() 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 competitors are
Polycom ,
Radvision and
Codian . Other minor competitors are
VTEL and
Aethra .
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
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 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.
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 December 16th
2005 Andrew Miller was fired from his position as CEO and replaced by the CFO Fredrik Halvorsen. Fredrik Halvorsen was a relatively new hire with a background from McKinsey.
The company was founded as ''
Tandbergs Radiofabrikk '' ("Tandberg's
Radio Factory") in
1933 by electronics engineer
Vebjørn Tandberg , initially producing
Loudspeaker s,
Receiver s (radios with built in amplifiers). From
1952 , the first
Reel-to-reel Tape Recorder was launched. The company was known world wide for its
High End Audio systems. When the
Audiophile s speak of Tandberg audio components, they are referring to products of this company. Even though Tandberg no longer manufactures audio components, such components are in high demand.
In particular, Tandberg
Cassette Deck s (such as the 3014) were widely thought to be among the very best. With the decline of
Cassette Tape technology, current audio system manufacturers no longer focus on cassette decks. Given the high quality of construction of the prior Tandberg units, these may be the last decks to survive in working condition as the future unfolds.
Tandberg was also known for its
Tuners , whose specifications and sound were among the best known, specifically the 3001A, which some audiophiles consider the finest and most musical tuner ever made.
Tandberg made a well known, but very small, integrated amplifier, called the "Troll" which received industry acclaim.
Some Tandberg products used a
DIN Connector rather than the more common
RCA Connector .
There are also other companies called with roots in the same parent company, although not necessarily with common ownership:
