ITT Inc., formerly ITT Corporation,
is an American worldwide
manufacturing company
Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer to a range ...
based in
Stamford, Connecticut
Stamford () is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut, outside of Manhattan. It is Connecticut's second-most populous city, behind Bridgeport. With a population of 135,470, Stamford passed Hartford and New Haven in population as of the 2020 ...
. The company produces specialty components for the aerospace, transportation, energy and industrial markets. ITT's three businesses include Industrial Process, Motion Technologies, and Connect and Control Technologies.
ITT has approximately 10,000 employees in more than 35 countries and serves customers in well over 100 countries. The company's long-standing brands include Goulds Pumps, Cannon connectors, KONI shock absorbers and Enidine energy absorption components.
The company was founded in 1920 as International Telephone & Telegraph. During the 1960s and 1970s, under the leadership of CEO
Harold Geneen
Harold "Hal" Sydney Geneen (January 22, 1910 – November 21, 1997), was an American businessman most famous for serving as president of the ITT Corporation.
Biography
Geneen was born on January 22, 1910 in Bournemouth, Hampshire, England. H ...
, the company rose to prominence as the archetypal
conglomerate, deriving its growth from hundreds of acquisitions in diversified industries.
ITT divested its telecommunications assets in 1986. In 1995, the company sold off its hospitality portfolio, including
Sheraton Hotels and Resorts
Sheraton Hotels and Resorts is an international semi-luxury hotel chain owned by Marriott International. As of June 30, 2020, Sheraton operates 446 hotels with 155,617 rooms globally, including locations in North America, Africa, Asia Pacific, Cen ...
. In 1996, the current company was founded as a spinoff of ITT as ITT Industries, Inc. It later changed its name to ITT Corporation in 2006.
In 2011, ITT spun off its defense businesses into a company named
Exelis (now part of
L3Harris Technologies
L3Harris Technologies (L3Harris) is an American technology company, defense contractor, and information technology services provider that produces C6ISR systems and products, wireless equipment, tactical radios, avionics and electronic systems, ...
), and its water technology business into a company named
Xylem Inc.
Xylem Inc. is a large American water technology provider, in public utility, residential, commercial, agricultural and industrial settings. The company does business in more than 150 countries. Launched in 2011 as the spinoff of the water-relat ...
ITT Corporation changed its name to ITT Inc. in 2016.
[
]
History
Beginnings and early acquisitions
International Telephone & Telegraph (ITT) was formed in 1920, created by brokers Colonel Sosthenes Behn
Sosthenes Behn (January 30, 1884 – June 6, 1957) was an American businessman, and the founder of ITT. He held the rank of lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army.
Biography Early years
Sosthenes Behn was born in the island of St. Thomas, then pa ...
and his brother Hernan Behn. The brothers had acquired the Puerto Rico Telephone Company
Claro Puerto Rico is one of the largest telecommunications services company in Puerto Rico. It is headquartered in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, and has operated for almost a century offering voice, data, long distance, broadban ...
in 1914 along with the Cuban-American Telephone and Telegraph Company and a half-interest in the Cuban Telephone Company. ITT's first major expansion was in 1923 when it consolidated the Spanish Telecoms market into what is now Telefónica
Telefónica, S.A. () is a Spanish multinational telecommunications company headquartered in Madrid, Spain. It is one of the largest telephone operators and mobile network providers in the world. It provides fixed and mobile telephony, broadba ...
.[Sampson, Anthony. ''The Sovereign State of ITT, Hodder and Stoughton'', 1973. ] From 1922 to 1925 it purchased a number of European telephone companies.
In 1925, ITT purchased several companies from Western Electric
The Western Electric Company was an American electrical engineering and manufacturing company officially founded in 1869. A wholly owned subsidiary of American Telephone & Telegraph for most of its lifespan, it served as the primary equipment ma ...
, as Bell had agreed to "divest" itself of its international operations. They included the Bell Telephone Manufacturing Company The International Bell Telephone Company (IBTC) of Brussels, Belgium, was created in 1879 by the Bell Telephone Company of Boston, Massachusetts, a precursor entity to the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T), initially to sell imported ...
