Thursby history

Short version

Thursby has been innovating in Apple enterprise integration across three decades, introducing commercial grade capabilities years before Apple itself and much later “me too” vendors.  We don't do what Apple does well, rather what it doesn't do at all, or where its implementations only cover simple use cases for end consumers rather than enterprise needs.   Our support and maintenance are as important as our software since all three are required for commercial grade enterprise delivery.

Our first decade was expanding enterprise networking with minicomputers and workstations with DECnet, Ethernet and X-terminals.  

Our second was growing enterprise storage integration with NFS, SMB/CIFS and DFS, along with the important addition of enterprise Active Directory policy management and login security.

Our third decade has seen the introduction of enterprise PKI and smart card security for Macs, iPads and iPhones, supporting the trends of consumerization in IT, mobile, virtualization and the cloud, following Apple's progression from workstations and latops with OS X to iOS and a wider range of devices and capabilities.

• Over 60,000 clients
• Over 1,000,000 licenses sold to-date
• Largest deals have been OEM and clients with thousands of Apple devices
• Products on the Mac for every Apple CEO
• Supporting Apple from Macintosh System Software 2 to today’s OS X Lion

• Supporting Microsoft from Windows NT 3.1 to today’s Windows Server 2008R2

• Privately owned and profitable

• One third of revenues are international with sales and support across all seven continents
• A particular appeal of our software to enterprises is its leverage of standards, not seeking to lock-in to proprietary server software

Steve Jobs commented on the value of learning from tech history in a favorite Schopenhauer short story  - “He who lives to see two or three generations is like a man who sits some time in the conjurer’s booth at a fair, and witnesses the performance twice or thrice in succession. The tricks were meant to be seen only once, and when they are no longer a novelty and cease to deceive, their effect is gone.”

Long version

1981 Ronald Reagan is President

1981 First Space Shuttle Mission

1981 First modern cellphones in Nordic Countries

1982 First CD player

1984 Apple's Steve Jobs introduces the first Mac

1986 John Sculley is Apple CEO

1986 Founding of Thursby Software Systems, Inc. (TSS)

Since our founding we’ve delivered a mix of software and maintenance products to different end-user audiences:

• High-volume shrink-wrapped business-to-consumer, small or home office (SOHO) (B2C) products in quantities of 1, 5, 10 or 25 seats

• Significant original equipment manufacturer (OEM) solutions to well known IT companies (whose terms preclude publicity)

• Business-to-business (B2B) site licenses, each covering from 50 seats to hundreds or thousands of local, national or international Mac workstations and laptops

Delivery vehicles have ranged from jewel cases in stores such as Apple’s own and big box retailers like Fry’s and Best Buy, to national and international resellers and distribution middlemen to direct electronic downloads from the ‘net

1987 Support for Mac System Software 2 to 5

1987 Thursby TSSnet for Macs

Thursby’s first product was TSSnet for the Macintosh, an implementation of Digital Equipment Corporation’s DECnet technology. The first release of TSSnet was before the Macintosh had either a multi-finder or even Ethernet technology

1988 Support for Mac System Software 6

1988 Thursby TSSnet for UNIX

We were instrumental in the early implementation of Ethernet technologies on the Mac. Starting in 1988, Thursby expanded our TSSnet technology to every major UNIX platform including Sun, IBM, HP, DEC, Solbourne, SCO, ICL and Sequent.

1989 President George H. Bush

1989 Thursby TSSnet for X-Terminals

The late 1980’s gave rise to the rapid, although short lived, appearance of X-Terminals, also known as “thin clients”. TSSnet was quickly incorporated as an OEM technology by all of the leading X-Terminal manufacturers including NCD, Tektronix, NCR, Samsung, Tandberg Data, and Wyse Technology. Other OEM relationships were also entered with Apple, Digital Equipment Corporation, EMC, Emulex Corporation, Mercury Computers, NetManage, Sequent Computers, Webster Computer Corporation, and White Pine Software.

1991 Support for Mac System 7 to OS 7

1992 Thursby - Barclay’s relationship

In 1992 we entered into a special relationship with Barclays Bank in the UK to network all 2,500 branches with our TSSnet and TSSterm products on multiple UNIX platforms. Additionally we provided them with custom DECnet for DOS legacy networking support for their new branch counter project.

1993 President Clinton

1993 Michael Spindler is Apple CEO

1993 Microsoft Windows NT 3.1

1993 Microsoft Windows 3.1

1995 Thursby MacNFS

We expanded our network offerings in 1995 when we introduced MacNFS, a high performance Network File System (NFS) client implementation for the Apple Mac.

