Standard Telephones and Cables
Encyclopedia
Standard Telephones and Cables Ltd (later STC plc
) was a British telephone
, telegraph, radio
, telecommunications and related equipment R&D
manufacturer. During its history STC invented and developed several groundbreaking new technologies including PCM and optical fibres.
The company began life in London
as International Western Electric in 1883. The company was owned from 1925 to mid 1982 by ITT of the USA. The company was then listed on the London Stock Exchange
and at one time was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index
but it was bought by Nortel
in 1991.
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 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.
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.
, 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.
In 1933, Brimar was established to manufacture American pattern valves
at Foots Cray
, adjacent to the Kolster-Brandes
factory.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
Equally in terms of switching apparatus STC was a major player. In 1971 STC, installed a fully digital (PCM) software controlled telephone exchange at Moorgate
in the City of London.. It was a “tandem exchange” switching PCM multiplexes between several other exchanges. Until 1980 TXE
4 analogue electronic switch was an early replacement for electro-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 in service in many UK facilities in 2005.
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 needed to raise cash to fund continued development of its telephone switching system (System 12) and sold off all but a minority shareholding of STC between 1979 and 1982.
The remainder of the 1980s saw STC lose its way. An attempt to enter the mainframe computer
market with the takeover of ICL, led 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 aging 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 Northern Telecom (Nortel
).
but also had an operation in Australia
. The Australia
n branch of STC was acquired by Alcatel Australia
in 1987.
Public limited company
A public limited company is a limited liability company that sells shares to the public in United Kingdom company law, in the Republic of Ireland and Commonwealth jurisdictions....
) was a British telephone
Telephone
The telephone , colloquially referred to as a phone, is a telecommunications device that transmits and receives sounds, usually the human voice. Telephones are a point-to-point communication system whose most basic function is to allow two people separated by large distances to talk to each other...
, telegraph, radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
, telecommunications and related equipment R&D
Research and development
The phrase research and development , according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, refers to "creative work undertaken on a systematic basis in order to increase the stock of knowledge, including knowledge of man, culture and society, and the use of this stock of...
manufacturer. During its history STC invented and developed several groundbreaking new technologies including PCM and optical fibres.
The company began life in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
as International Western Electric in 1883. The company was owned from 1925 to mid 1982 by ITT of the USA. The company was then listed on the London Stock Exchange
London Stock Exchange
The London Stock Exchange is a stock exchange located in the City of London within the United Kingdom. , the Exchange had a market capitalisation of US$3.7495 trillion, making it the fourth-largest stock exchange in the world by this measurement...
and at one time was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index
FTSE 100 Index
The FTSE 100 Index, also called FTSE 100, FTSE, or, informally, the footsie , is a share index of the 100 most highly capitalised UK companies listed on the London Stock Exchange....
but it was bought by Nortel
Nortel
Nortel Networks Corporation, formerly known as Northern Telecom Limited and sometimes known simply as Nortel, was a multinational telecommunications equipment manufacturer headquartered in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada...
in 1991.
Early Days
The company began life in 1883 as an agent for the US Western ElectricWestern Electric
Western Electric Company was an American electrical engineering company, the manufacturing arm of AT&T from 1881 to 1995. It was the scene of a number of technological innovations and also some seminal developments in industrial management...
company that also had a factory in Antwerp, Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
. 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
Cable
A cable is two or more wires running side by side and bonded, twisted or braided together to form a single assembly. In mechanics cables, otherwise known as wire ropes, are used for lifting, hauling and towing or conveying force through tension. In electrical engineering cables are used to carry...
factory at North Woolwich
North Woolwich
North Woolwich is a place in the London Borough of Newham. It is located north of Woolwich proper which is on the south bank of the River Thames. The two places are linked by the Woolwich Ferry and the Woolwich foot tunnel.-History:...
in London 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
Incorporation (business)
Incorporation is the forming of a new corporation . The corporation may be a business, a non-profit organisation, sports club, or a government of a new city or town...
as a British legal entity in 1910, Western Electric Ltd’s future looked bright.
World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
brought this progress to a sudden halt. The company contributed to the war effort in military communications and the then primitive cable and wireless
Wireless
Wireless telecommunications is the transfer of information between two or more points that are not physically connected. Distances can be short, such as a few meters for television remote control, or as far as thousands or even millions of kilometers for deep-space radio communications...
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
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
(later Corporation) as well as producing wireless receivers. Valve
Vacuum tube
In electronics, a vacuum tube, electron tube , or thermionic valve , reduced to simply "tube" or "valve" in everyday parlance, is a device that relies on the flow of electric current through a vacuum...
technology was developed and commercially exploited.
