Reichle & De-Massari
 | |
| Public Company | |
| Industry | Information and communications technology |
| Founded | 1964 |
| Founder | Hans Reichle, Renato De-Massari |
| Headquarters | Wetzikon, Switzerland |
Key people |
Michel Riva (CEO) Johannes (Hans) Hess (Chairman of the Supervisory Board |
| Revenue | 205.1 CHF (around € 188 million) (2015) |
Number of employees | 816 (December 31st, 2015) |
| Website | www.rdm.com |
Reichle & De-Massari AG (R&M), based in Wetzikon, is an independent Swiss family business specializing in information and communications technology. The company concentrates on the development and manufacturing of cabling technology for communications networks. The company is fully owned by the Reichle family and has more than 800 employees. The company’s annual sales in 2015 amounted to CHF 205.1 million (around €188 million).
History
R&M was founded by Hans Reichle and Renato De-Massari in 1965 as a two-man business. The two employees of Switzerland’s telecommunications company came up with the idea of a new, easier-to-install telephone outlet, which to this day is known as Reichle-Connector in Switzerland.
Originally R&M was set up to develop this product and market it throughout Switzerland. The company then broadened its range of products and services to cabling technology for data and voice networks as a whole, based on copper and optical fiber cabling (glass and polymer fibers). One of the firm’s core products is its Cat. 6 module for Ethernet networks, which is widely used in networks all over the world. The product’s success was founded on, among other things, its sales partnership with IBM, which lasted many years (1993–1999). Following the death of De-Massari, his business partner Hans Reichle took overall charge . In 2005 Reichle retired to the Board of Directors and handed over operational responsibilities to his two sons Martin and Peter, who ran the company in their respective positions as CEO and COO until August 2012. Michel Riva became the company’s first ever externally appointed CEO on 1 September 2012. Supervisory board members Martin and Peter Reichle continue to represent the interests of the family owners. Although R&M is a joint-stock company, it is not quoted on the Stock Exchange.
Products
R&M designs products for private networks, data centers and public network carriers using network cabling technology. Their portfolio for public network carriers includes FTTx solutions for central office, outside plant and on-site applications. They also offers fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) products. The firm is a gold sponsor of the Fiber-to-the-Home-Council Europe, an organisation promoting the installation of ultra-fast fiber-optic networks linking companies and private households.
Internationalisation
R&M subsidiaries have been established, amongst others, in Germany, the Netherlands, France, Italy, Spain, Hungary, Poland, Bulgaria, Dubai, Singapore, India and Brazil. Since 2016 there has been a subsidiary in the USA. In many other countries R&M has distribution partners. Around 70 percent of the turnover is from outside of Switzerland.
In September 2008 the group’s first management and logistics hub in the Asia-Pacific region came into operation in Singapore. Its Middle Eastern hub in Dubai was opened in 2009; its Western European office in the Dutch town of Apeldoorn in 2011. An assembly plant in the Dubai Airport Free Zone began manufacturing products for the Middle East/Africa (MEA) market and Asia in July 2012. In the Bulgarian capital Sofia the company opened an additional fiber optics production facility in October 2012. An Saudi office in Riyadh was opened in 2012.
In February 2016 the firm acquired the fiber optics specialist REALM Communications Group, based in Silicon Valley, USA.
Corporate Film
R&M received a Silver Dolphin at the Cannes Corporate Media & TV Awards for its corporate film which takes an entertaining look at the difference between intact and corrupt network packets. The film also gives industry outsiders a clear insight into the abstract concept of network quality.