Standard Telephones and Cables Ltd(laterSTCplc) was a British manufacturer of telephone, telegraph, radio, telecommunications, and related equipment. During its history, STC invented and developed several groundbreaking new technologies includingpulse-code modulation(PCM) andoptical fibres.
 | |
| Company type | Public |
|---|---|
| Industry | Telecommunications |
| Founded | 1925 |
| Defunct | 1991 |
| Fate | Acquired |
| Successor | Nortel |
| Headquarters | London, UK |
Key people | SirKenneth Corfield(chairman) |
The company was founded in 1883 in London as International Western Electric bythe Western Electric Company,shortly after Western Electric became the telephone equipment supplier forthe American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T)in the United States. In 1925, Western Electric divested itself of all foreign operations and sold International Western Electric toInternational Telephone and Telegraph(ITT), in part to thwart antitrust actions by the American government.[1]In mid-1982, STC became an independent company and was listed on theLondon Stock Exchange;for a time it was a constituent of theFTSE 100 Index.It was bought byNortelin 1991.
History
editEarly days
editThe company was established in 1883 as an agent forWestern Electric,which also had a factory inAntwerp,Belgium. The London operation sold US-designed telephones and exchanges to fledgling British telephone companies. Because of the costs of importing products, the company purchased a failingelectrical cablefactory atNorth Woolwichin London, in 1898. In addition to making lead-sheathed cables, the factory started assembling equipment from components imported from Belgium and the US, and subsequently introduced manufacturing. The company wasincorporatedas a British legal entity in 1910.[2]
World War Ibrought its progress to a sudden halt. The company contributed to the war effort in military communications with its cable andwirelesstechnologies. With radio technology rapidly developing in the USA after the war, Western Electric had an advantage whenradio broadcastingwas introduced in Britain. As well as manufacturing radio receivers, the company, in aconsortiumwith its competitors, set up theBritish Broadcasting Company(BBC) in 1922.Electron tubetechnology was commercially exploited.
Inter-war growth
editIn 1925, Western Electric sold off its international operations, as well as the general electrical equipment merchandizing operations. The buyer of the international operations was the infantITT Corporation,founded bySosthenes Behnless than ten years previously with an aggressive and thrusting reputation. To fit with its other worldwide operations, ITT renamed its new UK operationStandard Telephones and Cables,its name implying a standard against which others would be measured. The new organization employed entrepreneurial risk taking, based on solid research and brave innovation.[citation needed]
In 1933, Brimar was established to manufacture American-patternelectron tubesatFoots Cray,adjacent to theKolster-Brandesfactory.[3]
Within a few years, multi-channeltransmission(1932),microwavetransmission (1934),coaxialcabling (1936), the entire radio systems for the linersQueen MaryandQueen Elizabeth(1936–39), the patenting ofpulse-code modulation(1938) all contributed to the hey-day oftelephony's development.
Between 1939 and 1945, significant military work was undertaken with many developments particularly with regard toaerial warfare:communications,radar,navigational aids,and especiallyOBOE
Emergence of telecommunications
edit
The 1950s were characterised by the establishment oftelevisionbroadcasting. Technical milestones were numerous and were crowned by the coverage ofQueen Elizabeth II'sCoronationin 1953. The steady spread of TV transmission and availability over Britain very often used STC technology and equipment.
In other areas, ship-to-ship, ship-to-shore and civil aviation communications took on modern characteristics with STC's products. In time, international and intercontinental submarine telephone contact became possible, feasible and then everyday. Questions of product and installation quality and absolute reliability were overcome and STC became a major player with its production unit in Southampton opened in 1956. Coverage graduated from rivers, estuaries, theEnglish Channel,theNorth Sea,theAtlanticto thePacificOceans. STC became the world leader in this field after acquiring Submarine Cables Ltd in 1970.[4]
In the late 1940s and early 1950s, STC also supplied signalbox train describer equipment toBritish Railways;[5]for the 1949 installation ofpower signallingin the North and South boxes atDoncaster,STC also provided route setting panels for control of points and signals, using a novel "sequential switch interlocking" format based around telephone exchange switching technology.[6]
Digital technologybegan to supplantanaloguewithBell'sinvention oftransistors.STC's first PCM link in 1964 had waited nearly 30 years for material technology to make it work.
