Marconi Company

The Marconi Company was a British telecommunications and engineering company that existed from 1897 until 2006, undergoing numerous changes, mergers and acquisitions during that time. The company was founded by the Italian inventor Guglielmo Marconi and was originally known as The Wireless Telegraph & Signal Company. The company was a pioneer of wireless long distance communication and mass media broadcasting, eventually becoming one of the UKs most successful manufacturing companies. In 1999, its defence manufacturing division, Marconi Electronic Systems, merged with British Aerospace to form BAE Systems. In 2006, extreme financial difficulties led to the collapse of the remaining company, with the bulk of the business acquired by Ericsson.

History

Naming history

• 1897–1900: The Wireless Telegraph & Signal Company
• 1900–1963: Marconi's Wireless Telegraph Company
• 1963–1987: Marconi Company Ltd
• 1987–1998: GEC-Marconi Ltd
• 1998–1999: Marconi Electronic Systems Ltd
• 1999–2003: Marconi plc
• 2003–2006: Marconi Corporation plc

Early history

An employee of the Marconi Company, England, 1906

Marconi Wireless Station in Somerset, New Jersey, in 1921.

Marconi's "Wireless Telegraph and Signal Company" was formed on 20 July 1897 after the granting of a British patent for wireless in March of that year. The company opened the world's first radio factory on Hall Street in Chelmsford in 1898 and was responsible for some of the most important advances in radio and television. These include:

Marconi's Wireless Telegraph Training College was set up in 1901. The company and factory was moved to New Street Works in 1912, to allow for production expansion in light of the RMS Titanic disaster. Along with private entrepreneurs, Marconi company formed in 1924 the Unione Radiofonica Italiana (URI), which was granted by Mussolini's regime a monopoly of radio broadcasts in 1924. After the war, URI became the RAI, which lives on to this day.

In 1939 the Marconi Research Laboratories at Great Baddow were founded and in 1941 there was a buy out of Marconi-Ekco Instruments to form Marconi Instruments.

Operations as English Electric subsidiary

English Electric acquired The Marconi Company in 1946 which complemented its other operations; heavy electrical engineering, aircraft and its railway traction business. In 1948 the company was reorganised into four divisions:

These had expanded to 13 manufacturing divisions by 1965 when a further reorganisation took place. The divisions were placed into three groups :

At this time The Marconi Company had facilities at New Street Chelmsford, Baddow, Basildon, Billericay, and Writtle as well as in Wembley, Gateshead and Hackbridge. It also owned Marconi Instruments, Sanders Electronics, Eddystone Radio and Marconi Italiana (based in Genoa, Italy). In 1967 Marconi took over Stratton and Company to form Eddystone Radio.

Expansion as GEC subsidiary

In 1967 or 1968 English Electric was subject to a takeover bid by the Plessey Company but chose instead to accept an offer from GEC. Under UK government pressure, the computer section of GEC, English Electric Leo Marconi (EELM), merged with International Computers and Tabulators (ICT) to form International Computers Limited (ICL). The computer interests of Elliott Automation which specialised in real-time computing were amalgamated with those of Marconi's Automation Division to form Marconi-Elliott Computers, later renamed as GEC Computers. In 1968 Marconi Space and Defence Systems and Marconi Underwater Systems were formed.

The Marconi Company continued as the primary defence subsidiary of GEC, GEC-Marconi. Marconi was renamed GEC-Marconi in 1987. During the period 1968-1999 GEC-Marconi/MES underwent massive expansion.

Acquisitions which were folded into the company and partnerships established include:

Other acquisitions include:

• Divisions of Plessey in 1989 (others acquired by its partner in the deal, Siemens AG, to meet with regulatory approval).
  • Plessey Avionics
  • Plessey Naval Systems
  • Plessey Cryptography
  • Plessey Electronic Systems (75%)
  • Sippican
  • Leigh Instruments

In a major reorganisation of the company, GEC-Marconi was renamed Marconi Electronic Systems in 1996 and was separated from other non-defence assets.

