Tandberg

From Wikicompany

Tandberg is a manufacturer of videoconferencing systems.

The company has its HQ in Oslo, Norway (product development, sales, and distribution) and New York City, USA (sales, and distribution).

Tandberg spin-offs

There are also other companies called Tandberg, with roots in the same parent company, although not common ownership:

• Tandberg Data
• Tandberg Television
• Tandberg Education, by Sanako
• Tandberg Storage

History

The Tandberg company was founded as Tandbergs Radiofabrikk in 1933 by electronics engineer Vebjørn Tandberg, initially producing loudspeakers and radio receivers.

From 1952, the first reel-to-reel tape recorder was launched. The company was known world wide for its high-end audio systems.

In 1979 Tandbergs Radiofabrikk was dissolved into separate entities (see spin-off section above). At this same time, several other organizations carrying the Tandberg name were established, each pursuing different business opportunities.

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.

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.

In 2000 the company moved into IP based videoconferencing using the maturing H.323 standard, making the entire product line IP capable. The company has since expanded its product line greatly, by adding enterprise-class MCU's, Gateways, service-provider class MCUs and H.323 Gatekeepers.

In 2004 Ridgeway Systems and Software, a U.K. 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 February 2005, the company also released SIP software for all its video endpoints, as well as a major update to its SCCP based video systems.

External links

• History of Tandbergs Radiofabrikk 1933–78 (in Norwegian)
• SANAKO/Tandberg Educational