Tandberg
Encyclopedia
This article is about the video-conferencing vendor, a Cisco
company. Other companies with the same name such as Tandberg Television
or Tandberg Data
for data storage: see here and here
Tandberg is a manufacturer of videoconferencing
systems, located in Oslo
, Norway (product development, sales and distribution) and New York City, USA (sales and distribution). The company's main competitor is Polycom
and other competitors are HP, Sony
, Radvision
, LifeSize
Communications, VTEL and Aethra
.
Cisco Systems
acquired Tandberg on 19 April 2010.
In the early 1950s, Tandberg opened a branch plant in Kjelsas (in Oslo) to produce reel-to-reel tape recorder
s. Their first model was the TB 1, introduced to the market in 1952. Over the next decade, Tandberg quickly incorporated a number of leading-edge concepts; the TB 2 Hi Fi of 1956 had three tape transport speeds, allowing improved high-frequency response. The TB 3 Stereo from 1957 was Tandberg's first stereo system. In the 1960s Tandberg introduced the cross-field recording technique in the TB-6X model, allowing their recorders to handle higher frequencies than competing models. Tandberg licensed the concept to Akai, who used it widely in the 1970s and 80s in their Akai and Roberts recorders.
Tandberg tape recorders dominated the Norwegian market, and had a reputation for advanced technology and high quality at reasonable prices. It was on Tandberg reel-to-reel machines that President John F. Kennedy
recorded many meetings in the Cabinet Room of the White House
, including those associated with the Cuban Missile Crisis
.
The Kjelsas factory also started producing TV sets in 1960, and in 1966 a second TV plant was opened in Kjeller in Skedsmo. Color TV's were added to their lineup in 1969. In 1972, Tandberg purchased Radionette, another large Norwegian electronics firm now focussing on televisions. By 1976, TV's were Tandberg's major product and their factories employed 3,500. However, that same year a major economic downturn seriously disrupted the company, and by 1978 it was insolvent. A shareholder revolt removed Vebjorn Tandberg from control of the company, and he committed suicide in August. In December the company declared bankruptcy.
, Tandberg Data
took over the tape recording side of the company and moved it purely into the computer storage
field, and the remaining portions lost the "Radiofabrikk" to become, simply, Tandberg.
Tandberg's first picture telephone for ISDN
was developed in 1989, while the fully integrated Vision H.320
picture telephone was launched in 1993. Subsequently, focus moved to higher performance systems – the Grand Vision and the Master Vision series. New desktop endpoints were also added – the Compact Vision and the Vision600.
The first US office opened in 1995 in Connecticut
. It was moved to Kansas City for a short period before moving to Reston, Virginia in August 1996. In 1997 the company acquired two sales and distribution companies in North America, establishing a firm foothold in the single largest videoconferencing market in the world. It created two large sales and support offices in the US. One in Virginia and the other in Texas. The office in Reston, Virginia remains the largest office in the US to this date.
In 1999 the company acquired the Norwegian technology company Internet Technology AS which had developers experienced with the ITU
H.323
standard, especially from VoIP-projects like the world's first commercial H.323
VoIP service launched in 1997 with Telenor
.
In 2000 the company moved into IP based videoconferencing using the maturing H.323
standard, making the entire product line IP capable. Since 2000, the company has expanded its product line greatly, by adding enterprise-class MCU
s, Gateways, service-provider class MCUs and H.323
Gatekeepers. In 2001 the company also acquired a consultancy company Delante AS which enabled it to focus more on external software integration and bindings, especially the Microsoft
platform. In 2004 Ridgeway Systems and Software, a UK based software house specializing in Firewall and NAT
traversal, was acquired. The result of this acquisition was the Tandberg Expressway Firewall Traversal technology, which allows any H.323
video endpoint to place calls through any number of firewalls or NAT devices.
In July 2004, the company released a major new endpoint product line, the "MXP" series.
In February 2005, the company released SIP
software for all its video endpoints, as well as a major update to its SCCP based video systems.
