- HAPPY 100th BIRTHDAY....
- Photograph above with thanks to Marconi
taken in the 1900's
MARCONI
is one of the worlds leading electronics companies and Liverpool has played a huge part of history. The history of the Liverpool Edge Lane has a staggering 100 year legacy producing high quality products. On Monday 8 December sore the sites Birthday Celebrations kicking of with a massive balloon release and the opening of a massive celebration running on to 12 December. The many activities include the unveiling of an exhibition called 'Switchedon@Liverpool', the official launch of 'Liverpool Digital' in association with the North West Development Agency (NWDA), and a video link between the Mayors of Liverpool and Genoa in Italy. A number of local dignitaries participated in the events, alongside Marconi's senior management.
"Marconi's operations in Liverpool have played an important role in the development of the worldwide telecommunications industry for 100 years. This is a remarkable achievement and one that is worthy of note,"
said Rod Smith, executive vice president of Marconi's UK operations.
"The engineers at this site have designed and built generation after generation of telephone exchanges which have been installed in networks in every corner of the world. Today, with Softswitch, our next generation switching product, this wave of success is set to continue. This is a matter of great pride, both for Marconi and for the local community."
Marconi is a significant employer today, employing some 700 people in Liverpool and the Liverpool site started life as the British Insulated and Helsby Cables. Marconi began manufacturing manual telephone exchanges Liverpool in December 1903. By 1912, a new company, the Automatic Telephone Manufacturing Company, was set up at the site to manufacture automatic telephone exchanges using the Strowger system. These systems were quickly established as the UK exchange standard by the Post Office. After the First World War, the site began manufacturing automatic exchange equipment for telephone exchanges worldwide, expanding into the design and development of entire networks.
By 1920 the growth in Telecommunications market saw the equipment being manufactured at the site and installed in networks across the world, form Tokyo to Buenos Aries and from Sydney to Lisbon. The result was a staggering 90% of the world's one million telephone exchanges having a Strowger system being installed and they had all been made at the Liverpool site.
With the advance of technology, the Strowger system was eventually superseded by another development called the Crossbar system. This was the first to incorporate electronics and in 1961, the company merged with the Plessey Company and Ericsson Telephone Ltd. The site became the headquarters for Plessey Telecommunications and the record of innovation continued with the introduction of the first international exchange and then with the first all-electronic exchange.
Innovation continued throughout 20th century, culminating in the development of 'System X'. Heralding the advent of the UK's digital phone system. This system is now widely recognised as the most significant development since the Strowger system in the early years of the Liverpool site. It remains in use across the UK's main communications networks today.
Over the years, the site has won a number of awards, including three
Queens Awards, as well as awards for Industrial Safety, Employee
Development and Quality. The site was also voted Best Electronic
Factory in the UK in 1993.
Today, Marconi's switching expertise is being applied to the
development of Softswitch, a new software-driven switching
architecture that it set to revolutionise the telecommunications
industry once more. Developed at Edge Lane, the system is already
installed in Jersey Telecom and Kingston Communications in the UK
and at in Dubai in the Middle East.
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- The NWDA, which
acquired the site in 2002, is working to attract new
hi-technology businesses to the site to create a regional
centre of excellence for the information and communications
technology sector. The NWDA's ambition is to provide a home to
business and incubation activities, together with university
research facilities, all focused on the Creative and Digital
industries.
"We at Marconi are delighted that, with the NWDA's
support and Marconi's continued involvement, the history and
culture of innovation established at this site will
continue," added Rod Smith.
The closing birthday celebration on the 12 December had a
video conference link that was hosted by the Mayor of Genoa
and the Lord Mayor of Liverpool. The event was also attended
by Jane Kennedy, Liverpool MP and Northern Ireland Minister.
The fantastic thing is the link by Marconi presence in Genoa,
were they are a significant employer with a 1300 work force,
and that Genoa is the European City of Culture in 2004 and
that Liverpool will hold the same honour of European City of
Culture in 2008.
"Marconi helps people and business communicate and our
communications link between both cities is an important
practical demonstration of that. Liverpool being awarded the
City of Culture status for 2008 is a significant event for the
local community and Marconi, an important employer in the City
for 100 years, has a contribution to make." said
Rod Smith, executive vice president.
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- Photograph
above Rod
Smith by Patrick Trollope
- Photograph above by Patrick
Trollope
- Photograph above by Patrick Trollope
- Photograph above by Patrick Trollope
- Photograph above with thanks to Marconi
taken now.
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