AVM GmbH
The AVM Computer Vertriebs GmbH is a German manufacturer of products in the field of telecommunications and network technology (including DSL, ISDN, Wi-Fi and Internet telephony).
History of the company
The company was founded by four students John Nill, Peter Faxel, Ulrich Müller and Jörg -Detlef Albring Gebert in 1986 and has its headquarters in Berlin. In 2013, AVM employed 450 people and generated a turnover of 300 million euros. Managing Director is the co-founder John Nill.
The first ISDN card was sold in 1989 for 4300 marks to companies. With the introduction of the brand Fritz! (Proper spelling: FRITZ !) And the Fritz Card, an ISDN card for PCs, 1995 came the breakthrough. At the same time it was also the birth of the product logo, a drawn comic-style ferret, which graced all packaging and advertisements. The name Fritz was chosen " because a non-technical name was sought, which should indicate winking German craftsmanship and abroad. " Meanwhile, the ferret is detached and appeared only sporadically on. The market share for ISDN cards in Germany grew from 1995 steadily to over 80 percent in 2004. Owed this AVM mainly to its high quality of hardware and software. Thus, AVM was able to beat competitors such as TELES or SEDLBAUER with its products such as the Fritz! Card (ISA, ISA PnP, PCI) despite a slightly higher product prices.
At Cebit 2004, AVM showed for the first time Fritz!, A combination of DSL modem and router. More on that later came variants for wireless and Internet telephony ( VoIP). 2007 appeared the Fritz Box Fon WLAN 7270, the most important innovation was the support of WLAN Draft -N ( IEEE 802.11n). Besides the known functions it also contains a DECT base station and a media server. At Cebit 2009, AVM before the new model Box Fon WLAN 7390. It contains a VDSL and ADSL2 capable modem, a Gigabit Ethernet switch, and a wireless N access point (also 2,4 - and 5 - GHz band ) and 512 megabytes of internal network storage and is available since the end of March 2010. With the Fritz! AVM In 2008, in DSL devices, according to the market research firm IDC, a market share of 60 percent in Germany and 18 percent in Europe. The high mark of a Share is partly explained by the fact that many ISPs offer a Fritz! Box when signing a contract free of charge or for a small fee.
For several years, AVM is also active in the field of home automation and smart home. The product lines FRITZ! Powerline and FRITZ! DECT offer opportunities to expand its own network over the power lines and to measure the power consumption and connected devices from a distance ( automated) to switch.
The "AVM" in the company name is an acronym for "Audio Visual Marketing " and refers to the company's beginnings as BTX service.
Production and firmware
The Fritz! Boxes are manufactured in part by the RAFI GmbH & Co. KG in Germany. Individual components such as Power supplies and printed circuit boards ( bare) originate from the Far East.
The basis of the programmed AVM itself Fritz! Firmware is a mini - Linux. About the network depends on the version of the vi text editor executable.
Due to the slight variability of a community has formed, which created various modifications ( mods ). Thus, the Fritz! Box can add a lot of features, such as you can so via the Internet by Wake On LAN PC start and remote control in the network.
However, AVM is of the view that any changes to the Software (except by AVM) are illegal and has filed suit against Cybits. A Linux kernel developers (ie holder of copyright to parts of the software that sells its products AVM ), Harald Welte, has been involved in the process on the part of Cybits. The lawsuit was eventually dismissed largely and the software manufacturer Cybits thereby allows to distribute a modified software for the device manufacturer AVM.
Products (Selection )
ISDN cards
DSL cards
DSL router
The FRITZ! Box in its smallest currently available variant ( Fritz! Box SL ) is a DSL modem and router with a LAN port and a USB port. The "greatest " version includes a " full network communication center " with DSL internet connection, telephone (analogue, ISDN and VoIP, as well as a DECT base station ), wireless and switch functionality, and the ability to USB mass storage device ( external USB hard drives, USB sticks) and / or printer via USB to make available to the network.
Cable products
Since 2010, develops and produces AVM FRITZ! Boxes for the cable connection. These products are available exclusively through the cable provider. All models support the Euro - DOCSIS 3 standard and can therefore transfer speeds of up to 220 Mbit / s.
LTE products
Since 2010, AVM has the FRITZ! Also for the new LTE (Long Term Evolution). The FRITZ! Box 6840 LTE is united by AVM details the first fixed LTE device (broadband over the air), the modem, router, PBX and media server in one device. This FRITZ! Allows data rates up to 100 Mbit / s and supports both LTE frequency bands ( 800 MHz and 2.6 GHz). However, the newer model with fewer features equipped 6810 LTE appeared in 2012. Both models are not able to receive the used by the Telekom for LTE frequency range of 1800 MHz around. This means that both can be FRITZ! Use boxes in the LTE network of Telekom limited. End of February 2013 were presented based on the FRITZ! LTE 6840 a new model. The FRITZ! 6842 LTE support, unlike the two previous models in addition to the LTE frequency bands 800 and 2600 MHz also employed by Telekom 1800 MHz frequency band.
WLAN products
System Requirements: 500 MHz, Windows or Linux 98SE/Me/2000/XP/XP64