Philips - Cwdm Tranceiver Manufacturer - Pcie Gigabit Nic Manufacturer
History
History
The company was founded in 1891 by Gerard Philips, a maternal cousin of Karl Marx, in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. Its first products were light bulbs and other electro-technical equipment. Its first factory survives as a museum devoted to light sculpture. In the 1920s, the company started to manufacture other products, such as vacuum tubes (also known worldwide as 'valves'), In 1927 they acquired the British electronic valve manufacturers Mullard and in 1932 the German tube manufacturer Valvo, both of which became subsidiaries. In 1939 they introduced their electric razor, the Philishave (marketed in the USA using the Norelco brand name).
On 11 March 1927 Philips went on the air with a station called PCJ, now known as Radio Netherlands Worldwide. It was broadcast to the Dutch East Indies. The host of the first broadcast was Eddy Startz and from 1927 until he retired in 1969, Startz hosted a show called Happy Station (reportedly the world's longest-running shortwave radio programme, cancelled in 1995). The only time the station went off the air was when Nazi Germany invaded the Netherlands.[citation needed] Following the end of the war PCJ changed its name to Radio Netherlands and has continued broadcasting to this day.[citation needed]
Philips was also instrumental in the revival of the Stirling engine.
World War II
Philips shield
On 9 May 1940, the Philips directors were informed about the German invasion of the Netherlands to take place the following day. They decided to leave the country and flee to the United States, taking a large amount of the company capital with them. Operating from the US as the North American Philips Company, they managed to run the company throughout the war. At the same time, the company itself was moved to the Netherlands Antilles (just on paper) to keep it out of German hands.
It is also believed that Philipsoth before and during the warupplied enormous amounts of electric equipment to the German occupation forces, which has led some people to think that the company collaborated with the Nazis, like many other firms in their day. However, there is no evidence to suggest that Philips itself or its management ever sympathized with the Nazis or their ideologies. The only Philips family member who did not leave the country, Frits Philips, saved the lives of 382 Jews by indicating to the Nazis that they were indispensable for the production process at Philips, for which he was awarded recognition as a "Righteous Among the Nations" by Yad Vashem in 1995. There is little Philips could have done to prevent the Germans from abusing their production facilities and forcing their employees to perform slave labour during the occupation. The production facility in Eindhoven was the only Dutch industrial target that was deliberately bombed by the allied forces during the war.[citation needed]
Postwar era
After the war the company was moved back to the Netherlands, with their headquarters in Eindhoven. Many secret research facilities had been locked and successfully hidden from the invaders, which allowed the company to get up to speed again quickly after the war.[citation needed]
Philips Lighttower in Eindhoven.
In 1950, Philips formed Philips Records.
Philips introduced the audio Compact Cassette tape in 1963 and was wildly successful. Compact cassettes were initially used for dictation machines for office typing stenographers and professional journalists. As their sound quality improved, cassettes would also be used to record sound and became the second mass media to sell recorded music alongside vinyl records. Philips introduced the first combination portable radio and cassette recorder which is marketed as the "radiorecorder" and which is now better known as the boom box. Later the cassette was used in telephone answering machines including a special form of cassette where the tape was wound on an endless loop. The C-cassette found itself also as the first mass storage device for early personal computers in the 1970s and 1980s. Philips would also reduce the cassette size for the professional needs, first with the mini cassette and later the microcassette which were predominant dictation machines up to the advent of fully digital dictation machines.
In 1972 Philips launched the world's first home video cassette recorder, the N1500 with bulky video cassettes that could record 30 minutes or 45 minutes. Later one hour tapes were also offered. As competition came from Sony's Betamax and the VHS group of manufacturers, Philips introduced the N1700 system which allowed double length recording and for the first time would fit a 2 hour movie onto one video cassette; in 1977, the company unveiled a special promotional film for this system in the UK featuring comedic personality Denis Norden. This idea was soon copied by the Japanese makers whose tapes were significantly cheaper. Philips made one last attempt at a new standard for video recorders with the Video 2000 system with tapes that could be used on both sides and had thus 8 hours of total recording time. As Philips only sold its systems on the PAL standard and in Europe, and the Japanese makers sold globally, the scale advantages of the Japanese proved insurmountable and Philips withdrew the V2000 system and joined the VHS Coalition.
