Standard Telephones and Cables Ltd (later STC plc) was a British telephone, telegraph, radio, telecommunications and related equipment R&D manufacturer. It began life in London as International Western Electric in 1883. The company was owned from 1925 to mid 1980s by ITT of the USA. The company’s operations were ultimately bought by Northern Telecom (Europe) (Nortel) in 1991. The initials plc after a UK or Irish company name indicate that it is a public limited company, a type of limited company whose shares may be offered for sale to the public. ... The telephone or phone (Greek: tele = far away and phone = voice) is a telecommunications device which is used to transmit and receive sound (most commonly voice and speech) across distance. ... Telegraphy (from the Greek words tele = far away and grapho = write) is the long distance transmission of written messages without physical transport of letters, originally over wire. ... Telecommunication is the extension of communication over a distance. ... The phrase research and development (also R and D or R&D) has a special commercial significance apart from its conventional coupling of research and technological development. ... Manufacturing is the transformation of raw materials into finished goods for sale, or intermediate processes involving the production or finishing of semi-manufactures. ... For other uses, see London (disambiguation). ... 1883 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... 1925 (MCMXXV) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar). ... The 1980s decade refers to the years from 1980 to 1989, inclusive. ... This article needs cleanup. ... Nortel Networks Corporation, formerly known as Northern Telecom Limited and now familiarly known simply as Nortel, is a telecommunications equipment manufacturer giant headquartered in Canada. ... 1991 (MCMXCI in Roman) is a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

During its history STC invented and developed several groundbreaking new technologies including PCM and optical fibres. Pulse-code modulation (PCM) is a modulation technique. ... Optical fibers An optical fiber is a transparent thin fiber, usually made of glass or plastic, for transmitting light. ...

History

Early Days

The company began life in 1883 as an agent for the US Western Electric company that also had a factory in Antwerp, Belgium. The London operation sold US-designed telephones and exchanges to fledgling British telephone companies. However, because of the costs of importing product, a failing cable factory at North Woolwich in London’s East End was acquired in 1898. Despite setbacks, as well as making lead-sheathed cables this factory also assembled equipment from components imported from Belgium and the States. It then moved into their complete manufacture too. Using advanced American thinking and designs and after incorporation as a British legal entity in 1910, Western Electric Ltd’s future looked bright. An agent is an autonomous entity with an ontological commitment and agenda of its own. ... Western Electric (sometimes abbreviated WE and WECo) was a US electrical engineering company, the manufacturing arm of AT&T from 1881 to 1995 . ... The Cathedral of our Lady (Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekathedraal, Antwerp) in the Handschoenmarkt, in the old quarter of Antwerp is the largest cathedral in the Low Countries and home to a number of triptychs by Renaissance Belgian painter Rubens. ... A cable is two or more wires bound together which may be bare, covered or insulated. ... North Woolwich consists of two tracts of land, totalling 412 acres (1. ... The term East End is most commonly used to refer to the East End of London. ... 1898 (MDCCCXCVIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Monday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar). ... The examples and perspective in this article do not represent a worldwide view. ... -1...

World War I brought this progress to a sudden halt. The company contributed to the war effort in military communications and the then primitive cable and wireless technologies they used. Radio technology was being initiated in the neutral USA. This gave Western Electric a post-war advantage as wireless broadcasting was introduced in Britain. The company was closely involved in wireless broadcasting (radio). With its competitors, it set up the British Broadcasting Company (later Corporation) as well as producing wireless receivers. Valve technology was developed and commercially exploited. World War I, also known as the First World War, and (before 1939) the Great War, the War of the Nations, and the War to End All Wars, was a world conflict lasting from August 1914 to the final Armistice (cessation of hostilities) on November 11, 1918. ... Wireless is an old-fashioned term for a radio receiver, referring to its use as a wireless telegraph; now the term is used to describe modern wireless connections such as in cellular networks and wireless broadband Internet. ... ... Corporate logo of the British Broadcasting Corporation. ... For the computer software/games company, see Valve Software A valve is a device that regulates the flow of fluids (either gases, fluidised solids, slurries or liquids) by opening, closing, or partially obstructing various passageways. ...

