History – Our company: grown over many years

1990

ELCON Systemtechnik GmbH is established as a trading, consulting, education and training company in Berlin on 18 March 1990. At that time the company has 13 employees.

1993

On 1 July 1993 ELCON acquires the former VEB Goldpfeil in Hartmannsdorf near Chemnitz/ Saxony. In the GDR this factory had become known in the COMECON countries for its high-quality production of magnetic heads for radios, storage devices and data processing equipment. With the buy-out ELCON Systemtechnik GmbH lays the cornerstone for a new era: at a location with long traditions in industry ELCON starts developing and producing electronic components and devices for telecommunications and the automotive industry.

1994

ELCON´s successful pilot certification in accordance with the quality standard DIN EN ISO 9001 opens the door for the development and production of equipment for Deutsche Telekom AG, Germany´s then telecommunications monopolist. Soon Deutsche Telekom AG becomes the major customer for ELCON Systemtechnik GmbH. Network terminating units are one of the first products that are being delivered.

1995

In 1995 ELCON for the first time sells Pair Gain systems (PCM). These systems allow the transmission of several telephone accesses over a single copper wire pair from the exchange office down to the subscriber. Today these systems are part of the product family ELCONnect gain.

1996

In the summer of 1996 ELCON moves to Saxony, and on 30 September 1996 ELCON Systemtechnik GmbH opens its headquarters in Hartmannsdorf. The Berlin site is restructured and operates from now on as ELCON´s export branch office to manage the expanding foreign markets.

1996 marks the beginning of a success story: serial production of the NTBA, the Network Terminating Unit for Basic Access is launched. Looking back, the NTBA by now has become ELCON´s best selling product ever (today it is offered within the product family ELCONnect isdn).

1999

The one millionth NTBA is manufactured and sold.

2000

In view of continuously rising production volumes, large investments in state-of-the-art production equipment need to be made. After buying an automatic SMT (Surface Mount Technology) line, allowing the placement of about 180,000 components per hour, (supplemented by stencil printing and reflow equipment) and a THT (Through Hole Technology) placement line with an hourly capacity of 6,000 components, ELCON is well-prepared for the expected further growth. Along with these investments in production technology, extensive works on the restoration and modernization of the old corporate building are completed.

At the same time ambitious development projects for HDSL transmission technology are launched (today found among the ELCONnect xpand products).

ELCON Systemtechnik GmbH takes over the R&D engineers, service and test labs from TRION GmbH in Berlin and continues TRION´s activities as subsidiary – ELCON mobility Telematics, Traffic and Data Management Company. Its pilot development project will be the On Board Unit (OBU) for Toll Collect, a syndicate of Deutsche Telekom and DaimlerChrysler that is charged with the introduction and operation of the toll collecting system for trucks on German motorways.

2001

The expansion in neighbouring business fields in the context of the acquisition of ELCON mobility GmbH requires the certification according to ISO/TS 16949. ELCON successfully passes the qualification audit in full compliance with the strict standards in the automotive industry.

While permanently looking for new market trends, ELCON does not neglect research on the established business fields. Current R&D projects focus on the SHDSL transmission technology (today ELCONnect xpand).

2002

The five millionth NTBA is produced.

In the meantime ELCON Systemtechnik GmbH has expanded its business into foreign markets and now runs international branch offices in France, Russia, Hungary, Poland, Iran and Vietnam.

ELCON demonstrates its environmental consciousness when the company is awarded the certificate for compliance with the eco-protection standards according to ISO 14001.

ELCON Systemtechnik GmbH acquires the German-based Marconi R&D department in Radeberg near Dresden and bundles all development activities in a new company affiliate named ELCON Entwicklungszentrum GmbH (ELCON Development Centre).

2003

In April 2003 ELCON mobility GmbH successfully transfers the OBU for toll collection into serial production. Production at the licensee Grundig starts in the last April week.

Based on the Powerline communications technology, ELCON starts its engagement in developing the Coaxline technology (today ELCONnect coax). The first solutions for transmission over the cable TV network provide gross data rates of max. 14 Mbps.

2004

At the end of 2004 ELCON Systemtechnik GmbH sells its subsidiary company ELCON mobility GmbH to the Austrian EFKON AG in Graz. Soon after that, the tried and tested toll collection system is launched in Germany. Toll collect starts out with 400,000 On-Board Units that have been developed by ELCON mobility GmbH.

2005

Losses in the operative business force the management to reductions in staff. In order to avoid longer idle times of the expensive production equipment, ELCON bridges the gap with job order production – the new business field EMS (Electronic Manufacturing Services, today ELCONnect logistic) is born.

The permanently increasing demand for higher bandwidth is the driving force to boost development of the ELCONnect coax technology, with the objective to provide gross data rates of 200 Mbps. Two years later, at the 2007 AngaCable trade fair, the system will be presented to the public and released for serial production.

2006

On 1 August 2006 Werner Neubauer is appointed new managing director of ELCON Systemtechnik GmbH.

2007

At the beginning of 2007 ELCON closes its Berlin branch office and concentrates all sales activities within Germany in Hartmannsdorf. In summer the affiliated development company ELCON Entwicklungszentrum GmbH merges with ELCON Systemtechnik GmbH.

On 12 July ELCON Systemtechnik GmbH announces the closing of the company takeover by the new investment company CFC Industriebeteiligungen GmbH &Co. KGaA. This holding company with headquarters in Dortmund had acquired ELCON in April 2007.

Focusing strong activities on the new business fields ELCONnect fiber (data transmission over optical fibre) and ELCONnect next (Next Generation Networks), ELCON Systemtechnik GmbH taps promising future markets.

In the meantime ELCON has sold the eight millionth NTBA.

2008

On 1 July 2008 ELCON opens its new sales and support centre in Eschborn. The new location will become a service hub for domestic and international customers. Eschborn is known as one of the centres of Germany´s telecommunications industry. While ARCOR, Orange, British Telecom and COLT Telecom are headquartered there, T-Home, T-Mobile and T-Systems have chosen Darmstadt – just 15 minutes away – as their top location for technical services.


Today …

Today ELCON is an internationally-active company on the telecommunications market. With its special focus on optimized network solutions, ELCON ranks among the market leaders in the field of electronic components and devices for the ISDN Basic Rate Access. Network-specific and customized product development is one of the company´s core competences. Meanwhile staff could be increased: there are 170 employees and several trainees. ELCON runs sales offices in Eschborn and Paris.

ELCON constantly expands its product portfolio and has been awarded quality certificates from major telecommunications companies. Network operators, system suppliers and system integrators – mainly in Europe – are ELCON´s target customers. ELCON products are in day-to-day use in nearly all European countries.

... and in future

ELCON thinks about opening a new sales office in Southern Europe, to be able to operate as fast as possible through local presence there.