(BTM) of Antwerp, Belgium, which manufactured rotary system
The rotary machine switching system, or most commonly known as the rotary system, was a type of automatic telephone exchange manufactured and used primarily in Europe from the 1910s. The system was developed and tested by AT&T's American engineerin ...
switching equipment, and the British ''International Western Electric'', which was renamed Standard Telephones and Cables
Standard Telephones and Cables Ltd (later STC plc) was a British manufacturer of telephone, telegraph, radio, telecommunications, and related equipment. During its history, STC invented and developed several groundbreaking new technologies incl ...
(STC). Compagnie Générale d'Electricité later purchased BTM; Nortel
Nortel Networks Corporation (Nortel), formerly Northern Telecom Limited, was a Canadian multinational telecommunications and data networking equipment manufacturer headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It was founded in Montreal, Quebec, ...
later purchased STC.
In the 1930s, ITT purchased German electronic companies Standard Elektrizitätsgesellschaft (SEG) and Mix & Genest
Mix & Genest was founded on 1 October 1879 by the businessman Wilhelm Mix and the engineer Werner Genest in Berlin-Schöneberg. The company was initially an 1879 branch of the ITT Corporation. It was very successful and became one of the pioneers ...
, both of which were internationally active companies and Romanian telecommunications monopoly Societatea Anonima Română de Telefoane. Its only serious rival was the Theodore Gary & Company Theodore Gary & Company was a 20th-century independent telephone firm in the United States. Among its subsidiaries was the Associated Telephone and Telegraph Company, which controlled telephone companies in Latin America and telephone manufacturin ...
conglomerate, which operated a subsidiary, Associated Telephone and Telegraph, with manufacturing plants in Europe.
In the United States, ITT acquired the various companies of the Mackay Companies in 1928 through a specially organized subsidiary corporation, Postal Telegraph & Cable. These companies included the Commercial Cable Company
The Commercial Cable Company was founded in New York in 1884 by John William Mackay and James Gordon Bennett, Jr.
Their motivation was to break the then virtual monopoly of Jay Gould on transatlantic telegraphy and bring down prices (particularl ...
, the Commercial Pacific Cable Company
Commercial Pacific Cable Company was founded in 1901, and ceased operations in October 1951. It provided the first direct telegraph route from America to the Philippines, China, and Japan.
The company was established as a joint venture of three c ...
, Postal Telegraph
Postal Telegraph Company (Postal Telegraph & Cable Corporation) was a major operator of telegraph networks in the United States prior to its consolidation with Western Union in 1943.Nonnenmacher, TomasHistory of the U.S. Telegraph Industry/ref> Po ...
, and the Federal Telegraph Company
The Federal Telegraph Company was a United States manufacturing and communications company that played a pivotal role in the 20th century in the development of radio communications. Founded in Palo Alto, California in 1909 by Cyril Frank Elwell, t ...
.
German subsidiaries in the Nazi period
On August 3, 1933, Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
received Sosthenes Behn
Sosthenes Behn (January 30, 1884 – June 6, 1957) was an American businessman, and the founder of ITT. He held the rank of lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army.
Biography Early years
Sosthenes Behn was born in the island of St. Thomas, then pa ...
, then the CEO of ITT, and his German representative, Henry Mann, in one of his first meetings with US businessmen.
In his book ''Wall Street and the Rise of Hitler'', Antony C. Sutton
Antony Cyril Sutton (February 14, 1925 – June 17, 2002) was a British-American writer, researcher, economist, and professor.
Early life and education
Antony C. Sutton was born in London on February 14, 1925 to Edward Ceril Sutton and Marjorie ...
claims that ITT subsidiaries made cash payments to SS leader Heinrich Himmler
Heinrich Luitpold Himmler (; 7 October 1900 – 23 May 1945) was of the (Protection Squadron; SS), and a leading member of the Nazi Party of Germany. Himmler was one of the most powerful men in Nazi Germany and a main architect of th ...
. ITT, through its subsidiary C. Lorenz AG
C. Lorenz AG (1880–1958) was a German electrical and electronics firm primarily located in Berlin. It innovated, developed, and marketed products for electric lighting, telegraphy, telephony, radar, and radio. It was acquired by ITT in 1930 and ...
, owned 25% of Focke-Wulf
Focke-Wulf Flugzeugbau AG () was a German manufacturer of civil and military aircraft before and during World War II. Many of the company's successful fighter aircraft designs were slight modifications of the Focke-Wulf Fw 190. It is one of the ...