Marconi name today

In 1999 GEC underwent a major transformation. Marconi Electronic Systems which included its wireless assets was demerged and sold to British Aerospace which then formed BAe Systems.

GEC, realigning itself as a primarily telecommunications company following the MES sale, retained the Marconi brand and renamed itself Marconi plc. BAE were granted limited rights to continue its use in existing partnerships, however by 2005 no BAE businesses use the Marconi name. Major spending and the dot-com collapse led to a major restructuring of that group, in a debt-for-equity swap shareholders were given 0.5% of the new company, Marconi Corporation plc.

In 1999 Reltec and Fore Systems were acquired at the height of the "dot-com" boom. With its subsequent collapse the Marconi Corporation got into financial difficulties.

In October 2005 the Marconi name and most of the assets were proposed to be bought by the Swedish firm Ericsson. The transaction was completed on 23 January 2006 effective as per 1 January 2006. The Marconi name will still be used as brand within Ericsson. At the time of the acquisition Ericsson announced that they would be rebranding Marconi assets Ericsson and retaining Marconi only as the name of the Italian research facility. However the company has since labeled its OMS line and its Long Haul Digital Radio system Marconi. The rest of the Marconi company was renamed as Telent.

See also

• Aerospace industry in the United Kingdom
• GEC-Marconi scientist deaths conspiracy theory
• Marconiphone
• Marconi-Osram Valve
• Imperial Wireless Chain

References

• Baker, W. J. (1970, 1996) History of the Marconi Company 1894-1965.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Marconi Company.

• Ericsson press release about the acquisition
• Catalogue of the Marconi Archives At the Department of Special Collections and Western Manuscripts, Bodleian Library, University of Oxford
• Marconi Calling The Life, Science and Achievements of Guglielmo Marconi
• History of Marconi House

v t e Aerospace industry in the United Kingdom Economy of the United Kingdom Manufacturing in the United Kingdom Companies Current AD Aerospace AgustaWestland Airbus UK Astrium Satellites (Surrey Satellite Technology) BAE Systems (BAE Systems Integrated System Technologies BAE Systems Military Air Solutions Eurofighter GmbH (33%) MBDA (37.5%)) BBA Aviation Boeing Defence UK British Airways Engineering Britten-Norman Chemring Group Cobham (Cobham Technical Services) Euravia GE Aviation Systems GFS Projects GKN Hants and Sussex Aviation Hybrid Air Vehicles IRVIN-GQ Lindstrand Technologies Lockheed Martin UK Marshall Aerospace Martin-Baker Meggitt Messier-Bugatti-Dowty QinetiQ Reaction Engines Rolls-Royce Selex ES Short Brothers Telespazio VEGA Thales Air Defence Thales Optronics Ultra Electronics Defunct ADC Aircraft AJEP Abbott-Baynes Sailplanes ABC Motors Air Navigation and Engineering Company Airco The Airscrew Company Airship Industries Airspeed Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft Arrow Aircraft Auster Austin Motor Company Aviation Traders Avro Beagle Aircraft William Beardmore and Company Blackburn Aircraft Boulton & Paul Boulton Paul Aircraft Bristol Aeroplane Company British Aerial Transport British Aerospace British Aircraft Company British Aircraft Corporation British Aircraft Manufacturing BTR Aerospace Central Aircraft Company Chilton Aircraft Chrislea Aircraft Clayton & Shuttleworth Comper Aircraft Company Cunliffe-Owen Aircraft Dart Aircraft de Havilland de Havilland Aeronautical Technical School de Havilland Propellers Desoutter Aircraft Company Dowty Group Dowty Rotol Dunlop Standard Aerospace E. D. Abbott Edgar Percival Aircraft Elliotts of Newbury English Electric Fairey Aviation Company Fane Aircraft Company Ferranti Folland Aircraft Foster, Wikner Aircraft Garland Aircraft Company General Aircraft General Electric Company Gloster Aircraft Company Grahame-White Handley Page Hawker Aircraft Hawker Siddeley Heston Aircraft Company Hewlett & Blondeau Hordern-Richmond Hunting Aircraft Lakes Flying Company Luton Aircraft M. B. Arpin & Co. Marconi Company Marconi Electronic Systems Martinsyde Matra Marconi Space Miles Aircraft Moss Brothers Aircraft Napier & Son Nash & Thomson National Aircraft Factory No. 2 Nieuport & General Aircraft Norman Thompson Flight Company Parnall Parnall & Sons Port Victoria Marine Experimental Aircraft Depot Lang Propellers Reid and Sigrist Rollason Aircraft and Engines Royal Aircraft Establishment Saunders-Roe Scottish Aviation Seaplane Experimental Station SELEX Galileo SELEX Sistemi Integrati Siddeley-Deasy Sopwith Aviation Company Spartan Aircraft Supermarine Vickers Vickers-Armstrongs Westland Aircraft Westland Helicopters J. Samuel White Government and regulatory bodies Civil Aviation Authority Defence Support Group Defence Science and Technology Laboratory European Aviation Safety Agency Related topics ADS Group Aircraft manufactured in the United Kingdom Air International Air Service Training British aerospace engineers Farnborough Airshow Flight International Key Publishing NATS Holdings NDI UK ParcAberporth Royal Aeronautical Society Society of British Aerospace Companies Category

