United Kingdom & EMEA

 

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Professional Communication System Solutions


 

Established in 1947, KENWOOD has played a leading role in developing products for analogue and digital two-way radio communication technologies and protocols for over 60 years.

Today, KENWOOD is a brand of the JVCKENWOOD Corporation, a global business listed in the First Section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange and employs over 17,000 people.

KENWOOD Communications products are sold globally through subsidiary companies, distributors and resellers and serves millions of users across thousands of applications.

 


 

Milestones in Communications

 


1946

Kasuga Radio Co Ltd. established (predecessor of Kenwood Corporation) in Komagane, Nagano Prefecture, Japan.


1949

High-frequency transformer passes NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation) approval certificate for the first time in Japan.


1955

Establishes Tokyo operation and begins mass production of audio, communications and measuring equipment.


1958

Companies first amateur radio goes on sale.


1960

Renamed from Kasuga Radio Co Ltd to Trio Electronics Inc.


1962

Launches the industry’s first transistor amplifier.


1963

Sets up in the U.S. office, and begins full-scale overseas operations.


1966

Introduces fully transistorised audio products for the first time in the industry.


1968

Listing on the First Section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange.


1969

The Trio TR-7100, 144MHz amateur radio car transceiver goes on sale.


1978

Introduces its first professional analogue two-way radios.


1979

Establishes the company’s first overseas production unit in Singapore.


1983

Enters the U.S. land mobile radio market.


1986

Renamed Front Trio Electronics Inc. to KENWOOD Corporation.


1991

Enters the European licensed PMR (Private Mobile Radio) market.
-  Begins selling license-free transceivers.
-  Signs an official supply contract with McLaren to provide wireless radio equipment for the F1 championship.


1995

The Mir space station carries KENWOOD’s amateur wireless and verifies its reliability.
-  TK-250 launched - Kenwood’s first purpose designed PMR range for Europe.


1996

Changes the subsidiary name from Trio-Kenwood to KENWOOD, coinciding with the Company’s 50th anniversary.


1997

Becomes Japan’s first manufacturer to launch car-mounted DAB receivers.


1999

Jointly develops the world’s first mobile digital broadcast receiving system.
-   Introduces Pro-Talk PMR446 license free two-way radio.


2001

Releases its first digital transceiver operating on P25.


2002

Develops a network interface module (NIM) for digital broadcasts via a communications satellite (CS).


2005

Forms a technical and capital alliance with Icom to jointly research the standardisation of technical specifications for digital wireless radio equipment (NXDN).
-    KENWOOD Nagano Corp. acquires certification to “ISO/TS 16949”, the international standard for quality management specific to the automotive industry.


2007

KENWOOD announces 144/430 (440) MHz FM Dual band TM-V71 series.
-    Announcement of completion of acquisition of the U.S. systems-based communication company Zetron Inc.
-    Invested ¥20.0 billion and formed a strategic business alliance with Victor Company of Japan Limited.


2008

Notice of establishment of JVCKENWOOD Holdings Inc.
-    Global launch of NEXEDGE® (NXDN)digital two-way radio system.
-    First NEXEDGE® digital trunked two-way radio system commissioned.


2010

Introduces its first ATEX certified analogue two-way radio.
-   KENWOOD wins the 2010 FCS Gerald David OBE Innovation in Business Radio Award for NEXEDGE®


2011

Introduces NEXEDGE® OTAP (Over The Air Programming)
-   JVC KENWOOD Holdings Inc. changed its name to JVCKENWOOD Corporation.


2012

Introduces KSDP (KENWOOD Solutions Developer Programme) to serve customers and markets with radio communications solutions which precisely meet their needs.


2013

JVCKENWOOD announces launch of the ground-breaking TS-990S amateur radio base station.
-  Global launch of NEXEDGE® ETSI certified dPMR digital two-way radios.
-  JVCKENWOOD announce over 700,000 NEXEDGE® devices in use around the world.


2014

Acquires E.F. Johnson Technologies Inc.
-  Launches NEXEDGE® ATEX Certified digital hand-portable radios.
-  Launches ETSI certified DMR hand-portable radios and repeater.
-  Launches new series of ETSI certified digital (dPMR 446) and analogue PMR446 license-free hand-portable radios.


2015

Introduces NEXEDGE® Gen2 fully scalable multi-site development of NEXEDGE® NXDN system infrastructure.
-  Launches NX-P5000 Series multi-protocol NXDN/P25/FM Analogue; analogue/digital two-way radio devices.
-  Roll-out of the world’s largest NEXEDGE® system serving the national ambulance service of Lithuania is completed.


2016

Launches NX-D5000 Series multi-protocol NXDN/DMR/FM Analogue; analogue/digital two-way radio devices.


2016

JVCKENWOOD announce over 1.2 million NEXEDGE® devices in use around the world.


2016

Launch of ProTalk WD-K10 Series, license-free DECT (Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications) Intercom systems.


2017

NXDN Common Air Interface (CAI) was accepted at the Study Group 5 (SG5) meeting of the International Telecommunications Union Radiocommunications Sector (ITU-R)


2017

Launch of NX-3000 Series multi-protocol Analogue plus NXDN or DMR hand-portable and mobile radios.


2017

JVCKENWOOD announce over 1.75 million NEXEDGE® devices in use around the world.


2017

Launch of KAS-20 Dispatch and AVL software suite for NEXEDGE Gen2 Trunking, Trunk C, NXDN IP conventional and DMR IP conventional as a stand-alone solution or the basis for developing a bespoke solution.


 

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