, the German aircraft manufacturer, builder of some of the most successful Luftwaffe
The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...
fighter aircraft
Fighter aircraft are fixed-wing military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat. In military conflict, the role of fighter aircraft is to establish air superiority of the battlespace. Domination of the airspace above a battlefield ...
. In the 1960s, ITT Corporation won $27 million in compensation for damage inflicted on its share of the Focke-Wulf plant by Allied
An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...
bombing during World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. In addition, Sutton's book uncovers that ITT owned shares of ''Signalbau AG, Dr. Erich F. Huth'' (Signalbau Huth), which produced for the German Wehrmacht
The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previous ...
radar
Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance (''ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, w ...
equipment and transceiver
In radio communication, a transceiver is an electronic device which is a combination of a radio ''trans''mitter and a re''ceiver'', hence the name. It can both transmit and receive radio waves using an antenna, for communication purposes. The ...
s in Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
, Hanover
Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...
(later Telefunken
Telefunken was a German radio and television apparatus company, founded in Berlin in 1903, as a joint venture of Siemens & Halske and the ''Allgemeine Elektrizitäts-Gesellschaft'' (AEG) ('General electricity company').
The name "Telefunken" app ...
factory) and other places. While ITT - Focke-Wulf planes were bombing Allied ships, and ITT lines were passing information to German submarines, ITT direction finders were saving other ships from torpedoes.
In 1943 ITT became the largest shareholder of Focke-Wulf Flugzeugbau GmbH for the remainder of the war with 29%. This was due to Kaffee HAG's share falling to 27% after the death in May of Kaffee HAG chief, Dr Ludwig Roselius
Ludwig Roselius (2 June 1874 – 15 May 1943) was a German coffee merchant and founder of the company Kaffee HAG. He was born in Bremen and is credited with the development of commercial decaffeination of coffee. As a patron, he supported arti ...
. OMGUS
The Office of Military Government, United States (OMGUS; german: Amt der Militärregierung für Deutschland (U.S.)) was the United States military-established government created shortly after the end of hostilities in occupied Germany in World War ...
documents reveal that the role of the HAG conglomerate could not be determined during WWII.
Post-war acquisitions
In 1951, ITT purchased Philo Farnsworth
Philo Taylor Farnsworth (August 19, 1906 – March 11, 1971) was an American inventor and television pioneer. He made many crucial contributions to the early development of all-electronic television. He is best known for his 1927 invention of t ...
's television
Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...
company to break into that market. At the time Farnsworth was also developing the Fusor
A fusor is a device that uses an electric field to heat ions to nuclear fusion conditions. The machine induces a voltage between two metal cages, inside a vacuum. Positive ions fall down this voltage drop, building up speed. If they collide in ...
fusion reactor
Fusion power is a proposed form of power generation that would generate electricity by using heat from nuclear fusion reactions. In a fusion process, two lighter atomic nuclei combine to form a heavier nucleus, while releasing energy. Devices des ...
, which was funded by ITT until 1967. Also in 1951, ITT bought a majority interest in the Kellogg Switchboard & Supply Company
Kellogg company logo as used from the 1920s to the 1950s.
The Kellogg Switchboard and Supply Company was an American manufacturer of telecommunication equipment. Anticipating the expiration of the earliest, fundamental Bell System patents, Milo G ...
, founded in 1897 as a pioneer in "divided-multiple" telephone switchboard
A telephone switchboard was a device used to connect circuits of telephones to establish telephone calls between users or other switchboards, throughout the 20th century. The switchboard was an essential component of a manual telephone exchange, ...
s, and bought the remaining shares the next year. ITT changed the company's name to ITT Kellogg. After merging Federal Telephone and Radio Corporation
The Federal Telegraph Company was a United States manufacturing and communications company that played a pivotal role in the 20th century in the development of radio communications. Founded in Palo Alto, California in 1909 by Cyril Frank Elwell, t ...
into ITT Kellogg and combining manufacturing operations the name was again changed to ITT Telecommunications, eventually reverting to ITT Kellogg.
One prominent subsidiary of this was the American Cable and Radio Corporation
American Cable and Radio Corporation was a communications holding company in the middle 20th century. Created in February 1940, it was a part of ITT World Communications, and operated what was known as the American Cable and Radio System, comprisi ...
