SIEMENS.
Siemens is a global leader in electronics and electrical engineering. About 475,000 employees develop and manufacture products, design and assemble systems and equipment, and provide customized services. Founded 160 years ago, the company supports its customers in more than 190 countries, delivering innovative equipment and extensive know-how to solve their commercial and technical problems.
The company's founder was Werner von Siemens, born in 1812 to a poor family. Unable to attend college, he was forced to serve in the Prussian army in 1835.
After serving for three years of intensive and hard work, he mastered such sciences as mathematics, physics, chemistry, and ballistics. And already in 1842, von Siemens received the first Prussian patent for the electrolytic method of electrodeposition of gold and silver. Four years later, in 1847, he developed a new model of telegraph from tinplate, a cigarette box, iron, and individual copper electrical wires, which was patented in 1847. This date marks the founding of the Siemens & Halske company.
Siemens entered Russia in 1851 and is currently present in almost all regions – from St. Petersburg to Vladivostok. The laying of the first telegraph lines, the appearance of street lighting and the construction of the first power plants in Moscow and St. Petersburg, the launch of the first tram largely contributed to the economic growth of the country. Today, almost all Siemens departments are represented in Russia – integrated solutions and services for industry, production, transmission and distribution of energy, transport equipment, automated solutions for logistics, automation technology and drives, the medical department, etc.
The Siemens Building Technologies (SBT) department has been part of Siemens for a short time (since 1998), but is a well-known and serious player in the security market. SBT has brought together specialists from Siemens, the well-known Swiss companies Cerberus AG and Landis & Staefa AG.
Cerberus AG, a specialist in integrated security systems, has been known since 1941. In 1946, it made a technical breakthrough by producing a gas-discharge relay lamp with an unprecedented degree of sensitivity, which served as the basis for the creation of an ionization fire alarm sensor. In 1963, sensors were developed that responded to flame, high temperature and visible smoke. Cerberus AG gradually gained momentum, and a year later the company developed and began to actively use semiconductor technology for security systems. Three years later, the production of sensors exceeded 100,000 units per year. In 1973, the first addressable smoke detector with transmission of analog values was developed in the laboratory for fire protection systems. In 1985, the company expanded by establishing new subsidiaries in Switzerland and Norway (Certas AG and Intersyst). At the same time, the first ultrasonic detector with microprocessor intelligence was introduced to the market.
The security systems that Cerberus AG supplied to the Russian market by the end of the 20th century included fire alarm systems, fire notification systems, gas extinguishing systems, gas detection systems, as well as access control systems, video surveillance, perimeter security and information management systems. The manufactured products included a large set of detectors: manual call points, smoke detectors, linear smoke and flame detectors, wireless fire detectors, explosion detectors, air sampling detection systems (ASD), air sampling smoke detectors.
In 1998, Siemens acquired Cerberus AG and Landis & Staefa, which became part of the Building Automation and Safety Department (SBT). Today, Siemens Building Technologies has more than 30,000 employees, representative offices in 51 countries and 11 factories worldwide.
In Russia, from 1998 to 2003, the Siemens Building Technologies division existed as an independent company (owned by Siemens). On October 1, 2003, it was fully integrated into Siemens as the Building Automation and Safety Department (SBT), which today is represented by two divisions — Building Safety (FS, Fire & Safety) and Building Automation (HVP, Heating, Ventilation Products).