|
|
|
|
|
|
Telefonbau und Normalzeit
Telefonbau und Normalzeit (T&N) was a large German telecommunications
company, founded in 1899 as Deutsche Privat Telephon Gesellschaft
(German Private Telephone Company) and based in Frankfurt am Main (Germany).
It was later renamed Telenorma, Bosch Telecom and finally
Tenovis. The company ceased to exist in 2004 when it was acquired
by Avaya Inc. (USA) [1].
At its height, the company had more than 18,000 employees, and had offices
in Austria, Belgium, France, Italy, Spain, Switzerland and the Netherlands.
The company specialised in telecommunication solutions such as telephone equipment,
callcenters, business recovery centers, consumer-relationship-management tools
(CRM),
voice messaging, networks and services. Its core product was an in-house
developed telephone exchange (PBX) with up to 32,000 subscribers.
The company name consists of two parts, each of which describes a major
product branch:
|
- Telefonbau
This branch comprises all products that are related to telecommunications,
such as telephone sets, private branch exchanges (PBX) and
customer-relationship-management software (CRM). Some of these products were
leased to customers,
- Normalzeit
This branch started with the master and slave clocks for the German railways
(Reichsbahn). They were installed on all railway stations in Germany, and
were synchronised from a central point. Later products include time clocks,
pigeon clocks and atomic clocks. This branch also produced large text
displays for airports and dealing rooms.
|
|
|
T&N equipment on this website
|
|
|
1899 Deutsche Privat Telephon Gesellschaft H. Fuld & Co. (Priteg) 1901 H. Fuld & Co. Telephon & Telegraphenbau 1918 H. Fuld & Co. Telephon & Telegraphenwerke GmbH 1928 H. Fuld & Co. Telephon und Telegraphenwerke AG 1932 Nationalen Telephone und Telegraphenwerke GmbH 1934 Telefonbau und Normalzeit (T&N) 1937 Telefonbau und Normalzeit Lehner & Co. KG (T&N) 1950 In the DDR only: VEB RFT Anlagenbau 1981 Telenorma (TN) 1992 Bosch Telenorma 1994 Bosch Telecom 2000 Tenovis 2004 Avaya-Tenovis 2006 Avaya
|
The company was founded in 1899 in Frankfurt/Main by bank teller
Harry Fuld (1879-1932) and clock maker Carl Lehner (1871-1969)
under the name Deutsche Privat Telefon Gesellschaft H. Fuld & Co.
The company leased PBX systems under the brand name Priteg [1].
This had become possible after the German Post Office (Reichspost)
had lifted the ban on the connection of alien equipment to the public
telephone network in 1900. The company grew steadily, from 150
employees in 1902 to 250 in 1907.
The work was interrupted by the First World War (WWI), during
which time the company was forced to produce equipment and materials for
the war effort.
After WWI, the company was rebuilt and was renamed:
H. Fuld & Co. Telephon und Telegraphenwerke GmbH (TT).
In 1928, with 5,000 employees on its payroll, the company was
converted into a joint-stock company (Aktiengesellschaft, AG).
After founder Harry Fuld died in 1932, the old company (TT)
was dissolved and a new company
Nationalen Telephon und Telegraphenwerke GmbH (NTT) was founded,
with Carl Lehner at the helm. Two yers later, in 1934,
the company was renamed Telefonbau und Normalzeit (T&N).
This lasted until the Aryanization [3], which forced T&N
to rename itself in 1937:
Telefonbau und Normalzeit Lehner & Co. (T&N).
At the start of WWII, T&N got involved in the development of a
cipher machine — Schlüsselgerät 39 (SG-39) —
for the German Armed Forces.
The machine was developed in cooperation with
Regierungsoberinspector Fritz Menzer
and was regarded as a potential candidate to replace the famous
Enigma. It was never taken into production, but
some of its ideas were used after the war, for the so-called
High Speed Enigma
which T&N developed in cooperation with the
German cipher authority ZfCh.
It was used from 1957 onward by the German Foreign Office (Auswärtiges Amt).
During the war the company was is bad shape. It was accused of
tax fraude, for which it had to pay arbitrary sums of money to the state.
Furthermore, several of its factories were lost to allied bombing
in 1944. On top of that, the factories that were located in
East-Germany (DDR) were lost in 1950 and were renamed VEB RFT Anlagenbau.
In the period following WWII, the company had to be rebuilt
with external funding, and by 1965 it had 13,500 employees
on its payroll. Additional funding came in 1968, when
AEG-Telefunken took a 15% interest in the company [1].
By 1980, T&N employed its highest number of
18,000 people, and had a turnover of 1.5 billion DM.
A year later (1981) the activities were transferred
to the newly established Telenorma, of which AEG-Telefunken
owned 75.5% and Bosch 24.5%. In 1989, Telenorma
was integrated with Bosch Telecom GmbH. In 1992 it was renamed
Bosch Telenorma and in 1994 Bosch Telecom.
In 2000, Bosch decided to split the company in three parts and sell
two of them. The division Sicherheitstechnik (Safety technology)
stayed with Bosch, whilst the division Public Networks was
sold to Marconi.
The devision Private Networks was sold to the private equity
firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR). The latter founded a new
company Tenovis, which was sold four years later (2004) to the
American company Avaya, and became known as Avaya-Tenovis.
In 2006, the company was renamed Avaya, which still exists
under this name today (2026).
|
|
|
|
Any links shown in red are currently unavailable.
If you like the information on this website, why not make a donation?
© Crypto Museum. Last changed: Tuesday, 11 August 2026 - 19:08 CET.
|
 |
|
|
|
![Early company logos of Priteg (1899), H. Fuld & Co.(1901), NTT (1932) and finally T&N (1934). Note that Priteg was a brand name of H. Fuld & Co. Images obtained from [2].](img/early_tn_logos.jpg)