, which operated the transatlantic cables of the Commercial Cable Company
The Commercial Cable Company was founded in New York in 1884 by John William Mackay and James Gordon Bennett, Jr.
Their motivation was to break the then virtual monopoly of Jay Gould on transatlantic telegraphy and bring down prices (particularl ...
, among other ventures. It bought Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
based heating and air conditioning manufacturer John J. Nesbitt Inc.
In 1968 the company purchased Levittown homebuilder Levitt & Sons
Levitt & Sons was a real estate development company founded by Abraham Levitt and later managed by his son William Levitt. The company is most famous for having built the town of Levittown, New York. The company's designs and building practices rev ...
for a reported $90 million.
In 1972, the KONI Group, manufacturer of shock absorbers was added to the list of acquisitions.
International telecommunications
International telecommunications manufacturing subsidiaries included Standard Telephones and Cables
Standard Telephones and Cables Ltd (later STC plc) was a British manufacturer of telephone, telegraph, radio, telecommunications, and related equipment. During its history, STC invented and developed several groundbreaking new technologies incl ...
in the United Kingdom and Australia, Indosat
PT Indosat Tbk, trading as Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison, is a telecommunications provider in Indonesia which is owned by Ooredoo Hutchison Asia, a joint venture between Ooredoo and Hutchison Asia Telecom Group (a part of CK Hutchison Holdings) sinc ...
in Indonesia, Standard Elektrik Lorenz (today part of Nokia
Nokia Corporation (natively Nokia Oyj, referred to as Nokia) is a Finnish multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications industry, telecommunications, technology company, information technology, and consumer electronics corporatio ...
Germany) and '' Gesellschaft für Metallurgie und Elektronik mbH'' (acquired from Clevite
: ''For the radioactive mineral, see Cleveite.''
Clevite, Inc. was a Cleveland, Ohio based manufacturing company, founded as the Cleveland Graphite Bronze Company. The company was a leading producer of Babbit bearings and a significant US govern ...
in 1965; now TDK-Micronas) in Germany, BTM in Belgium, and CGCT and LMT in France. These companies manufactured equipment according to ITT designs including the (1960s) Pentaconta crossbar switch
In electronics and telecommunications, a crossbar switch (cross-point switch, matrix switch) is a collection of switches arranged in a matrix configuration. A crossbar switch has multiple input and output lines that form a crossed pattern of int ...
and (1970s) Metaconta D, L and 10c Stored Program Control exchange
Stored program control (SPC) is a telecommunications technology for telephone exchanges. Its characteristic is that the switching system is controlled by a computer program stored in a memory in the switching system. SPC was the enabling technolog ...
s, mostly for sale to their respective national telephone administrations. This equipment was also produced under license in Poznań
Poznań () is a city on the River Warta in west-central Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business centre, and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint John ...
(Poland), and in Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...
, and elsewhere. ITT was the largest owner of the LM Ericsson
(lit. "Telephone Stock Company of LM Ericsson"), commonly known as Ericsson, is a Swedish multinational networking and telecommunications company headquartered in Stockholm. The company sells infrastructure, software, and services in informat ...
company in Sweden but sold out in 1960.
Alec Reeves
Alec Harley Reeves (10 March 1902 – 13 October 1971) was a British scientist best known for his invention of pulse-code modulation (PCM). He was awarded 82 patents.
Early life
Alec Reeves was born in Redhill, Surrey in 1902 and was educated at ...
invented pulse-code modulation
Pulse-code modulation (PCM) is a method used to digitally represent sampled analog signals. It is the standard form of digital audio in computers, compact discs, digital telephony and other digital audio applications. In a PCM stream, the ...
(PCM), upon which future digital voice communication was based, and Charles K. Kao
Sir Charles Kao Kuen [Charles K. Kao was elected in 1990](_blank)
as a memb ...
pioneered the use of optical fiber
An optical fiber, or optical fibre in Commonwealth English, is a flexible, transparent fiber made by drawing glass (silica) or plastic to a diameter slightly thicker than that of a human hair. Optical fibers are used most often as a means to ...
, for which he was awarded the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physics
)
, image = Nobel Prize.png
, alt = A golden medallion with an embossed image of a bearded man facing left in profile. To the left of the man is the text "ALFR•" then "NOBEL", and on the right, the text (smaller) "NAT•" then " ...
.