Digital age
editIn 1966,Charles Kaoof STC'sStandard Telecommunication LaboratoriesinHarlowdemonstrated that light rather than electricity could be used to transmit speech and (more importantly) data accurately at very high speeds.[7]Again materials technology took time to catch up, but by 1977 a commercialfibre opticlink had been installed in England. Within ten yearsBTabandoned metal cables except at the subscriber's premises. Before STC's demise, its plant at Wednesbury Street,Newportcame to dominate the recabling of the UK public telephone system.
In telephone switching apparatus, STC (New Southgate) was also a major player. In 1971 the company installed a fully digital (PCM) controlled telephone exchange atMoorgatein the City of London.[8]It was a tandem exchange, switchingPCMmultiplexes between several other exchanges. Until 1980, STC'sTXE4 analogue electronic switch was an early replacement for electro-mechanical systems.[9]Before a politically engineered withdrawal in 1982, STC and its (now equally defunct) partnersPlesseyandGEC,developed the fully digitalSystem Xswitch which is still in service in the UK as of 2005.[10]
Decline and sale
editITT Corporationneeded to raise cash to fund continued development of itsSystem 12telephone switching system[11]and sold off all but a minority shareholding of STC between 1979 and 1982.[12]
With developments in computer technology influencing and stimulating telecoms, thebuzzwordof the late 1980s became "convergence".An attempt to enter themainframe computermarket with the takeover ofICLled to financial strains. The rationale was the convergence of computing and telecoms but the vision was too early. Almost immediately, STC had financial problems and ICL was ring-fenced to preserve it as a profit centre. By 1991, with an ageing workforce, loss of business from the newly privatised BT, production spread over too many expensive sites and no clear leadership succession to its former chairman,Sir Kenneth Corfield,STC was bought by Canadian company Northern Telecom (Nortel).[13][14]
Operations
editThe company was based in the United Kingdom but also had an operation in Australia, which was acquired byAlcatel Australiain 1987.[15]
References
edit- ^John Brooks,Telephone—The First 100 Years,Harper and Row, New York (1975) p.170
- ^"Standard Telephones and Cables - Graces Guide".
- ^"Corporate Milestones".Archived fromthe originalon 24 April 2011.Retrieved11 July2010.
- ^Competition Commission Report on Cable Construction 1979 Page 138[usurped]
- ^"Doncaster PSB 23rd April 2013".23 April 2013.
- ^"THE SIGNAL BOX • View topic - Sequence Switch interlocking".Archived fromthe originalon 2 February 2017.
- ^Hecht, Jeff (1999).City of Light, The Story of Fiber Optics.New York: Oxford University Press. p.114.ISBN0-19-510818-3.
- ^100 Years of Telephone Switching By Robert J. Chapuis Page 316
- ^"Telephone Exchanges: Rectory Automatic Telephone Exchange, Sutton Coldfield".Archived fromthe originalon 23 January 2009.Retrieved1 January2009.
- ^100 years of Telephone Switching by Robert J. Chapuis, Page 572
- ^Disconnecting a Telephone EmpireTime Magazine, 7 July 1986
- ^ITT to sell STC stake to TelecomNew York Times, 7 October 1987
- ^Telecom bid to buy STCNew York Times, 9 November 1990
- ^Nortel History - 1980 to 1989Archived30 September 2009 at theWayback Machine
- ^Vintage Radio
Further reading
edit• Peter Young, 1983,Power of Speech: A History of Standard Telephones and Cables 1883-1983,George Allen & Unwin;.ISBN0043820395(London, UK)
External links
edit- "STL Harlow Quarter Century Club".www.stlqcc.org.uk.