Philips had early developments of a laser disk for selling movies but delayed its commercial launch for fear of cannibalizing its video recorder sales. Later Philips would join with MCA to launch the first commercial laser disk standard and players. In 1982, Philips would team with Sony to launch Compact Disc. These formats evolved to the present day DVD and Blu-Ray, which Philips launched with Sony in 1997 and 2006 respectively.
In 1991, the company's name was changed from N.V. Philips Gloeilampenfabrieken to Philips Electronics N.V. At the same time, North American Philips was formally dissolved, and a new corporate division was formed in the U.S. with the name Philips Electronics North America Corp.
In 1997 the decision was made to move the headquarters from Eindhoven to Amsterdam, along with the corporate name change to Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. The move was completed in 2001. Initially, the company was housed in the Rembrandt Tower, but in 2002 they moved again, this time to the Breitner Tower. In a sense, the move to Amsterdam can be considered a return to the company's roots, because Gerard Philips lived in Amsterdam when he came up with the idea of building a light bulb factory. He also conducted his first experiments in the field of mass production of light bulbs there, together with Jan Reesse. Philips Lighting, Philips Research, Philips Semiconductors (spun off as NXP in September 2006) and Philips Design, are still based in Eindhoven. Philips Healthcare is headquartered in both Best, Netherlands (just outside Eindhoven) and Andover, Massachusetts, United States (near Boston).
Main inventions
Main articles: Laserdisc, Compact Disc, DVD, and Blu-ray
Laserdisc
Laserdisc was a 30 cm disc designed with MCA meant to compete with VHS and even replace it. It never took off but the technologies created for Laserdisc would later be used again for the Compact Disc.
Compact Disc
Although Philips' and MCA's Laserdisc project failed, Philips still thought the format should be able to succeed. It took them ultimately (with Sony's help) until 1982 to successfully launch the CD.
DVD
The DVD, the eventual successor of the CD, met a long road of setbacks. Philips wanted to continue with the CD in a new format called MultiMedia Compact Disc (MMCD), while another group (led by Toshiba) was developing a competing format, then named Super Density (SD) disc. Their representatives approached IBM for advice on the file system. IBM also learned of Philips' and Sony's initiative. IBM convinced a group of computer industry experts (among them Apple, Dell, etc.) to form a working group. The Technical Working Group (TWG) voted to boycott both formats unless they merged to prevent another format war (like the videotape format war). The result was the DVD specification, finalized in 1995. The DVD video format was first introduced in Japan in 1996, later in 1997 in the U.S. as limited test run, then across Europe and the other continents from late 1998 onwards.
Blu-Ray
Blu-Ray, yet again primarily developed by Philips and Sony, utilizes blue-violet colored diodes to create an even shorter wavelength beam than CD or DVD. Because of this, the capacity is much more than that of CD or DVD, being 25 GiB single-sided or 50 GiB dual-layered. As with the videotape and DVD, the Blu-Ray also fell victim to a format war, the High definition optical disc format war.
Sale of semiconductors
As a chip maker, Philips Semiconductors was among the Worldwide Top 20 Semiconductor Sales Leaders.
In December 2005, Philips announced its intention to make the Semiconductor Division into a separate legal entity. This process of "disentanglement" was completed on 1 October 2006.
On 2 August 2006, Philips completed an agreement to sell a controlling 80.1% stake in Philips Semiconductors to a consortium of private equity investors consisting of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR), Silver Lake Partners and AlpInvest Partners. The sale completed a process, which began December 2005, with its decision to create a separate legal entity for Semiconductors and to pursue all strategic options. Six weeks before, ahead of its online dialogue, through a letter to 8,000 of Philips managers, it was announced that they were speeding up the transformation of Semiconductors into a stand-alone entity with majority ownership by a third party. It was stated then that "this is much more than just a transaction: it is probably the most significant milestone on a long journey of change for Philips and the beginning of a new chapter for everyone especially those involved with Semiconductors".