Harold Geneen appointment
In 1959, Harold Geneen
Harold "Hal" Sydney Geneen (January 22, 1910 – November 21, 1997), was an American businessman most famous for serving as president of the ITT Corporation.
Biography
Geneen was born on January 22, 1910 in Bournemouth, Hampshire, England. H ...
became CEO
A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...
. Using leveraged buyout
A leveraged buyout (LBO) is one company's acquisition of another company using a significant amount of borrowed money (leverage) to meet the cost of acquisition. The assets of the company being acquired are often used as collateral for the loan ...
s, he turned the minor acquisitions of the 1950s into major growth during the 1960s. In 1965, ITT attempted to purchase the ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
television network for $700 million. The deal was halted by federal antitrust
Competition law is the field of law that promotes or seeks to maintain market competition by regulating anti-competitive conduct by companies. Competition law is implemented through public and private enforcement. It is also known as antitrust l ...
regulators who feared ITT was growing too large. In order to continue growing while not running afoul of antitrust legislation, it moved to acquire companies outside of the telecommunications industry. Under Geneen, ITT bought over 300 companies in the 1960s, including some hostile takeover
In business, a takeover is the purchase of one company (the ''target'') by another (the ''acquirer'' or ''bidder''). In the UK, the term refers to the acquisition of a public company whose shares are listed on a stock exchange, in contrast to ...
s. The deals included well-known businesses like the Sheraton Hotel chain, Wonder Bread
Wonder Bread is a brand of sliced bread which originated in the United States in 1921 and was one of the first to be sold pre-sliced nationwide in 1930. The brand is currently owned by Flowers Foods in the United States.
History
The Taggart Bak ...
maker Continental Baking, Rayonier
Rayonier Inc, headquartered in Wildlight, Florida, is a timberland real estate investment trust ("REIT") with assets located in some of the most productive softwood timber growing regions in the United States and New Zealand. Its core business s ...
, and Avis Rent-a-Car
Avis Car Rental is an American car rental company headquartered in Parsippany-Troy Hills, New Jersey, Parsippany, New Jersey. Avis, Budget Rent a Car, Budget Truck Rental and Zipcar are all units of Avis Budget Group.
Avis Budget Group opera ...
. ITT also absorbed smaller operations in auto parts, energy, books, semiconductors and cosmetics. In 1966, ITT acquired Educational Services, Inc., an operator of for-profit schools, which became ITT/ESI. When ITT attempted to acquire The Hartford
The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc., usually known as The Hartford, is a United States-based investment and insurance company. The Hartford is a Fortune 500 company headquartered in its namesake city of Hartford, Connecticut. It was ranke ...
insurance company in 1970, the US Justice Department
The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a United States federal executive departments, federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and a ...
filed suit, and ITT agreed to divest assets equal to those of Hartford's, including Avis.
ITT's sales grew from about $700 million in 1960 to about $8 billion in 1970, and its profit from $29 million to $550 million. However, when the higher interest rates started eating away at profits in the late 1960s, ITT's growth slowed considerably.
In the late 1960s, the British electronics manufacturer Kolster-Brandes
Kolster-Brandes Ltd was an American owned, British manufacturer of radio and television sets based in Foots Cray, Sidcup, Kent.
History
The company was a descendant of ''Brandes'', a Canadian company founded in Toronto in 1908. Brandes became pa ...
, KB for short, had run into trouble with its color television
Color television or Colour television is a television transmission technology that includes color information for the picture, so the video image can be displayed in color on the television set. It improves on the monochrome or black-and-white t ...
manufacturing, and turned to ITT for help; ITT bought out the company, and for a while, UK products were badged "ITT KB" then eventually just ITT. By the late 1970s, ITT had a good presence on the UK domestic electrical market in television, audio and portable radio products.
Brazilian Expropriation in 1962
In February 1962, during the presidency of João Goulart
João Belchior Marques Goulart (1 March 1919 – 6 December 1976), commonly known as Jango, was a Brazilian politician who served as the 24th president of Brazil until a military coup d'état deposed him on 1 April 1964. He was considered the ...
, the State Governor of Rio Grande do Sul
Rio Grande do Sul (, , ; "Great River of the South") is a Federative units of Brazil, state in the South Region, Brazil, southern region of Brazil. It is the Federative_units_of_Brazil#List, fifth-most-populous state and the List of Brazilian st ...