v t e Telecommunications industry in the United Kingdom Economy of the United Kingdom Science and technology in the United Kingdom Companies Infrastructure providers Arqiva BT Wholesale Interxion Openreach TelecityGroup Telehouse Europe VT Communications Service providers Current Andrews & Arnold Asda Mobile British Sky Broadcasting Sky Broadband Be Un Limited BT Group BT Global Services BT Mobile BT Retail BT TV Plusnet Madasafish Claranet Colt Group The Co-operative Cable & Wireless Communications Delight Mobile EE Orange (UK) T-Mobile UK Family Mobile Hutchison 3G Inmarsat KCOM Group Eclipse Internet Lebara Mobile LycaMobile Mapesbury Communications Mobile by Sainsbury's Talkmobile TalkTalk Group AOL Broadband TalkTalk Business TalkTalk Mobile TalkTalk Plus TV Telecom Plus Telefónica Europe Giffgaff O2 (United Kingdom) Tesco Mobile Tru Vectone Mobile Virgin Media Virgin Mobile UK Vodafone Vodafone UK Voipfone WightFibre Zen Internet Defunct Atlantic Telegraph Company Bonelli's Electric Telegraph Company Cable & Wireless plc Cable & Wireless Worldwide Dolphin Telecom Electric Telegraph Company Energis General Post Office Ionica London and Provincial District Telegraph Company Mercury Communications National Telephone Company NTL Incorporated Post Office Telecommunications Universal Private Telegraph Company Suppliers Current ARM Holdings Artevea Cablefree CSR Icera Pace Sarantel Spirent Telent Defunct GEC Plessey Telecommunications Marconi Company Marconi Communications PicoChip Standard Telephones and Cables Other Carphone Warehouse Hibu Phones 4u Dial-a-Phone Government and regulatory bodies Broadband Stakeholder Group Defence Science and Technology Laboratory European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations International Telecommunication Union Ofcom PhonepayPlus Industry bodies GSM Association Internet Service Providers Association LONAP London Internet Exchange MaNAP Symbian Foundation Internet Telephony Services Providers’ Association Other Adastral Park British Approvals Board for Telecommunications British Telecommunications Act 1981 British telephone sockets BT Research BT site engineering code Communications Act 2003 Earth stations in the United Kingdom Hull Colour Pages Interception of Communications Act 1985 Internet in the United Kingdom Telegraph Act Telegraph Act 1868 Telegraph Act 1885 Telephone numbers in the United Kingdom Category Commons