In July 2005, the company acquired IVIGO from TNO Telecom. IVIGO, based in the Netherlands, developed and successfully commercialized circuit switched video solutions for UMTS network operators, vendors and content providers. The IVIGO 3G
-to-H.323
video gateway is now used by Tandberg's high-end visual communications systems to connect over video to 3G
handheld phones.
In September 2005, Cisco Systems
officially launched the Cisco 7985G, a Cisco-Tandberg co-branded desktop videophone.
In October 2005, the company acquired Ectus Ltd, a New Zealand based software development company specializing in streaming and archiving software.
On 16 December 2005 Andrew Miller stepped down as CEO, replaced by the CFO Fredrik Halvorsen. Halvorsen was a relatively new hire with a background from McKinsey.
In September 2007, the company acquired Codian
, a rival developer of video-conferencing infrastructure products, for $270 million in cash and shares.
In 2009, the company introduced the full-HD
"C-series" endpoint product line, including the "EX-series" desktop appliances, progressively replacing the previous "MXP" product series.
In October 2009, Cisco Systems
made a $3 billion recommended offer to acquire Tandberg. After upping its offer to almost $3.4 billion, Cisco announced on 4 December 2009 that over 90% of Tandberg's shares had been tendered, allowing it to squeeze out
the remaining shareholders. In February 2011, Tandberg was officially rebranded to Cisco, however the Tandberg name continues to be extensively used (as of mid 2011).
With the supporting system included in the Immersive systems or dedicated management servers all these systems can interact with each other and be used in one conference session: people using a video-enable smart phone or tablet can participate in a conference call setup using the CTS models and everyone gets the optimal quality and features for their system. The propriety protocol used in the Immersive TP systms can interact with industry open standards used in mobile phones, tablets and video-enabled VOIP devices regardless of their vendor: any device can connect to any other system
The product portfolio of existing Cisco video conferencing solutions and the Tandberg systems are now combined in one portfolio. The Tandberg product names have changed but are still being offered using the brandname Tandberg and there are still overlaps in the portfolio
developer, published information in which he claims that one of Tandberg Telecom's patent application
s from December 2008 contains a step-by-step description of an algorithm he committed to the x264 codebase around two months earlier. This was uncritically relayed by medias, which remarked that the employer who filed the patent was following the x264 project IRC development channel and was known to the project developers, leading to Tandberg claiming that they discovered the algorithm independently. Copies of e-mails that demonstrate this, together with an affidavit
and an Information disclosure statement
was filed by Tandberg with the United States Patent and Trademark Office
in June 2011.
History of Tandbergs Radiofabrikk 1933–78
Cisco Systems
Cisco Systems, Inc. is an American multinational corporation headquartered in San Jose, California, United States, that designs and sells consumer electronics, networking, voice, and communications technology and services. Cisco has more than 70,000 employees and annual revenue of US$...
company. Other companies with the same name such as Tandberg Television
Tandberg Television
Ericsson Television, formerly Tandberg Television, is a company providing MPEG-4 video on demand, and interactive television systems to telecommunications network operators and broadcasters. It was acquired by Swedish company, Ericsson in 2007, and was re-branded as Ericsson Television in 2010.The...
or Tandberg Data
Tandberg Data
Tandberg Data GmbH is a company focused on data storage products, especially streamers, headquartered in Dortmund, Germany. They are the only company still selling drives that use the QIC and VXA formats, but also produce LTO along with autoloaders, tape libraries, NAS devices, RDX Removable Disk...
for data storage: see here and here
Tandberg is a manufacturer of videoconferencing
Videoconferencing
Videoconferencing is the conduct of a videoconference by a set of telecommunication technologies which allow two or more locations to interact via two-way video and audio transmissions simultaneously...
systems, located in Oslo
Oslo
Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...
, Norway (product development, sales and distribution) and New York City, USA (sales and distribution). The company's main competitor is Polycom
Polycom
Polycom is a multinational corporation with approximately 3,200 employees worldwide and an annual revenue of approximately $1.2 billion in 2010. The company manufactures and sells telepresence and voice communications solutions.-Company History 1990:...
and other competitors are HP, Sony
Sony
, commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan and the world's fifth largest media conglomerate measured by revenues....