Leonel Brizola
Leonel de Moura Brizola (22 January 1922 – 21 June 2004) was a Brazilian politician. Launched into politics by Brazilian president Getúlio Vargas in the 1930–1950s, Brizola was the only politician to serve as elected governor of two Brazi ...
decided to expropriate a Brazilian subsidiary of ITT, the Companhia Telefônica Nacional. During the next years of Goulart's presidency, the expropriation was one of the most debated Brazilian political issues. The action from the State Governor to expropriate the company was never supported by the Brazilian president at the time and had severe implications in the Brazil–United States relations
The United States was, in 1824, the second country to recognize the independence of Brazil, after Argentina did it in 1823. Brazil was the only South American nation to send troops to fight in Europe alongside the Allies in World War II.
While B ...
. Some historians even say that the expropriation was one of the reasons for the federal government of the United States
The federal government of the United States (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the national government of the United States, a federal republic located primarily in North America, composed of 50 states, a city within a fede ...
to support the 1964 Brazilian coup d'état
The 1964 Brazilian coup d'état ( pt, Golpe de estado no Brasil em 1964), colloquially known in Brazil as the Coup of 64 ('), was a series of events in Brazil from March 31 to April 1 that led to the overthrow of President João Goulart by membe ...
.
1972 Republican National Convention
ITT became enmeshed in scandal in connection with the 1972 Republican National Convention
The 1972 Republican National Convention was held from August 21 to August 23, 1972 at the Miami Beach Convention Center in Miami Beach, Florida. It nominated President Richard M. Nixon and Vice President Spiro T. Agnew for reelection. The convent ...
. In May 1971, ITT president Geneen pledged $400,000 to support a proposal to hold the convention in San Diego
San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...
; only $100,000 of the contribution was publicly disclosed. The Republican National Committee
The Republican National Committee (RNC) is a U.S. political committee that assists the Republican Party of the United States. It is responsible for developing and promoting the Republican brand and political platform, as well as assisting in fu ...
selected San Diego as the site in July 1971.
However, on February 29, 1972, newspaper columnist Jack Anderson disclosed an interoffice memo from ITT lobbyist Dita Beard to ITT vice president Bill Merriam, dated June 25, 1971. The memo appeared to draw a connection between ITT's contribution to the convention and the favorable settlement of a United States Department of Justice Antitrust Division
The United States Department of Justice Antitrust Division is a division of the U.S. Department of Justice that enforces U.S. antitrust law. It has exclusive jurisdiction over U.S. federal criminal antitrust prosecutions. It also has jurisdi ...
lawsuit. The resulting scandal, including a Senate investigation and the threat of criminal charges, caused ITT to withdraw its support for the San Diego convention. That combined with a shortage of hotel space and problems with the proposed venue led the RNC to move the convention to Miami. Special prosecutor Leon Jaworski
Leonidas "Leon" Jaworski (September 19, 1905 – December 9, 1982) was an American attorney and law professor who served as the second special prosecutor during the Watergate Scandal. He was appointed to that position on November 1, 1973, soon af ...
investigated the case but ultimately concluded there was no evidence of criminal conduct by ITT.
Nixon aides such as John Dean
John Wesley Dean III (born October 14, 1938) is an American former attorney who served as White House Counsel for U.S. President Richard Nixon from July 1970 until April 1973. Dean is known for his role in the cover-up of the Watergate scandal ...
and Jeb Stuart Magruder
Jeb Stuart Magruder (November 5, 1934May 11, 2014) was an American businessman and high-level political operative in the Republican Party who served time in prison for his role in the Watergate scandal.
He served President Richard Nixon in var ...
have alleged that the Watergate break-in
The Watergate scandal was a major political scandal in the United States involving the administration of President Richard Nixon from 1972 to 1974 that led to Nixon's resignation. The scandal stemmed from the Nixon administration's continual ...
was motivated by the Committee for the Re-Election of the President
The Committee for the Re-election of the President (also known as the Committee to Re-elect the President), abbreviated CRP, but often mocked by the acronym CREEP, was, officially, a fundraising organization of United States President Richard Nix ...