Inter-War Growth
In 1925, Western Electric’s international operations were bought. The surprise buyer was the infant ITT CorporationITT Corporation
ITT Corporation is a global diversified manufacturing company based in the United States. ITT participates in global markets including water and fluids management, defense and security, and motion and flow control...
, founded by Sosthenes Behn
Sosthenes Behn
Sosthenes Behn was an American businessman widely known for founding ITT. He held the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Army.Sosthenes Behn was born in the island of St. Thomas, then part of the Danish West Indies...
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
Alec Reeves
Alec Harley Reeves, CBE was a British scientist best known for his invention of pulse-code modulation . He was awarded 82 patents.-Early life:...
and Alan Blumlein
Alan Blumlein
Alan Dower Blumlein was a British electronics engineer, notable for his many inventions in telecommunications, sound recording, stereo, television and radar...
could both be defined as perfect employees.
In 1933, Brimar was established to manufacture American pattern valves
Vacuum tube
In electronics, a vacuum tube, electron tube , or thermionic valve , reduced to simply "tube" or "valve" in everyday parlance, is a device that relies on the flow of electric current through a vacuum...
at Foots Cray
Foots Cray
Foots Cray is a place in the London Borough of Bexley, near the town of Sidcup, in southeast London, England, United Kingdom.It took its name from Godwin Fot, a local Saxon landowner recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086, and from the River Cray that passes through the village. It lay on the old...
, adjacent to the Kolster-Brandes
Kolster-Brandes
Kolster-Brandes Ltd was an American owned, British manufacturer of radio and television sets based in Foots Cray, Sidcup, Kent.The company was a descendant of Brandes, a Canadian company founded in Toronto in 1908. Brandes became part of AT&T in 1922 and a British subsidiary Brandes Ltd. was...
factory.
Within a few years, multi-channel transmission
Transmission (telecommunications)
Transmission, in telecommunications, is the process of sending, propagating and receiving an analogue or digital information signal over a physical point-to-point or point-to-multipoint transmission medium, either wired, optical fiber or wireless...
(1932), microwave
Microwave
Microwaves, a subset of radio waves, have wavelengths ranging from as long as one meter to as short as one millimeter, or equivalently, with frequencies between 300 MHz and 300 GHz. This broad definition includes both UHF and EHF , and various sources use different boundaries...
transmission (1934), coaxial
Coaxial cable
Coaxial cable, or coax, has an inner conductor surrounded by a flexible, tubular insulating layer, surrounded by a tubular conducting shield. The term coaxial comes from the inner conductor and the outer shield sharing the same geometric axis...
cabling (1936), the entire radio systems for the liners Queen Mary
RMS Queen Mary
RMS Queen Mary is a retired ocean liner that sailed primarily in the North Atlantic Ocean from 1936 to 1967 for the Cunard Line...
and Queen Elizabeth
RMS Queen Elizabeth
RMS Queen Elizabeth was an ocean liner operated by the Cunard Line. Plying with her running mate Queen Mary as a luxury liner between Southampton, UK and New York City, USA via Cherbourg, France, she was also contracted for over twenty years to carry the Royal Mail as the second half of the two...
(1936-39), the patenting of pulse code modulation (1938) all contributed to the hey-day of telephony
Telephony
In telecommunications, telephony encompasses the general use of equipment to provide communication over distances, specifically by connecting telephones to each other....
’s development.
Between 1939 and 1945 significant military work was undertaken with many developments particularly with regard to aerial warfare
Aerial warfare
Aerial warfare is the use of military aircraft and other flying machines in warfare, including military airlift of cargo to further the national interests as was demonstrated in the Berlin Airlift...
: communications, radar
Radar
Radar is an object-detection system which uses radio waves to determine the range, altitude, direction, or speed of objects. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, weather formations, and terrain. The radar dish or antenna transmits pulses of radio...
, navigational aids
Navigation
Navigation is the process of monitoring and controlling the movement of a craft or vehicle from one place to another. It is also the term of art used for the specialized knowledge used by navigators to perform navigation tasks...
, and especially OBOE
Oboe (navigation)
Oboe was a British aerial blind bombing targeting system in World War II, based on radio transponder technology. Oboe accurately measured the distance to an aircraft, and gave the pilot guidance on whether or not they were flying along a pre-selected circular route. The route was only 35 yards...
The Emergence of Telecommunications
The 1950s were characterised by the establishment of televisionTelevision
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
broadcasting. Technical milestones were numerous and were crowned by the coverage of Queen Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom
Elizabeth II is the constitutional monarch of 16 sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize,...