1996 Gil Amelio is Apple CEO

1996 Thursby DAVE

DAVE was the first Microsoft SMB/CIFS implementation on the Mac and it underpins the end-to-end capabilities of our product line to the present day.

1997 Steve Jobs returns as Apple CEO

1997 Microsoft introduces Office for Mac 

1997 Support for Mac OS 8

1998 Apple buys Macromedia Final Cut and renames as Apple Final Cut

1999 Thursby TSStalk

We acquired the COPStalk product technology from Cooperative Printing Solutions, which became TSStalk. TSStalk is an implementation of Apple’s networking protocols that runs on PCs.

1999 Support for Mac OS 9

2001 President George W. Bush

2001 Support for Mac OS X 10.0 Cheetah at launch

Our applications were some of the first available, part of Apple’s press for OS X, along with software from Avid, IBM, Macromedia and Microsoft.

2001 Thursby Software in the first Apple Retail Stores

2001 Support for Microsoft Windows XP

2001 Thursby MacSOHO

Recognizing a need for a more easily configured home networking solution for Macs and PCs, we first offered MacSOHO in 2001. Although based on the DAVE technology, MacSOHO implemented the older NetBEUI transport, making it ideal for small computer networks.

2001 Support for Mac OS X 10.1 Puma

2002 Thursby Co-wrote the Mac SMB/CIFS standards with Microsoft

2002 Support for Mac OS X 10.2 Jaguar

2002 DAVE v4.0 was the first Microsoft DFS implementation on the Mac

2003 Adobe introduce Creative Suite (CS1) 

2003 Support for Microsoft Windows Server 2003

2003 Thursby ADmitMac

As the complexity of Microsoft networks grew and the acceptance of Microsoft’s Active Directory became a de facto corporate standard, we introduced ADmitMac, the first Mac Active Directory Solution.

A new product based on the proven core technology of DAVE, ADmitMac implemented a rich and secure implementation of Active Directory support combined with commercial grade file and printer sharing for the Macintosh

2003 Support for Mac OS X 10.3 Panther

2004 Support for Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger

2006 Support for Intel-based Macs

2006 Support for Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard

2006 Thursby ADmitMac for CAC

As security concerns increased in networks, especially after 9/11, the US Government required an increased awareness in protecting access to critical information. Standardizing on the CAC (Common Access Card), the Department of Defense (DoD) mandated a move away from the traditional username and password verification methods of old, and mandated the use of the CAC smart card implementation in combination with a PIN in properly verifying users against Active Directory.

2007 Thursby ADmitMac for CAC passes DoD security certifications

Our high security software passes all testing for JITC and Netcom security certifications

2007 Support Windows Vista

2007 Apple releases iPhone 3G

2008 Support Windows Server 2008

2009 President Barack Obama

2009 Support Windows 7

2009 Support Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard

2009 Thursby ADmitMac for PIV

ADmitMac for PIV (Personal Identity Verification) replaces ADmitMac for CAC inline with the evolving needs of the US Federal Government Military and Civilian agencies

2010 Apple releases iPad first generation

2010 Thursby DAVE v8

DAVE for Mac-Windows integration and collaboration for files and printers, with commercial grade Microsoft SMB/CIFS and commercial grade Microsoft Distributed File System (DFS), now in its eighth generation

2010 Thursby ADmitMac v5

ADmitMac for Mac-Windows management and security, with Active Directory and HIPAA compliance, including DAVE technology and now in its fifth generation

2010 Thursby ADmitMac PKI v3

ADmitMac PKI (Public Key Infrastructure) for Mac-Windows high security smart card management, security and HSPD-12 compliance in the workplace, including ADmitMac technology and now in its third generation, makes Mac deployment and maintenance largely “plug and play” based on the years of experience with the earlier ADmitMac for CAC and ADmitMac for PIV versions.

2010 Thursby new, custom built corporate headquarters

The custom built facility on South Collins Street in Arlington, Texas, houses US engineering, support, sales and marketing personnel.

2011 Thursby PKard for Mac v1

Easy and straightforward Mac remote access to secure smartcard-enabled web sites fills the needs of many US government users who have personal Macs on the road, or at home.

2011 Final Space Shuttle Mission

2011 Support for Mac OS X 10.7 Lion

2011 First products for Apple iOS - iPhone & iPad

2011 Tim Cook is latest Apple CEO