Chipcom was a company, early pioneering in the Ethernet hub industry. Their products allowed Local Networks to be aggregated in a single place instead of being distributed across the length of a single coaxial cable. They competed with now-gone companies such as Cabletron Systems, SynOptics, Ungermann-Bass, David Systems, Digital Equipment Corporation, and American Photonics, all of which were early entrants in the "LAN Hub" industry. Chipcom also was involved in Token Ring, FDDI, and Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM).
Eventually, LAN Hub technology was superseded by the modular network bridge, which is now known as the network switch. By dividing Ethernet connections into bridged domains, Ethernet switches made traffic flow more quickly through the aggregation point, eliminating the need for Ethernet hubs. Although very small Ethernet hubs are still available, they are almost never used in Enterprise networks.
Some of the brand names of Chipcom products are: ORnet, ONline, ONdemand, ONsemble, and ONcore. These products range from media adapters to large enterprise-class multi-protocol hubs with high throughput switching fabric.
Many Chipcom employees, who were affectionately referred to as "Chippers", had an intense pride in the company and the work that they did. In 1995, Chipcom was acquired by 3Com. 3Com was acquired by HP in 2011.
Although many of the employees from Chipcom were retained, most eventually left. There is a Chipcom Alumni site.