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Siemens AG

Siemens logo

Siemens AG is the world's largest electronics company. Its international headquarters are in Munich, Germany. Siemens AG is also listed on the New York Stock Exchange since March 12, 2001. Worldwide, Siemens and its subsidiaries employ 423,000 people in 192 countries and reported global sales of $80.5 billion in fiscal year 2003.

Contents

History

It was founded by Werner von Siemens on October 12, 1847, based on the telegraph he had invented that used a needle to point to the sequence of letters, instead of using the Morse code.

In 1848, the company built the first long-distance telegraph line in Europe, spanning 500 km from Berlin to Frankfurt am Main. In 1850, the founder's younger brother, Wilhelm von Siemens (also called Sir William Siemens) started to represent the company in London. In the 1850s, the company was involved in building long distance telegraph networks in Russia. In 1855, a company branch opened in St Petersburg, headed by another brother, Carl von Siemens .

The company continued to grow and diversified into electric trains and light bulbs. In 1890, the founder retired and left the company to his brother Carl and sons Arnold and Wilhelm. Siemens & Halske (S&H) was incorporated in 1897.

In 1919, S&H and two other companies jointly formed the Osram lightbulb company. A Japanese subsidiary was established in 1923.

World War II

During the 1920s and 1930s, S&H started to manufacture radios, television sets, and electron microscopes. Before World War II Siemens was involved in the secret rearmament of Germany. During World War II, Siemens employed Jews and Roma as slave labour and ran its own concentration camp near Auschwitz.

Post-war

In the 1950s, S&H started to manufacture computers, semiconductor devices, laundry machines, and heart pace makers. Siemens AG was incorporated in 1966. The company's first digital telephone exchange was produced in 1980. In 1988 Siemens and GEC acquired the UK defence and technology company Plessey. The holdings of Plessey were split; Siemens taking over the avionics, radar and traffic control businesses — renamed Siemens Plessey.

In 1990, Siemens acquired failing Nixdorf Computer Company and renamed it Siemens Nixdorf Informationssysteme AG . Siemens Nixdorf Informationssysteme AG has since turned profitable under the stewardship of Gerhard Schumeyer . In 1997 Siemens introduced the first GSM cellular phone with color display. Also in 1997 Siemens agreed with British Aerospace and DASA the sale of the defence arm of Siemens Plessey. BAe and DASA acquired the British and German arms of the operation respectively.

Key business areas of Siemens AG

  • Communication
  • Automation and Control
  • Power
  • Transportation and Automotive
  • Medical
  • Lighting
  • Financing
  • Real Estate
  • Home Appliances
  • Water Treatment

Some of Siemens popular products:

  • Combino and ULF trams
  • Desiro trainsets
  • Hicom Trading Evolution HTE
  • MSR32R
  • EWSD telephone exchanges
  • Siemens Gigaset cordless telephones
  • Siemens cellular telephones
  • Siemens Teleperm XP Control System
  • Radio and core products for 2G and 3G Mobile Networks (GSM, UMTS, ...)
  • Gas & Steam Turbines

Management

Job: name, born

External links

Data

Last updated: 10-21-2005 21:03:09
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