In its more than 115 year history, this counts as a big step that is definitely changing the profile of the company. Philips was one of few companies that successfully made the transition from the electrical world of the 19th century into the electronic age, starting its semiconductor activity in 1953 and building it into a global top 10 player in its industry. As such, Semiconductors was at the heart of many innovations in Philips over the past 50 years.
Agreeing to start a process that would ultimately lead to the decision to sell the Semiconductor Division therefore was one of the toughest decisions that the Board of Management ever had to make.
On 21 August 2006, Bain Capital and Apax Partners announced that they had signed definitive commitments to join the expanded consortium headed by KKR that is to acquire the controlling stake in the Semiconductors Division.
On 1 September 2006, it was announced in Berlin that the name of the new semiconductor company founded by Philips is NXP Semiconductors.
Coinciding with the sale of the Semiconductor Division, Philips also announced that they would drop the word 'Electronics' from the company name, thus becoming simply Koninklijke Philips N.V. (Royal Philips N.V.).
Corporate affairs
In 2004, Philips abandoned the slogan "Let's make things better" in favour of a new one: "Sense and simplicity".
ASM Lithography is a spin-off from a division of Philips.
Origin, now part of Atos Origin, is a former division of Philips.
Its record division, Polygram, was sold to Seagram in 1998 to form Universal Music Group.
Philips Intellectual Property and Standards, is the company's division dealing with licensing, trademark protection and patenting. Philips currently holds about 55,000 patent rights, 33,000 trademark registrations, and 49,000 design registrations.
CEOs
Past and present CEOs:
18911922: Gerard Philips
19221939: Anton Philips
19391961: Frans Otten
19611971: Frits Philips
19711977: Henk van Riemsdijk
19771981: Nico Rodenburg
19821986: Wisse Dekker
19861990: Cornelis Van der Klugt
19901996: Jan Timmer
19962001: Cor Boonstra
2001resent: Gerard Kleisterlee
Acquisitions, subsidiaries and spinouts
Acquisitions
Companies acquired by Philips through the years include Amperex, Magnavox, Signetics, Mullard, VLSI, Agilent Healthcare Solutions Group, Marconi Medical Systems, ADAC Labs, ATL Ultrasound, portions of Westinghouse and the consumer electronics operations of Philco and Sylvania. Philips abandoned the Sylvania trademark which is now owned by SLI (Sylvania Lighting International) except in Australia, Canada, Mexico, New Zealand, Puerto Rico and the USA where it is owned by the Osram unit of Siemens. Formed in November 1999 as a equal joint venture between Philips and Agilent Technologies, the light-emitting diode manufacturer Lumileds became a subsidiary of Phillips Lighting in August 2005 and a fully-owned subsidiary in December 2006. In 2000, Philips bought Optiva Corporation, the maker of Sonicare electric toothbrushes. The company was renamed Philips Oral Healthcare and made a subsidiary of Philips DAP. In 2006 Philips bought out the company Lifeline Systems headquartered in Framingham, Massachusetts. In August 2007 Philips acquired the company Ximis, Inc. headquartered in El Paso, TX for their Medical Informatics Division. In October 2007, it purchased a Moore Microprocessor Patent (MPP) Portfolio license from The TPL Group.
On Friday, 21st of December 2007 Philips and Respironics, Inc. announced a definitive merger agreement pursuant to which Philips will commence a tender offer to acquire all of the outstanding shares of Respironics for US$66 per share, or a total purchase price of approximately 3.6 billion (US$5.1 billion) to be paid in cash upon completion.
Spinouts
Polymer Vision, the maker of The Readius, is a spin out from Philips Electronics.
APRICO Solutions, is a venture within Philips Intellectual Property and Standards.
Philips also forayed into the pharmaceuticals market in a company best known as Philips-Duphar (Dutch Pharmaceuticals). Philips-Duphar made products for crop protection, veterinary medicine and products for human use. Duphar was sold to Solvay, now Solvay Pharmaceuticals. In subsequent years divisions have been sold of, by Solvay, to other companies (crop protection was sold to UniRoyal, now Chemtura and the veterinary division was sold to Fort Dodge, a division of Wyeth).