Inter-War Growth

In 1925, Western Electric’s international operations were bought. The surprise buyer was the infant ITT Corporation, founded by Sosthenes Behn less than 10 years previously with an aggressive and thrusting reputation. To fit with its other worldwide operations, ITT renamed its new UK operation Standard (meaning datum against which others would be measured) Telephones and Cables. The new organisation was based on entrepreneurial risk taking, based on solid research and brave innovation. Alec Reeves and Alan Blumlein could both be defined as perfect employees. Sosthenes Behn co-founded the Puerto Rico Telephone Company which eventually spawned ITT. Behn, along with his brother Hernan built the Two Brothers Bridge —Puente Dos Hermanos in Spanish— in the metropolitan area of Puerto Rico. ... Alec Reeves was one the 20th Centurys greatest, but least conventional, scientists. ... Alan Dower Blumlein was an electronics engineer who made a great many inventions in telecommunications, sound recording, stereo, television and radar. ...

Within a few years, multi-channel transmission (1932), microwave transmission (1934), coaxial cabling (1936), the entire radio systems for the liners Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth (1936-39), the patenting of pulse code modulation (1938) all contributed to the hey-day of telephony’s development. Transmission is the following: Generally, transmission is the act of passing something on. ... 1932 (MCMXXXII) is a leap year starting on Friday. ... This page is about the radiation; for the appliance, see microwave oven. ... 1934 (MCMXXXIV) was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... coaxial cable In geometry, coaxial means that two or more forms share a common axis; it is the three-dimensional analog of concentric. Coaxial cable, for example, has a conducting wire in the center and a second conducting layer running all the way around the exterior circumference, under the insulation. ... 1936 (MCMXXXVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... RMS Queen Mary was a Cunard Line (then Cunard White Star Line) ocean liner that sailed the North Atlantic Ocean from 1936 to 1967. ... RMS Queen Elizabeth was a steam-powered ocean liner of the Cunard Steamship Company. ... Pulse-code modulation (PCM) is a modulation technique. ... 1938 (MCMXXXVIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ... In telecommunication, Telephony encompasses the general use of equipment to provide voice communication over distances. ...

Between 1939 and 1945 significant military work was undertaken with many developments particularly with regard to aerial warfare: communications, radar, navigational aids, and especially OBOE 1939 (MCMXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1945 (MCMXLV) was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... Aerial warfare is the use of aircraft and other flying machines for the purposes of warfare. ... M*A*S*H , see Corporal Walter (Radar) OReilly. ... There are several traditions of navigation. ... For the musical instrument of the woodwind family see Oboe Oboe was based on radio transponder technology. ...

The emergence of telecommunications

The 1950s were characterised by the establishment of television broadcasting. Technical milestones were numerous and were crowned by the coverage of Queen Elizabeth II's Coronation in 1953. The steady spread of TV transmission and availability over Britain very often used STC technology and equipment. // Events and trends This map shows two essential global spheres during the Cold War in 1959. ... Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor), born 21 April 1926, is Queen of sixteen independent nations known as the Commonwealth Realms. ... The coronation of Empress Farah, of Iran in 1967. ... 1953 (MCMLIII) is a common year starting on Thursday. ...

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, the English Channel, the North Sea, the Atlantic to the Pacific Oceans. STC became the world leader in this field after acquiring Submarine Cables Ltd in 1970. 1956 (MCMLVI) was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Satellite view of the English Channel The English Channel (French: La Manche, IPA: , the sleeve), also for some time known in England as the British Sea, is the part of the Atlantic Ocean that separates the island of Great Britain from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the... The North Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean, located between the coasts of Norway and Denmark in the east, the coast of the British Isles in the west, and the German, Dutch, Belgian and French coasts in the south. ... The Atlantic Ocean is Earths second-largest ocean, covering approximately one-fifth of its surface. ... For other meanings of Pacific, see Pacific (disambiguation). ... 1970 (MCMLXX in Roman) was a common year starting on Thursday. ...