, Radvision
Radvision Ltd.
RADVISION., founded in 1992, is a Nasdaq and Tel Aviv Stock Exchange-traded company, which is a component of the TA-100 Index of the largest 100 companies traded on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange by market cap, it provides products and technologies for videoconferencing, video telephony, and the...
, LifeSize
LifeSize
LifeSize, a division of Logitech, is a video and audio communications company that provides high definition video conferencing endpoints and accessories, infrastructure products and a cloud-based video collaboration platform. LifeSize's worldwide headquarters is located in Austin, Texas...
Communications, VTEL and Aethra
Aethra
In Greek mythology, Aethra or Aithra was a name applied to four different individuals:-Mother of Theseus:...
.
Cisco Systems
Cisco Systems
Cisco Systems, Inc. is an American multinational corporation headquartered in San Jose, California, United States, that designs and sells consumer electronics, networking, voice, and communications technology and services. Cisco has more than 70,000 employees and annual revenue of US$...
acquired Tandberg on 19 April 2010.
Tandbergs Radiofabrikk
The company was founded by Vebjorn Tandberg as Tandbergs Radiofabrikk (Tandberg's radio factory) in Oslo in 1933. The company's first radio was named "Tommeliten", and used only earphones. This was followed by the "Corona" with a loudspeaker. In 1934 the first "Huldra" radio was launched, followed in 1936 by the "Sølvsuper". During the early years, radios, loudspeakers and microphones were the main output from the factory. The Sølvsuper and the Huldra radios became the foundation for Tandberg's success.In the early 1950s, Tandberg opened a branch plant in Kjelsas (in Oslo) to produce reel-to-reel tape recorder
Reel-to-reel audio tape recording
Reel-to-reel, open reel tape recording is the form of magnetic tape audio recording in which the recording medium is held on a reel, rather than being securely contained within a cassette....
s. Their first model was the TB 1, introduced to the market in 1952. Over the next decade, Tandberg quickly incorporated a number of leading-edge concepts; the TB 2 Hi Fi of 1956 had three tape transport speeds, allowing improved high-frequency response. The TB 3 Stereo from 1957 was Tandberg's first stereo system. In the 1960s Tandberg introduced the cross-field recording technique in the TB-6X model, allowing their recorders to handle higher frequencies than competing models. Tandberg licensed the concept to Akai, who used it widely in the 1970s and 80s in their Akai and Roberts recorders.
Tandberg tape recorders dominated the Norwegian market, and had a reputation for advanced technology and high quality at reasonable prices. It was on Tandberg reel-to-reel machines that President John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
recorded many meetings in the Cabinet Room of the White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
, including those associated with the Cuban Missile Crisis
Cuban Missile Crisis
The Cuban Missile Crisis was a confrontation among the Soviet Union, Cuba and the United States in October 1962, during the Cold War...
.
The Kjelsas factory also started producing TV sets in 1960, and in 1966 a second TV plant was opened in Kjeller in Skedsmo. Color TV's were added to their lineup in 1969. In 1972, Tandberg purchased Radionette, another large Norwegian electronics firm now focussing on televisions. By 1976, TV's were Tandberg's major product and their factories employed 3,500. However, that same year a major economic downturn seriously disrupted the company, and by 1978 it was insolvent. A shareholder revolt removed Vebjorn Tandberg from control of the company, and he committed suicide in August. In December the company declared bankruptcy.
Split-up
In the aftermath of the bankruptcy, the original Tandberg was split into three parts. The television manufacturing portions became Tandberg TelevisionTandberg Television
Ericsson Television, formerly Tandberg Television, is a company providing MPEG-4 video on demand, and interactive television systems to telecommunications network operators and broadcasters. It was acquired by Swedish company, Ericsson in 2007, and was re-branded as Ericsson Television in 2010.The...
