About L.A. Networking Systems & lanet.com
L.A. Networking Systems was founded back in 1990 by Lance Stewart and Anthony Siu, both recent graduates of Iowa State University. In the early days, we specialized in IT consulting with a focus on networking and email communications. We also built desktop systems, sold primarily through computer swap meets, which were popular gatherings for the sale of computer hardware throughout the Los Angeles area every weekend throughout the ’90s.
As the digital landscape shifted through the early ’90s, the business setup a system to provide customer support though the bulletin board system (BBS) community:
- In 1991, Lance founded L.A. Networking Systems’ BBS, featuring Wildcat! BBS software, featuring vast amounts of shareware for download, online games, and a multitude of conference channels for chat among registered members.
- During 1992, we joined forces with The Source! BBS (Chip North, sysop) to create the South Bay Mail network, allowing local users to communicate between many connected BBS systems throughout Los Angeles and Orange County.
- By 1993, we acquired the lanet.com domain and began providing free internet email services to our growing user base, with over 1000 dialup users all over the Los Angeles area.
- With the growth of the internet in the ’90s, we scaled back to a single phone line in 1996 and eventually shut down the BBS by 1998.
Lance Stewart, co-founder
Since the early 90’s, Lance has also been working in a non-profit organization starting as a desktop support technician, then as a network engineer, a network analyst, a Novell server administrator and GroupWise email administrator. Since then his focus has moved to linux server administration, Windows server administration and Exchange administration as well as Microsoft 365 administration. He also works with large storage systems, from DAS and NAS, to EMC SANs, Dell SANs, NetApp storage, and cloud storage. Lance is also heavily involved with Identity Management these days.
In Memory of Anthony Siu (December 23, 1962 – February 15, 2015), co-founder
Anthony played an instrumental role in shaping the technical foundation of our work. Anthony’s career in IT spanned over two decades, navigating the massive technological shifts from corporate enterprise mainframes to modern microcomputer networks:
- Enterprise Roots & Aviation IT: In the early days of his career, Anthony worked in the airline industry as the primary IT specialist for LTU International Airways. There, he managed enterprise minicomputer environments—including IBM System/36 hardware often acquired through Lufthansa’s fleet upgrades—alongside early corporate communication software.
- The Microcomputer Era & Wall Street: In the later 1990s, Anthony shifted his focus toward microcomputer systems, earning his MCSE certification. His expertise eventually took him to Wall Street in New York, where he worked for GFI Group—enduring the events of 9/11 on-site. He was later placed in charge of the company’s Asia desk, traveling extensively to oversee infrastructure across international offices.
When illness forced him to step back, Anthony moved to his brother’s home in Chicago, where he passed away on February 15, 2015. His technical brilliance, resilience, and partnership laid the groundwork for everything built here at lanet.com.
Following the passing of his business partner and friend, the focus of the site has shifted. Today, lanet.com operates as a personal digital dashboard—a centralized hub tracking the pulse of the tech world, featuring automated news feeds across networking, email technology, and artificial intelligence.