a tangle of cables into home internet.

The company’s early calling card was the HomePortal residential gateway, introduced in January 2000. These all-in-one boxes combined DSL access, local networking, firewall functions, and remote management—an elegantly practical answer to the era’s growing pile of blinking devices. A wireless HomePortal followed in 2001.

2Wire expanded the formula beyond hardware, developing customer-premises management software and later media-oriented platforms for broadband and television services. Its gateways reached subscribers through major service providers in the United States and abroad. By 2008, the company reported more than 20 million residential gateways shipped—serious mileage for a device usually noticed only when the internet went dark.

Pace plc agreed to acquire 2Wire for $475 million in July 2010, and completed the acquisition on October 20, 2010. The deal brought 2Wire’s gateway, software, and service capabilities into Pace’s broadband business.

Our 2Wire, Inc. collection celebrates the San Jose outfit that made the early connected home just a little less disconnected—one sturdy gateway, mysterious status light, and reboot cycle at a time.