, Tandberg Data
Tandberg Data
Tandberg Data GmbH is a company focused on data storage products, especially streamers, headquartered in Dortmund, Germany. They are the only company still selling drives that use the QIC and VXA formats, but also produce LTO along with autoloaders, tape libraries, NAS devices, RDX Removable Disk...
took over the tape recording side of the company and moved it purely into the computer storage
Computer storage
Computer data storage, often called storage or memory, refers to computer components and recording media that retain digital data. Data storage is one of the core functions and fundamental components of computers....
field, and the remaining portions lost the "Radiofabrikk" to become, simply, Tandberg.
Tandberg's first picture telephone for ISDN
Integrated Services Digital Network
Integrated Services Digital Network is a set of communications standards for simultaneous digital transmission of voice, video, data, and other network services over the traditional circuits of the public switched telephone network...
was developed in 1989, while the fully integrated Vision H.320
H.320
H.320 is an umbrella recommendation by the ITU-T for running Multimedia over ISDN based networks. The main protocols in this suite are H.221, H.230, H.242, audio codecs such as G.711, and video codecs such as H.261 and H.263....
picture telephone was launched in 1993. Subsequently, focus moved to higher performance systems – the Grand Vision and the Master Vision series. New desktop endpoints were also added – the Compact Vision and the Vision600.
The first US office opened in 1995 in Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
. It was moved to Kansas City for a short period before moving to Reston, Virginia in August 1996. In 1997 the company acquired two sales and distribution companies in North America, establishing a firm foothold in the single largest videoconferencing market in the world. It created two large sales and support offices in the US. One in Virginia and the other in Texas. The office in Reston, Virginia remains the largest office in the US to this date.
In 1999 the company acquired the Norwegian technology company Internet Technology AS which had developers experienced with the ITU
Itu
Itu is an old and historic municipality in the state of São Paulo in Brazil. The population in 2009 was 157,384 and the area is 641.68 km². The elevation is 583 m. This place name comes from the Tupi language, meaning big waterfall. Itu is linked with the highway numbered the SP-75 and are flowed...
H.323
H.323
H.323 is a recommendation from the ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector that defines the protocols to provide audio-visual communication sessions on any packet network...
standard, especially from VoIP-projects like the world's first commercial H.323
H.323
H.323 is a recommendation from the ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector that defines the protocols to provide audio-visual communication sessions on any packet network...
VoIP service launched in 1997 with Telenor
Telenor
Telenor Group is the incumbent telecommunications company in Norway, with headquarters located at Fornebu, close to Oslo. Today, Telenor Group is mostly an international wireless carrier with operations in Scandinavia, Eastern Europe and Asia, working predominantly under the Telenor brand...
.
In 2000 the company moved into IP based videoconferencing using the maturing H.323
H.323
H.323 is a recommendation from the ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector that defines the protocols to provide audio-visual communication sessions on any packet network...
standard, making the entire product line IP capable. Since 2000, the company has expanded its product line greatly, by adding enterprise-class MCU
Multipoint Control Unit
A Multipoint Control Unit is a device commonly used to bridge videoconferencing connections.The Multipoint Control Unit is an endpoint on the LAN that provides the capability for 3 or more terminals and gateways to participate in a multipoint conference...
s, Gateways, service-provider class MCUs and H.323
H.323
H.323 is a recommendation from the ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector that defines the protocols to provide audio-visual communication sessions on any packet network...
Gatekeepers. In 2001 the company also acquired a consultancy company Delante AS which enabled it to focus more on external software integration and bindings, especially the Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
platform. In 2004 Ridgeway Systems and Software, a UK based software house specializing in Firewall and NAT
Network address translation
In computer networking, network address translation is the process of modifying IP address information in IP packet headers while in transit across a traffic routing device....
traversal, was acquired. The result of this acquisition was the Tandberg Expressway Firewall Traversal technology, which allows any H.323
H.323
H.323 is a recommendation from the ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector that defines the protocols to provide audio-visual communication sessions on any packet network...
video endpoint to place calls through any number of firewalls or NAT devices.
In July 2004, the company released a major new endpoint product line, the "MXP" series.
