Bay Networks — 4 OUI prefixes (MA-L)

A MAC address starting 00:00:A2, 00:00:81, 00:80:E3, or 00:E0:7B belongs to Bay Networks, typically seen on 1990s enterprise networking hardware — Ethernet/token-ring hubs, LAN routers, LAN switches, and remote-access servers — shipped before the company stopped existing as an independent vendor in 1998.

Bay Networks, Inc. was formed in October 1994 when SynOptics Communications (Santa Clara, CA — Ethernet hubs and structured wiring) merged with Wellfleet Communications (Bedford/Billerica, MA — routers) in a roughly $2.7B deal. The two legacy registry addresses behind these four OUI blocks trace directly to that merger.

The Santa Clara-address blocks (00:00:A2, 00:00:81, and 00:80:E3 — the latter originally registered to Coral Network Corporation and later redesignated "NOW BAY NETWORKS" in the IEEE registry text) come from the SynOptics side. The Acton, MA block (00:E0:7B) comes from the former Wellfleet router business.

Nortel (Northern Telecom) acquired Bay Networks in June 1998 for about $9.1B, and the Bay Networks brand was folded into Nortel Networks and, later, Avaya/Extreme Networks product lines. Any device presenting one of these OUIs today is multi-decade-old hardware with no active vendor patch support — a legacy/EOL flag if seen live on a network, not evidence of an active vendor's security posture.

IEEE assignment

4 MA-L prefixes → Bay Networks / Coral Network Corporation (Now Bay Networks), registered Santa Clara, CA and Acton, MA, US [Confirmed] — the IEEE MA-L registry (lines matching 0000A2, 0080E3, 00E07B, 000081)

Registry / block size

MA-L only (24-bit OUI); 4 prefixes, no MA-M or MA-S entries [Confirmed] — the IEEE MA-L registry, the IEEE MA-M registry, the IEEE MA-S registry

HQ / country

two legacy registry addresses — PO Box 58185, Santa Clara, CA 95052-8185 (SynOptics lineage) and 125 Nagog Park, Acton, MA 01720 (Wellfleet lineage), US [Confirmed] — the IEEE MA-L registry

Company status

defunct — merged into Nortel Networks, June 1998; no independent website or support channel [Confirmed] — en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bay_Networks

Device types

Ethernet/token-ring hubs, LAN routers, LAN switches, remote-access/dial servers [Likely] — en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bay_Networks (product category level, not prefix-specific)

Notable products

BayStack, Centillion, AN/ARN router lines (Bay Networks-branded, pre-1998) [Likely] — en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bay_Networks

Verified sample prefixes (all MA-L)

00:00:A2, 00:00:81, 00:80:E3, 00:E0:7B [Confirmed] — the IEEE MA-L registry

Historic block note

00:80:E3 was originally assigned to "CORAL NETWORK CORPORATION" and carries the registry annotation "(NOW BAY NETWORKS)" — the predecessor org name is preserved in the IEEE text itself, confirming this block predates Bay Networks' own branding of it [Confirmed] — the IEEE MA-L registry

Date-registered caveat

IEEE's public OUI data (the IEEE MA-L registry: Registry, Assignment, Organization Name, Organization Address) publishes NO assignment/registration date. A third-party tool (maclookup.app) lists "Registered 1998-04-22" identically across the prefixes it carries, with a page "last updated" stamp of 2015-11-17 — this is a database-import artifact, not an IEEE fact, and must never be shown as an IEEE registration date

[Confirmed] — standards-oui.ieee.org/oui/oui.csv, maclookup.app/vendors/bay-networks

Special note

multi-OUI vendor whose 4 blocks map to two merged predecessor companies (SynOptics + Wellfleet); any device still presenting these OUIs is legacy/EOL hardware with no vendor patch support [Confirmed] — en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bay_Networks

Related vendors

SynOptics Communications (merged into Bay Networks, 1994), Wellfleet Communications (merged into Bay Networks, 1994), Nortel Networks (acquired Bay Networks, 1998) [Confirmed] — en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bay_Networks

Analyst note

strong company substance for a consolidated vendor entry — 4 distinct MA-L assignments across two legacy addresses corroborate a documented 1994 merger and 1998 acquisition, well beyond a bare single-OUI shell registration