Applied Innovation Inc. — 2 prefixes (MA-L)

A MAC address beginning 00:90:71 or 00:40:72 belongs to Applied Innovation Inc., a Dublin, Ohio company that made telecom network-mediation hardware. Both are full IEEE MA-L blocks registered to the identical address, and the company's history — two dedicated OUI blocks plus a documented, decades-long product line — clears the bar for a substantive registration rather than a bare shell.

Applied Innovation built the AIswitch family (AI180, AI2524), modular protocol-mediation gateway chassis that let network operators fold legacy and disparate equipment onto one management platform, using Ethernet switching, X.25, RS232, and firewall line cards. This is carrier and enterprise infrastructure — reportedly deployed at 34,000+ sites — not consumer hardware.

The original registrant no longer exists as an independent company. Applied Innovation was acquired in 2007 by KEG Holdings (parent of Kentrox); the AIswitch line and support moved again in 2013 when Westell Technologies acquired Kentrox. Both registry rows still list the original "Applied Innovation Inc." name and Dublin address, with no record of a registrant-name transfer.

Two unrelated companies share close naming and must not be confused with this registrant. Applied Innovations Research LLC (Shorewood, MN) holds a separate MA-S sub-allocation under a different shared IEEE base, and present-day appliedinnovation.com is a Toledo-area copier and managed-IT reseller founded in 1987 as Applied Imaging. Third-party tools showing a 2000 or 2015 registration date for these prefixes are database artifacts — IEEE does not publish OUI assignment dates.

IEEE assignment

00:90:71, 00:40:72 → Applied Innovation Inc., registered Dublin, OH, US [Confirmed] — the IEEE MA-L registry, assignment keys 009071 and 004072; also the Wireshark manufacturer database

Registry / block size

MA-L (24-bit OUI); 2 full IEEE MA-L blocks identified for this registrant [Confirmed] — the IEEE MA-L registry, assignment keys 009071, 004072. NOTE: IEEE's public OUI data publishes NO assignment/registration date (columns are only Registry, Assignment, Organization Name, Organization Address); maclookup.app's identical "initial registration 09 Nov 2000 / most recent update 17 Nov 2015" pair for BOTH prefixes is a third-party database artifact, not an IEEE fact.

HQ / registered address

5800 Innovation Drive, Dublin, OH 43016-3271, US [Confirmed] — the IEEE MA-L registry, assignment key 009071

Company status

Original registrant no longer independent — acquired 2007 by KEG Holdings, Inc. (parent of Kentrox, LLC); Kentrox acquired by Westell Technologies in 2013, which now carries the product line under its "Protocol Mediation Gateways" portfolio [Confirmed: acquisition chain occurred; Likely: fine-grained deal dollar terms, sourced via search-engine synthesis of SEC filings that returned HTTP 403 on direct fetch] — https://news.thomasnet.com/companystory/applied-innovation-to-be-acquired-by-keg-holdings-inc-510445, https://www.westell.com/news-media/press-releases/detail/49/westell-technologies-completes-acquisition-of-kentrox

Device types

Telecom protocol-mediation / network-management gateway hardware — modular chassis with Ethernet switching, X.25, RS232, and firewall line cards [Confirmed] — https://www.ven-tel.com/products/applied-innovation/ai180/

Notable products

AIswitch AI180, AIswitch AI2524 [Confirmed] — https://www.ven-tel.com/products/applied-innovation/ai180/, https://www.manualslib.com/manual/3459/Applied-Innovation-Aiswitch-Ai2524.html

Verified sample prefixes (both MA-L, Applied Innovation Inc., identical registered address)

00:90:71, 00:40:72 [Confirmed] — the IEEE MA-L registry, assignment keys 009071, 004072; also the Wireshark manufacturer database

Security associations

No CVE recorded in the NVD as of an August 2026 keyword search for "Applied Innovation" [Confirmed as a dated, scoped negative] — https://services.nvd.nist.gov/rest/json/cves/2.0?keywordSearch=Applied+Innovation

Founding year / founder

Unknown as of an August 2026 search. A "1983, Columbus OH, founder Gerard Moersdorf Jr." claim surfaced only in a search-engine auto-synthesis that, in the same response, also conflated an unrelated company (Applied Instruments Inc., an Indianapolis cable-TV test-equipment maker) — independently fetched and confirmed to make no mention of Moersdorf or Applied Innovation — so the claim is not recorded as fact

[Unknown] — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Applied_Instruments

Special note

Two unrelated companies are frequently conflated with this registrant. (1) Applied Innovations Research LLC (Shorewood, MN) holds a separate MA-S sub-allocation, 00:1B:C5:08:40/36, of the shared IEEE base 00:1B:C5 — different organization, different slug, not part of this entry [Confirmed] — the IEEE MA-S registry, assignment key 001BC5084; also the Wireshark manufacturer database. (2) Present-day appliedinnovation.com is a different, unrelated company — a Toledo, OH-area managed-IT/copier reseller founded in 1987 as "Applied Imaging" — with no connection to the Dublin, OH OUI registrant or the AIswitch product line [Confirmed] — https://www.appliedinnovation.com/news-announcements-press-releases/applied-imaging-announces-name-change-to-applied-innovation/

Related vendors

Kentrox, LLC (2007 acquirer's subsidiary) and Westell Technologies (2013 acquirer) continue the AIswitch product line; no evidence found that either holds its own separate OUI registration for it [Likely — corporate succession Confirmed, absence of a distinct OUI is an unconfirmed negative] — https://www.westell.com/news-media/press-releases/detail/49/westell-technologies-completes-acquisition-of-kentrox

Analyst note

A MAC beginning 00:90:71 or 00:40:72 identifies hardware built under the original Applied Innovation Inc. product line — legacy carrier/enterprise telecom protocol-mediation gear, not a consumer device. The registrant company has not existed independently since 2007; do not confuse it with Applied Innovations Research LLC or the present-day appliedinnovation.com copier/MSP business, which are unrelated organizations despite the similar name.

[Confirmed] — the IEEE MA-L registry, assignment keys 009071, 004072