Siemens Communications

Communications and information business arm of Siemens

Siemens Communications was the communications and information business arm of German industrial conglomerate Siemens AG, until 2006. It was the largest division of Siemens, and had two business units – Mobile Networks and Fixed Networks; and Enterprise. Siemens Communications division was founded in 1998 through the amalgamation of a number of early groups / divisions of Siemens AG, the oldest of which traces back to the company 'Siemens & Halske Telegraph Construction Company' founded in 1847, and the most prominent predecessor being the 1978 founded 'Siemens Communication Systems'. On October 1, 2006, Siemens AG decided to divide Siemens Communications into two companies: 'Siemens Networks GmbH & Co. KG' and 'Siemens Enterprise Communications GmbH & Co. KG'. The company remains extant, through a series of mergers and divisions, as Siemens Enterprise Communications – a 2008 joint venture with the Gores Group where Siemens AG hold 49% with the balance of 51% held by the American partner.

Siemens Communications traces its origins to the company Siemens & Halske Telegraph Construction Company (German legal name: Telegraphen Bauanstalt von Siemens & Halske) founded by Werner von Siemens on 12 October 1847. Based on the telegraph, his invention used a needle to point to the sequence of letters, instead of using Morse code. In 1848, the company built the first long distance telegraph line in Europe – 500 km from Berlin to Frankfurt am Main – and by the early 1850s the company was involved in building long distance telegraph networks in Russia. In 1867, Siemens completed the monumental Indo European telegraph line stretching over 11,000 km from London to Calcutta. In April 2014, the NSN name was phased out as part of a rebranding process. Siemens Enterprise Communications GmbH & Co. KG was split from the enterprise division.