one another, creating a box that functioned as a multi-protocol router called the "Blue Box". The Blue Box used circuitry made by Andy Bechtolsheim, and software that was originally written at Stanford by research engineer William Yeager. Due to the underlying architecture, and its ability to scale well, Yeager's well-designed invention became a key to Cisco's early success.

In 1985, Bosack and Stanford employee Kirk Lougheed began a project to formally