Sports, sponsorships and naming rights
Traditionally Philips has a vested interest in sports, originally as a means to provide a healthy form of recreation for its employees. In 1913, in celebration of the Centenary of Dutch independence from France, Philips founded a sports club called Philips Sport Vereniging (Philips Sports Club), or PSV, as it is now known. The sports club encompasses all kinds of sports, but is currently most famous for its Premier League football team and its swimming team. Philips owns the naming rights to Philips Stadion, located in Eindhoven, which is home to Dutch football team PSV Eindhoven.
Abroad, Philips sponsors and has sponsored numerous sport clubs, sport facilities, and events. Philips recently (November 2008) extended its very successful F1 partnership with AT&T Williams to include many more product groups.
Furthermore, Philips owns the naming rights to the Philips Arena in Atlanta, Georgia and to the Philips Championship, the premier basketball league in Australia, traditionally known as the National Basketball League. Between 1988 and 1993 Philips were also the major sponsors of The Balmain Tigers, an Australian rugby league team.
In Thailand Philips is a sponsor of PEA FC.
Outside of sports Philips sponsors the Philips Monsters of Rock festival, held in many countries all over the world.
Worldwide presence
Philips also used to sell major household appliances (whitegoods) under the name Philips. After selling the Major Domestic Appliances division to Whirlpool Corporation it changed via Philips Whirlpool and Whirlpool Philips to Whirlpool only. Whirlpool bought a 53% stake in Philips' major appliance operations to form Whirlpool International. Whirlpool bought Philips' remaining interest in Whirlpool International in 1991.
Philips is a member of the Hybrid Broadcast Broadband TV (HbbTV) consortium of broadcasting and Internet industry companies (also including SES Astra, Humax, OpenTV and ANT Software) that is promoting and establishing an open European standard (called HbbTV) for hybrid set-top boxes for the reception of broadcast TV and broadband multimedia applications with a single user interface.
Australia
Philips Australia was founded in 1927 and has been involved in many activities over the years, especially manufacturing. Philips Australia has its headquarters in North Ryde, New South Wales. The company employs over 400 people nationwide.
Regional sales and support offices are located in Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth. IT infrastructure Services are provided by IBM under the APAC regional River contract and managed by Philips ITI.
Current operating sectors/activities include;
Philips Healthcare (also responsible for New Zealand operations)
Philips Lighting (also responsible for New Zealand operations)
Philips Consumer Lifestyle (also responsible for New Zealand operations)
Philips Dictation Systems
Philips Dynalite (Lighting Control systems, acquired in 2009)
Brazil
Philips do Brasil was founded in 1924. In 1929, Philips started to sell radio receivers. In the 1930s, Philips was making its light bulbs and radio receivers in Brazil. From 1939 to 1945, World War II forced Brazilian branch of Philips to sell bicycles, refrigerators and insecticides. After the war, Philips had a great industrial expansion in Brazil,and was among first groups to establish in Manaus Free Zone. In the 1970s, Philips Records was a major player in Brazil recording industry. Nowadays, Philips do Brasil is one of the largest foreign-owned companies in Brazil.
Canada
For several years, Philips manufactured lighting products in Canada. They had two factories.
One was in Winsdor, ON. It has been opened by Philips in '71. The factory produced A19 lamps (including the "Royale" long life bulbs), PAR38 lamps and T19 lamps (originally a Westinghouse lamp shape). Philips closed the factory in May '03.
The other plant was at Trois-Rivires, QC. It was formerly a Westinghouse factory, Philips simply continued to run it after buying the Westinghouse's lamp division in '83. Philips closed this factory a few years later, in the late 80s.
China, People's Republic of
In early 2008 Philips Lighting, a division of Royal Philips Electronics, opened a small engineering center to adapt the company's products to vehicles in Asia.
Hong Kong
Philips Hong Kong began operation in 1948. Philips Hong Kong houses the global headquarter of Philips' Audio Business Unit. It also house Philip's Asia Pacific regional office and headquarters for its Design Division, Domestic Appliances & Personal Care Produc
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