Digital technology began to supplant analogue with Bell's invention of transistors. STC's first PCM link in 1964 had waited nearly 30 years for material technology to make it work. A digital system is one that uses numbers for input, processing, transmission, storage, or display, rather than a continuous spectrum of values (an analog system) or non-numeric symbols such as letters or icons. ... For the Analog Science Fiction and Science Fact publication, see Astounding Magazine. ... Bell Telephone Laboratories or Bell Labs was originally the research and development arm of the United States Bell System, and was the premier corporate facility of its type, developing a range of revolutionary technologies from telephone switches to specialized coverings for telephone cables, to the transistor. ... Photo of transistor types (tape measure marked in centimeters) Transistor in the SMD form factor The transistor is a solid state semiconductor device used for amplification and switching. ... For the Nintendo 64 emulator, see 1964 (Emulator). ...

The Digital Age

In 1966, Charles Kao of STC's Standard Telecommunications Laboratories in Harlow demonstrated that light rather than electricity could be used to transmit speech and (even more importantly) data accurately at very high speeds. Again material technology took time to catch up but by 1977 a commercial fibre optic link had been installed in England. Within ten years BT abandoned metal cables except at the subscriber’s premises. Before STC’s demise, its plant at Newport came to dominate the recabling of the UK public telephone system. 1966 (MCMLXVI) was a common year starting on Saturday (link goes to calendar) // Events January January 1 - In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa ousts president David Dacko and takes over the Central African Republic. ... Charles Kuen Kao, Ph. ... Harlow is a local government district and new town in Essex, United Kingdom. ... For the album by Ash, see 1977 (album). ... Fiber Optic strands An optical fiber in American English or fibre in British English is a transparent thin fiber for transmitting light. ... BT Group plc (formerly known as British Telecommunications) which trades as BT (and previously as British Telecom) is the privatised former UK state telecommunications operator . ... Newport (Welsh: Casnewydd) is the third largest city in Wales (after Cardiff and Swansea). ...

Equally in terms of switching apparatus STC was a major player. Until 1980 TXE4 electro-mechanical switch was an early replacement for mechanical systems. Before a politically engineered withdrawal in 1982, STC and its (now equally defunct) partners, Plessey and GEC, developed the fully digital System X switch which is still service in many UK facilities in 2005. 1982 (MCMLXXXII) is a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Plessey Company plc was a British-based international electronics, defence and telecommunications company. ... The General Electric Company plc or GEC was a major UK company involved in consumer and defence electronics, communications and engineering. ... System X was the name of the UKs first national digital telephone exchange system. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Decline and Fall

With developments in computer technology influencing and stimulating telecoms, the buzzword of the late 1980s became “convergence”. This meant that specialised suppliers, adapted to the specific needs of the local market would dominate. ITT recognised this and sold off all but a minority shareholding between 1979 and 1982. A computer is a machine for manipulating data according to a list of instructions - a program. ... A buzzword (also known as a fashion word or vogue word) is an idiom, often a neologism, commonly used in managerial, technical, administrative, and sometimes political environments. ... The 1980s decade refers to the years from 1980 to 1989, inclusive. ... In the absence of a more specific context, convergence denotes the approach toward a definite value, as time goes on; or to a definite point, a common view or opinion, or toward a fixed or equilibrium state. ... This page refers to the year 1979. ... 1982 (MCMLXXXII) is a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

The remainder of the 1980s saw STC lose its way. An attempt to enter the mainframe computer market with a failing player, ICL, led to financial strains. By 1991, with an aging workforce, production spread over too many expensive sites and no clear leadership succession to its former chairman, Sir Kenneth Corfield, STC was bought by Nortel in what transpired to be an asset-stripping exercise. STC had lasted 109 years but, by then, represented just another archetypal business failure. The 1980s decade refers to the years from 1980 to 1989, inclusive. ... A 1990 Honeywell-Bull DPS 7 mainframe Mainframes (often colloquially referred to as big iron) are large and expensive computers used mainly by government institutions and large companies for mission critical applications, typically bulk data processing such as censuses, industry/consumer statistics, ERP, and financial transaction processing. ... International Computers Ltd, or ICL, was a large British computer hardware company that operated from 1968 until 2002, when it was renamed Fujitsu Services Limited after its parent company, Fujitsu. ... 1991 (MCMXCI in Roman) is a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Northern Telecommunications Networks, commonly known as Nortel, is a telecommunications equipment manufacturer headquartered in Canada. ... Asset Stripping is the practice of buying a company in order to sell its assets individually at a profit. ...