In February 2005, the company released SIP
Session Initiation Protocol
The Session Initiation Protocol is an IETF-defined signaling protocol widely used for controlling communication sessions such as voice and video calls over Internet Protocol . The protocol can be used for creating, modifying and terminating two-party or multiparty sessions...
software for all its video endpoints, as well as a major update to its SCCP based video systems.
In July 2005, the company acquired IVIGO from TNO Telecom. IVIGO, based in the Netherlands, developed and successfully commercialized circuit switched video solutions for UMTS network operators, vendors and content providers. The IVIGO 3G
3G
3G or 3rd generation mobile telecommunications is a generation of standards for mobile phones and mobile telecommunication services fulfilling the International Mobile Telecommunications-2000 specifications by the International Telecommunication Union...
-to-H.323
H.323
H.323 is a recommendation from the ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector that defines the protocols to provide audio-visual communication sessions on any packet network...
video gateway is now used by Tandberg's high-end visual communications systems to connect over video to 3G
3G
3G or 3rd generation mobile telecommunications is a generation of standards for mobile phones and mobile telecommunication services fulfilling the International Mobile Telecommunications-2000 specifications by the International Telecommunication Union...
handheld phones.
In September 2005, Cisco Systems
Cisco Systems
Cisco Systems, Inc. is an American multinational corporation headquartered in San Jose, California, United States, that designs and sells consumer electronics, networking, voice, and communications technology and services. Cisco has more than 70,000 employees and annual revenue of US$...
officially launched the Cisco 7985G, a Cisco-Tandberg co-branded desktop videophone.
In October 2005, the company acquired Ectus Ltd, a New Zealand based software development company specializing in streaming and archiving software.
On 16 December 2005 Andrew Miller stepped down as CEO, replaced by the CFO Fredrik Halvorsen. Halvorsen was a relatively new hire with a background from McKinsey.
In September 2007, the company acquired Codian
Codian
Codian is a former supplier of video conferencing products. Since 2007, the company has been a part of Tandberg.Codian was founded in 2002 and based in Langley, Slough, UK. It was acquired by Tandberg in 2007 for USD 270 million. Codian's products – including their Multipoint Control Units...
, a rival developer of video-conferencing infrastructure products, for $270 million in cash and shares.
In 2009, the company introduced the full-HD
1080p
1080p is the shorthand identification for a set of HDTV high-definition video modes that are characterized by 1080 horizontal lines of resolution and progressive scan, meaning the image is not interlaced as is the case with the 1080i display standard....
"C-series" endpoint product line, including the "EX-series" desktop appliances, progressively replacing the previous "MXP" product series.
In October 2009, Cisco Systems
Cisco Systems
Cisco Systems, Inc. is an American multinational corporation headquartered in San Jose, California, United States, that designs and sells consumer electronics, networking, voice, and communications technology and services. Cisco has more than 70,000 employees and annual revenue of US$...
made a $3 billion recommended offer to acquire Tandberg. After upping its offer to almost $3.4 billion, Cisco announced on 4 December 2009 that over 90% of Tandberg's shares had been tendered, allowing it to squeeze out
Squeeze out
Squeeze out is a term referring to the compulsory acquisition of the stakes of a small group of shareholders from a joint stock company by means of cash compensation.-Germany:...
the remaining shareholders. In February 2011, Tandberg was officially rebranded to Cisco, however the Tandberg name continues to be extensively used (as of mid 2011).
Companies sharing the name
There are also other companies called Tandberg with roots in the same parent company, although not necessarily with common ownership:- SANAKOSANAKOSanako is a technology company developing language teaching solutions, teaching and classroom management software, virtual learning and professional development solutions....
/Tandberg Educational - Tandberg Audio
- Tandberg Unterrichtstechnik (Deutschland)
- Tandberg DataTandberg DataTandberg Data GmbH is a company focused on data storage products, especially streamers, headquartered in Dortmund, Germany. They are the only company still selling drives that use the QIC and VXA formats, but also produce LTO along with autoloaders, tape libraries, NAS devices, RDX Removable Disk...