's suspicion that the Democratic National Committee
The Democratic National Committee (DNC) is the governing body of the United States Democratic Party. The committee coordinates strategy to support Democratic Party candidates throughout the country for local, state, and national office, as well a ...
was making similar deals to fund its 1972 convention. This theory is supported by conversations and exchanges between President Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...
and his chief of staff H. R. Haldeman
Harry Robbins Haldeman (October 27, 1926 – November 12, 1993) was an American political aide and businessman, best known for his service as White House Chief of Staff to President Richard Nixon and his consequent involvement in the Watergate s ...
before and after the break-in, as well as by testimony by E. Howard Hunt
Everette Howard Hunt Jr. (October 9, 1918 – January 23, 2007) was an American intelligence officer and author. From 1949 to 1970, Hunt served as an officer in the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), particularly in the United States involvem ...
. However, this theory has also been disputed by others involved in the break-in such as G. Gordon Liddy
George Gordon Battle Liddy (November 30, 1930 – March 30, 2021) was an American lawyer, FBI agent, talk show host, actor, and convicted felon in the Watergate scandal as the chief operative in the White House Plumbers unit during the Nixon admi ...
.
Involvement in 1973 Pinochet coup in Chile
In 1970, ITT owned 70% of CTC (the Chilean Telephone Company, now Movistar
Movistar () is a major telecommunications provider owned by Telefónica, operating in Spain and Hispanic American countries. It is the largest provider of landline, broadband, mobile services, and pay television (Movistar+) in Spain. Movistar is ...
Chile) and funded ''El Mercurio
''El Mercurio'' (known online as ''El Mercurio On-Line'', ''EMOL'') is a Chilean newspaper with editions in Valparaíso and Santiago. Its Santiago edition is considered the country's newspaper of record and it is considered the oldest daily in t ...
'', a Chilean right-wing
Right-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that view certain social orders and hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position on the basis of natural law, economics, authorit ...
newspaper. Declassified documents released by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...
in 2000 reveal that the company financially helped opponents of Salvador Allende
Salvador Guillermo Allende Gossens (, , ; 26 June 1908 – 11 September 1973) was a Chilean physician and socialist politician who served as the 28th president of Chile from 3 November 1970 until his death on 11 September 1973. He was the fir ...
's government prepare a military coup
A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare
War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such ...
. On September 28, 1973, an ITT building in New York City was bombed by the Weather Underground
The Weather Underground was a Far-left politics, far-left militant organization first active in 1969, founded on the Ann Arbor, Michigan, Ann Arbor campus of the University of Michigan. Originally known as the Weathermen, the group was organiz ...
for involvement in the coup d'état.
Post-Geneen: Hamilton and Araskog
In March 1977 Lyman C. Hamilton was appointed CEO, and Geneen became chairman of the board. In June 1979, while Hamilton was in Asia, Geneen became aware of Hamilton's plans to divest ITT's European consumer goods business, and lobbied his fellow board members to dismiss Hamilton. In July 1979 Rand Araskog
Rand Vincent Araskog (October 31, 1931 – August 9, 2021) was an American manufacturing executive, investor, and writer who served as the CEO of ITT Corporation. During his time as the CEO between 1979 and 1998 he was known for divesting the co ...
became CEO. Shortly thereafter, Araskog insisted that the board remove Geneen as Chairman, though Geneen remained on the board for four more years.
Araskog over the next two decades dismantled much of ITT, selling most of its holdings.
Starting in 1977, ITT set out to develop an ambitious new Digital Telephone Exchange, System 1240 (later System 12), which reportedly cost US$1 billion. ''Fortune
Fortune may refer to:
General
* Fortuna or Fortune, the Roman goddess of luck
* Luck
* Wealth
* Fortune, a prediction made in fortune-telling
* Fortune, in a fortune cookie
Arts and entertainment Film and television
* ''The Fortune'' (1931 film) ...
'' reported that "Araskog focused the company on an all-consuming push to develop and market System 12" and "shoveled profits from good businesses into System 12's insatiable maw". System 12 was intended to operate in all markets, and in all modes, from local switches to long distance. The design was done at the Advanced Technology Center (Stamford, Connecticut
Stamford () is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut, outside of Manhattan. It is Connecticut's second-most populous city, behind Bridgeport. With a population of 135,470, Stamford passed Hartford and New Haven in population as of the 2020 ...
and then Shelton, Connecticut
Shelton is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 40,869 at the 2020 United States Census.
History
Origins
Shelton was settled by the English as part of the town of Stratford, Connecticut, in 1639. On May 15, ...
