Wetzikon/London, 28 April 2008
Reichle & De-Massari (R&M), the Swiss specialist suppliers of passive cabling solutions for communication networks, have opened a further branch abroad. The office, in the center of London, was officially inaugurated with a celebration on 24 April 2008. The new branch is the result of a partnership agreement with the established British distributor for fiber optics and copper cable solutions, Blue Helix. A number of projects have already been implemented in Europe’s key financial center.
R&M is pursuing a policy of internationalization. With its new branch in London, the company now has offices in 29 countries around the globe. In the presence of numerous guests, the London branch, which started operations in January 2008, was officially inaugurated on 24 April 2008. To underline the meaning of “Swissness”, Hans Peter Legler, COO, and Ruedi Moll, Sales Manager for Western Europe, handed over a traditional Swiss cowbell to Justin Bewick and Kevan Sproston, who will manage the London office. Hans-Peter Legler is convinced that, given the high quality products and the dense network of existing customers and partners, it should be possible to become quickly and firmly established in the English market. Apart from durability and high security (no network failures), the high quality standard and ease of use of the products are key indicators for succeeding in the highly competitive UK market.
R&M UK is focusing on the financial center of London, and a number of renowned major enterprises are already among the customers in the banking metropolis. In a financial environment such as this, it is particularly important to be able to count on reliable data transmission because IT infrastructure forms the basis for highly complex and strategically important applications. Network failures must be eliminated as far as possible, since these lead to enormous costs. The overall average costs are in the order of 90,000 dollars per hour, and in the financial domain this figure can be multiplied a few times over. The company hopes to gain the competitive edge with screened system solutions, which are rapidly gaining in importance, particularly for large data volumes. The future lies in capacities above 10 GB, and R&M’s products are already equipped for this speed.
R&M has gained universal respect for its Swiss-inspired approach to high quality, which applies equally to the products, installation or the unique quality assurance system. Together with certified installation partners, R&M has no difficulty in ensuring that this Swiss quality standard is maintained.
This year alone, branches were opened in New York, USA, and in Sofia, Bulgaria. The subsidiary in Bulgaria came about with the acquisition of Freenet. Thus, R&M is now represented in eight Central and Eastern European countries and the region is managed from Vienna by Stefan J. Krumböck. In summer 2008 the management and logistics hub “Asia” will be opened in Singapore and the office in Sydney, Australia, is to be inaugurated in the fall. A central management and logistics hub in Singapore should help to intensify market penetration in Asia. The presence in key countries of the different continents will enable existing markets to be further expanded.
Facts & figures
Reichle & De-Massari AG (R&M) develops and manufactures passive cabling solutions for communication networks. With high quality products for copper and fiber optic solutions R&M has acquired a reputation as a quality leader. The company dominates the Swiss market and has branches or local partners in 29 countries. 75 percent of sales are generated abroad. In 2007, sales amounted to CHF 241 million with an EBIT of 13 percent. More than CHF 7 million are invested annually in research and development. R&M has a workforce of roughly 700. The company is fully owned by the Reichle family and managed by the second generation as an independent family enterprise.
Contact: Reichle & De-Massari AG, Esther Derendinger , Public Relations, Binzstrasse 31,
CH-8622 Wetzikon, Telephone +41 44 933 82 85, Fax +41 44 933 83 30, E-mail esther.derendinger@rdm.ch