Fast Track, Inc.

Fast Track, Inc.
Company typeSubsidiary of Symantec
IndustryComputers
Founded1987; 37 years ago (1987) Germantown, Maryland, United States
ParentSymantec

Fast Track, Inc., was a software development company in the United States. It was founded by Robert H. Nichols in 1987 in Germantown, Maryland.[1] The company was primarily known for its distributed network management products, primarily Exposé, which is cross-compatible with servers running VINES, NetWare, and Windows NT. It collects information from the services through the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP).[2] Version 3 in 1994 introduced SuperMIB, a graphical framework for representing nodes in the network.[3]

In March 1996, Symantec acquired Fast Track for US$7.22 million worth of stock.[4][5] The acquisition gave Symantec their first codebase based on SNMP,[6] which they promptly integrated into the Premier Edition of Norton Administrator Suite, their second stab at a network management product, in September 1996.[7] This version of Norton Administrator Suite was met with mixed reception and poor adoption from customers, and by March 1997 Symantec had divested parts of Fast Track to other software companies.[8]

  1. ^ "Fast Track, Inc". OpenCorporates. n.d. Archived from the original on December 16, 2022.
  2. ^ Radosevich, Lynda (October 10, 1994). "Banyan users cling to Vines-based products". Computerworld. 28 (41). IDG Publications: 66 – via ProQuest.
  3. ^ Rorabaugh, David (April 17, 1995). "Exposé". Network World. 12 (16). IDG Publications: 40–41 – via Google Books.
  4. ^ Staff writer (March 6, 1996). "Symantec to Acquire Fast Track". The Wall Street Journal. Dow Jones & Company: 1 – via ProQuest.
  5. ^ Nortio, Jukka (March 3, 1996). "Symantec laajentaa verkko-ohjelmiaan". Ilta-Sanomat. Sanoma Corporation. Archived from the original on December 16, 2022.
  6. ^ Leon, Mark (March 11, 1996). "Symantec, McAfee Acquire LAN Apps". InfoWorld. 18 (11). IDG Publications: 20 – via Google Books.
  7. ^ Willet, Shawn (September 16, 1996). "Premier Norton Administrator Suite arrives". Computer Reseller News (701). CMP Publications: 82 – via ProQuest.
  8. ^ Taft, Darryl K. (March 24, 1997). "Symantec: Spin off, scoop up". Computer Reseller News (728). CMP Publications: 47–48 – via ProQuest.