Editing Hayes Microcomputer Products (section)

{{Short description|U.S.-based manufacturer of modems}}
{{Infobox company
| name = Hayes Microcomputer Products
| logo = File:Hayes Microcomputer Products logo.svg
| type = [[Public company|Public]]
| industry = Modems
| founded = {{Start date and age|1977}}
| founder = [[Dale Heatherington]]
| defunct = {{End date|1999}}
| fate = Liquidation; name acquired by [[Zoom Telephonics]]
| hq_location_city = [[Norcross, Georgia]]
| hq_location_country = U.S.
| key_people = 
| products = 
| num_employees = 
| num_employees_year = <!-- Year of num_employees data (if known) -->
| website = {{web archive|url=http://web.archive.org/web/19980202101934/http://www.hayes.com/|title=hayes.com}}
}}

'''Hayes Microcomputer Products''' was a US-based manufacturer of [[modem]]s. The company is known for the '''Smartmodem''', which introduced a control language for operating the functions of the modem via the serial interface, in contrast to manual operation with front-panel switches. This ''smart modem'' approach dramatically simplified and automated operation. Today almost all modems use a variant of the [[Hayes AT command set]].

Hayes was a major brand in the modem market from the introduction of the original 300 bit/s Smartmodem in 1981. They remained a major vendor throughout the 1980s, periodically introducing models with higher [[throughput]]. Their competition through this period was primarily from two other high-end vendors, [[USRobotics]] and [[Telebit]], while other companies mostly sold into niches or were strictly low-end offerings.

In the early 1990s a number of greatly cost-reduced high-performance modems were released by competitors, notably the [[SupraFAXModem 14400]] in 1992, which eroded price points in the market. Hayes was never able to respond effectively. The widespread introduction of [[ADSL]] and [[cable modem]]s in the mid-1990s repeatedly drove the company in [[Chapter 11, Title 11, United States Code|Chapter 11]] protection before being liquidated in 1999.