Ascom (company)
Ascom Holding AG is a listed Swiss company group of telecommunications and service. It was incorporated in 1987 through the merger of the three companies Autophon, Hasler and Zellweger Telecommunications and has its headquarters in Baar. Ascom registered shares are listed on the Swiss Exchange SIX Swiss Exchange.
Activities
The company has subsidiaries in 17 countries and employs approximately 1,600 people worldwide. Focuses on the areas of Wireless Solutions ( wireless systems for internal communication in companies and public institutions ) and Network Testing ( testing and optimization solutions for mobile networks ).
- Ascom Wireless Solutions offers on-site wireless communication solutions. The systems, solutions and services from Wireless Solutions are aimed at optimizing business processes of customers in the following market sectors: hospitals, retirement and nursing homes, industry, retail, hotels and security facilities and prisons. The offer is mainly focused on four areas of application: voice transmission or telephony ( voice ), data broadcasting professional messaging, alerting and localization.
- Ascom Network Testing offers testing and optimization solutions for mobile networks. Telecommunications companies as well as infrastructure and service provider in the field of mobile networks are customers of Network Testing. The portfolio includes Testing & Measurement ( for troubleshooting and optimization of cellular networks ), Benchmarking & Monitoring (to maintain the quality of service in the operation of networks ), and Reporting & Analysis ( for post-processing and optimization).
History
The predecessor company of Ascom, especially Autophon, Zellweger and Hasler, had been working with Siemens and Alcatel decades supplier of state postal and telecommunications companies ( PTT) with factual purchase guarantee. This shared her orders year after year so that all providers were underutilized. In addition was the Ascom preferred contractor in the Swiss army.
As in the telecommunications announced major technological revolutions and the Telephony was digitized, the Ascom lost its position as the leading supplier of telephone equipment and networks. The rapid technological changes were political: Swisscom was removed from the PTT monopoly for telephone sales fell. Table devices and cell phones are mostly manufactured in Asia and can be bought anywhere.
In mobile Ascom never made the breakthrough, nine company directors in 25 years could not prevent the ambitious telecommunications companies had to repel numerous divisions and currently exists only in highly specialized niches. Ascom is still internationally in 17 countries, but hardly in Switzerland. The number of employees increased sharply since the merger. In 1997, the company employed approximately 11,600 employees and had a turnover of about 3 billion Swiss francs. In 2002, job cuts at Ascom in the Swiss press were variously criticized. SwissInfo cited the Berner Zeitung, the " textbook example of a failed merger " wrote one. Also, The Bund, Tages-Anzeiger and other Swiss newspapers rated the negative consequences of the merger.