Dennis Hayes

Who is Dennis Hayes?

Dennis C. Hayes was the founder of Hayes Microcomputer Products, a maker of modems mostly known for introducing the Hayes command set, which has subsequently been used in most modems produced to this day.

He left the Georgia Institute of Technology in the mid-1970s to work at an early data communications company, National Data Corporation in Atlanta, a company that handled electronic money transfers and credit card authorizations. Hayes' job was to set up modem connections for NDC's customers. He met Dale Heatherington at National Data Corporation. Together they developed and marketed the first high-quality IBM PC modem, and built the company named Hayes Communications around it. While Heatherington left the company early to retire, Hayes ran the company until it filed for bankruptcy in 1998 when the technology was incorporated into the products of competitors.