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Motorola
Motorola is a US-based manufacturer of electronic equipment. The company was founded in 1928 by Paul Galvin and started in Chicago (Illinois, USA) as Galvin Manufacturing Corporation. The first product was a battery-eliminator for using radio receivers in automobiles. In 1930, the name was changed to Motorola, after that name had been acquired from William Lear. A few years later they started using the Motorola brand name as a trademark. The 'bat' symbol is from 1955.


In the past, Motorola has produced radio communication equipment, mobile phones, cellular base stations, wireless network infrastructures, set-top boxes, digital video recorders, television sets (later sold to Panasonic), electronic components (now: ON Semiconductor), Government and Defence electronics (sold to General Dynamics), automotive equipment (sold to Continental AG), Biometrics solutions (sold to Safran, France), Satellite technology (Iridium Satellite project), etc.

On 4 January 2011, Motorola was split into two separate public companies: Motorola Mobility and Motorola Solutions. In August 2011, Motorola Mobility was sold to Google, who sold it on to Lenovo in 2014. Most of the encryption products — in particular the AIM cryptographic processor technology — are now sold by General Dynamics C4 Systems (GD), who bought the Integrated Information Systems Group (IISG) from Motorola in 2001 for US$ 825 million [4].

Motorola is still a major player in mobile data and voice networks for both the public and for law enforcement agencies. In the past they have produced, for example, radio and data terminals for the police, cryptographic solutions and secure telephone equipment. Some of that equipment is featured on this website. Click any of the thumbnail images below for further information.

Motorola equipment on this website
First hand-held two-way radio
Encryption equipment made by Motorola
Spy radio set
Spy
Motorola Pulsar II car telephone (in the Netherlands known as 'Pollux')
Motorola D1118 Mobile Data Terminal
Motorola MDT-9100 Mobile Data Terminal
Advanced INFOSEC Module
AIM
Crystal-controlled transmitter (bug) with Motorola pager as switch receiver
Motorola STU-II/B SECTEL (NATO-version)
Motorola SECTEL (STU-III) range of secure telephones
Motorola MTM-5400 TETRA radio (with optional encryption)
Goverment Electronics Group (GEG)
Government Electronics Group (GEG) was a highly secret division of Motorola, established in the mid-1950s, that produced equipment for the US Government and for the Department of Defense. Based in Phoenix (Arizona, USA), it could benefit from all other Motorola departments, such as the semiconductor division. In the GEG, Motorola developed spy radio sets for the CIA.

On behalf of intelligence agencies NSA and CIA, GEG developed cipher machines for competitor Crypto AG in Switzerland. It allowed NSA to influence the algorithms in order to make them readable. This work was part of CIA/BND Operation RUBICON, and was revealed in 2020 [5]. The Government and Defense Electronics division was sold to General Dynamics in 2011.

In 1985, GEG received a US$ 15.3 million development award from the National Security Agency (NSA) for a low-cost secure voice/data telephone terminal (LCT) and a secure cellular mobile radio system. The development became a Motorola team effort led by GEG, with styling and user interface (UI) developed by CS, modems by UDS and a custom large scale integration chip set (custom chips) by GEG. These products were released in 1987 as the 3rd generation Secure Telephone Unit (STU-III), and were mass-produced in AIEG's facilities in Seguin (Texas, USA) [6].

Government Electronics equipment on this website
RD-6 spy radio set
HC-570 CRYPTOMATIC desktop electronic cipher machine
Hagelin HC-550 cipher machine (developed with NSA)
HC-530 CRYPTOMATIC portable electronic cipher machine
F/T voice scrambler for telephone and HF radio
Encryption equipment made by Motorola
CIA surveillance receiver SSR-100
Motorola MDT-9100 Mobile Data Terminal
Advanced INFOSEC Module
AIM
Motorola SECTEL (STU-III) range of secure telephones
Motorola STU-II/B SECTEL (NATO-version)
Motorola STU-III/R (STU-II and STU-III compatible)
Publications
  1. Annual Report 1985
    Motorola Inc., 23 January 1986.

  2. Annual Report 1987
    Motorola Inc., 20 January 1988.

  3. Annual Report 1989
    Motorola Inc., 18 January 1990.
References
  1. Motorola Inc., Corporate website
    Visited July 2010.

  2. Wikipedia, Motorola
    Retrieved August 2012.

  3. ZDNet, Google's Motorola acquisition: Nail in the Adroid patent coffin?
    Google's announcement to buy Motorola Mility for US$ 12.5 billion. 15 August 2011.

  4. New York Times, General Dynamics to Buy a Motorola Unit
    7 August 2001. Retrieved March 2013.

  5. Crypto Museum, Operation RUBICON
    19 March 2020.

  6. Annual Report 1985, Government Electronics Group
    Motorola Inc., 23 January 1986. Page 12.
Further information
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© Crypto Museum. Created: Sunday 11 July 2010. Last changed: Thursday, 21 September 2023 - 20:07 CET.
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