- Tandberg StorageTandberg StorageTandberg Storage ASA was a magnetic tape data storage company based in Lysaker, Norway. The company was a subsidiary of Tandberg Data. The company was spun off from Tandberg Data in 2003 to focus exclusively on tape drives. It was purchased by the same company in 2008. Tandberg Storage developed...
- Tandberg Telecom – fully owned subsidiary
- Tandberg TelevisionTandberg TelevisionEricsson Television, formerly Tandberg Television, is a company providing MPEG-4 video on demand, and interactive television systems to telecommunications network operators and broadcasters. It was acquired by Swedish company, Ericsson in 2007, and was re-branded as Ericsson Television in 2010.The...
Products
- Immersive Conferencing systems: Tandberg T1 & T3,
- Personal systems such as desktop systems, video enabled VOIP phones and video-conferencing solutions for mobile phones and tablets
- Call Control systems like the Video Communication server or the enterprise level Unified Communications Manager
- Videoconference Manager: Cisco Telepresence Manager and the software suite to manage the CTM. The CTM makes it possible to connect any device in a single "Telepresence" conference call
- CTM Director for enterprise wide management of all CTM endpoints
- Infrastructure systems:
- Telepresence server
- MSE 8000 series multipoint video conferencing systems
- MCU conferencing bridges: MCU 4200 and 4500 series
- Media Processing System: MPS200 and MPS800
- Cisco Telepresence multipoint switches: combine any type of TP endpoints in one call
- Infrastructure: Advanced Media Gateway,IP Gateway server, IP/ISDN Gateway servers and content servers
- Conference recorders: Tandberg IP VCR and Cisco Telepresence Recording server to allow recording of multipoint video conferences
- Video conferencing cloud services: enable video conferences between different companies crossing ones own (network) borders, but maintaining high level of security.
With the supporting system included in the Immersive systems or dedicated management servers all these systems can interact with each other and be used in one conference session: people using a video-enable smart phone or tablet can participate in a conference call setup using the CTS models and everyone gets the optimal quality and features for their system. The propriety protocol used in the Immersive TP systms can interact with industry open standards used in mobile phones, tablets and video-enabled VOIP devices regardless of their vendor: any device can connect to any other system
The product portfolio of existing Cisco video conferencing solutions and the Tandberg systems are now combined in one portfolio. The Tandberg product names have changed but are still being offered using the brandname Tandberg and there are still overlaps in the portfolio
Controversy
In November 2010, Jason Garret-Glaser, a x264X264
x264 is a free software library for encoding video streams into the H.264/MPEG-4 AVC format. It is released under the terms of the GNU General Public License.-History:...
developer, published information in which he claims that one of Tandberg Telecom's patent application
Patent application
A patent application is a request pending at a patent office for the grant of a patent for the invention described and claimed by that application. An application consists of a description of the invention , together with official forms and correspondence relating to the application...
s from December 2008 contains a step-by-step description of an algorithm he committed to the x264 codebase around two months earlier. This was uncritically relayed by medias, which remarked that the employer who filed the patent was following the x264 project IRC development channel and was known to the project developers, leading to Tandberg claiming that they discovered the algorithm independently. Copies of e-mails that demonstrate this, together with an affidavit
Affidavit
An affidavit is a written sworn statement of fact voluntarily made by an affiant or deponent under an oath or affirmation administered by a person authorized to do so by law. Such statement is witnessed as to the authenticity of the affiant's signature by a taker of oaths, such as a notary public...
and an Information disclosure statement
Information disclosure statement
An information disclosure statement refers to a submission of relevant background art or information to the United States Patent and Trademark Office by an applicant for a patent during the patent prosecution process...
was filed by Tandberg with the United States Patent and Trademark Office
United States Patent and Trademark Office
The United States Patent and Trademark Office is an agency in the United States Department of Commerce that issues patents to inventors and businesses for their inventions, and trademark registration for product and intellectual property identification.The USPTO is based in Alexandria, Virginia,...
in June 2011.
External links
History of Tandbergs Radiofabrikk 1933–78