's Coronation
Coronation
A coronation is a ceremony marking the formal investiture of a monarch and/or their consort with regal power, usually involving the placement of a crown upon their head and the presentation of other items of regalia...
in 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, the English Channel
English Channel
The English Channel , often referred to simply as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates southern England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to in the Strait of Dover...
, the North Sea
North Sea
In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...
, the Atlantic
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
to the Pacific
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
Oceans. STC became the world leader in this field after acquiring Submarine Cables Ltd in 1970.
Digital technology began to supplant analogue
Analog signal
An analog or analogue signal is any continuous signal for which the time varying feature of the signal is a representation of some other time varying quantity, i.e., analogous to another time varying signal. It differs from a digital signal in terms of small fluctuations in the signal which are...
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.
The Digital Age
In 1966, Charles Kao of STC's Standard Telecommunications Laboratories in HarlowHarlow
Harlow is a new town and local government district in Essex, England. It is located in the west of the county and on the border with Hertfordshire, on the Stort Valley, The town is near the M11 motorway and forms part of the London commuter belt.The district has a current population of 78,889...
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
Newport
Newport is a city and unitary authority area in Wales. Standing on the banks of the River Usk, it is located about east of Cardiff and is the largest urban area within the historic county boundaries of Monmouthshire and the preserved county of Gwent...
came to dominate the recabling of the UK public telephone system.
Equally in terms of switching apparatus STC was a major player. In 1971 STC, installed a fully digital (PCM) software controlled telephone exchange at Moorgate
Moorgate
Moorgate was a postern in the London Wall originally built by the Romans. It was turned into a gate in the 15th century. Though the gate was demolished in 1762, the name survives as a major street in the City of London...
in the City of London.. It was a “tandem exchange” switching PCM multiplexes between several other exchanges. Until 1980 TXE
TXE
TXE, which stands for Telephone eXchange Electronic, was the designation given to a family of telephone exchanges developed by the British General Post Office , now BT, designed to replace the ageing Strowger systems....
4 analogue electronic switch was an early replacement for electro-mechanical systems. Before a politically engineered withdrawal in 1982, STC and its (now equally defunct) partners, Plessey
Plessey
The Plessey Company plc was a British-based international electronics, defence and telecommunications company. It originated in 1917, growing and diversifying into electronics. It expanded after the second world war by acquisition of companies and formed overseas companies...
and GEC, developed the fully digital System X
System X (telephony)
System X was the name of the UK's first national digital telephone exchange system.-Development:System X was developed by the UK Post Office , GEC, Plessey, and Standard Telephones and Cables and first shown in public in 1979 at the Telecom 79 exhibition in Geneva Switzerland...
switch which is still in service in many UK facilities in 2005.
Decline and Fall
With developments in computerComputer
A computer is a programmable machine designed to sequentially and automatically carry out a sequence of arithmetic or logical operations. The particular sequence of operations can be changed readily, allowing the computer to solve more than one kind of problem...
technology influencing and stimulating telecoms, the buzzword
Buzzword
A buzzword is a term of art, salesmanship, politics, or technical jargon that is used in the media and wider society outside of its originally narrow technical context....
of the late 1980s became “convergence
Convergence (telecommunications)
Telecommunications convergence, network convergence or simply convergence are broad terms used to describe emerging telecommunications technologies, and network architecture used to migrate multiple communications services into a single network...
”. This meant that specialised suppliers, adapted to the specific needs of the local market would dominate. ITT needed to raise cash to fund continued development of its telephone switching system (System 12) and sold off all but a minority shareholding of STC between 1979 and 1982.
The remainder of the 1980s saw STC lose its way. An attempt to enter the mainframe computer
Mainframe computer
Mainframes are powerful computers used primarily by corporate and governmental organizations for critical applications, bulk data processing such as census, industry and consumer statistics, enterprise resource planning, and financial transaction processing.The term originally referred to the...
market with the takeover of ICL, led 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 aging 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 Northern Telecom (Nortel
Nortel
Nortel Networks Corporation, formerly known as Northern Telecom Limited and sometimes known simply as Nortel, was a multinational telecommunications equipment manufacturer headquartered in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada...
).
Operations
The company was based in the United KingdomUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
but also had an operation in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. The Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n branch of STC was acquired by Alcatel Australia
Alcatel
Alcatel Mobile Phones is a brand of mobile handsets. It was established in 2004 as a joint venture between Alcatel-Lucent of France and TCL Communication of China....
in 1987.