). Manufacturing was by ITT's subsidiaries, such as BTM in Belgium
Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...
, where the first production system was installed at Brecht
Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known professionally as Bertolt Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a pl ...
, in August 1982. Initial sales, particularly in Europe and Mexico, were strong, but the new system took longer than expected to integrate, with further losses. Against the advice of headquarters, ITT Telecommunications (ITT Kellogg
ITT Inc., formerly ITT Corporation, is an American worldwide manufacturing company based in Stamford, Connecticut. The company produces specialty components for the aerospace, transportation, energy and industrial markets. ITT's three businesses ...
) in Raleigh, North Carolina undertook the conversion in the US market, and although sales were announced in 1984 and 1985, the attempt ultimately failed, in early 1986.
In 1986 ITT sold its international telecommunications product businesses, including ITT Kellogg
ITT Inc., formerly ITT Corporation, is an American worldwide manufacturing company based in Stamford, Connecticut. The company produces specialty components for the aerospace, transportation, energy and industrial markets. ITT's three businesses ...
, to the Alcatel Alsthom subsidiary of Compagnie Générale d'Electricité (CGE), forming Alcatel N.V. (Netherlands). At the time this was the world's second-largest telecommunications company. (Alcatel Alsthom S.A. subsequently merged with Lucent
Lucent Technologies, Inc. was an American Multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications equipment company headquartered in Murray Hill, New Jersey, Murray Hill, New Jersey. It was established on September 30, 1996, through the dives ...
to become Alcatel-Lucent
Alcatel–Lucent S.A. () was a French–American global telecommunications equipment company, headquartered in Boulogne-Billancourt, France. It was formed in 2006 by the merger of France-based Alcatel and U.S.-based Lucent, the latter being a su ...
). ITT initially held a 37% stake, but in March 1992 it sold its remaining 30%. "The move ended the involvement of ITT in the telephone industry."
ITT Educational Services, Inc. (ESI) was spun off through an IPO
An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investment ...
in 1994, with ITT as an 83% shareholder. (In September 2016 ESI announced plans to close all of its 130 Technical Institutes in 38 states, because their students were no longer eligible for Federal aid.) ITT merged its long-distance division with Metromedia
Metromedia (also often MetroMedia) was an American media company that owned radio and television stations in the United States from 1956 to 1986 and controlled Orion Pictures from 1988 to 1997. Metromedia was established in 1956 after the DuMo ...
Long Distance in March 1989, creating ''Metromedia-ITT''. Metromedia-ITT would eventually be acquired by Long Distance Discount Services, Inc. (LDDS) in 1993. LDDS would later change its name to Worldcom
MCI, Inc. (subsequently Worldcom and MCI WorldCom) was a telecommunications company. For a time, it was the second largest long-distance telephone company in the United States, after AT&T. Worldcom grew largely by acquiring other telecommunic ...
in 1995.
1995 breakup
In 1995, with Araskog still at the helm, ITT split into three separate public companies:
* ITT Corp. – In 1997, ITT Corp. completed a merger with Starwood
Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide, Inc. was one of the largest companies that owned, operated, franchised and managed hotels, resorts, spas, residences, and vacation ownership properties. It was acquired by Marriott International in 2016.
...
, which wanted to acquire Sheraton Hotels and Resorts
Sheraton Hotels and Resorts is an international semi-luxury hotel chain owned by Marriott International. As of June 30, 2020, Sheraton operates 446 hotels with 155,617 rooms globally, including locations in North America, Africa, Asia Pacific, Cen ...
. Starwood sold ITT World Directories to VNU. By 1999, ITT completely divested from ITT/ESI; however, the schools still operated as ITT Technical Institute
ITT Technical Institute (ITT Tech) was a private for-profit technical institute with its headquarters in Carmel, Indiana and many campuses throughout the United States. Founded in 1969 and growing to 130 campuses in 38 states of the United State ...
using the ITT name under license until its demise in 2016. Also in 1999, ITT Corp. dropped the ITT name in favor of Starwood
Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide, Inc. was one of the largest companies that owned, operated, franchised and managed hotels, resorts, spas, residences, and vacation ownership properties. It was acquired by Marriott International in 2016.
...
.
* ITT Hartford (insurance) – Today ITT Hartford is still a major insurance company although it has dropped the ITT from its name altogether. The company is now known as The Hartford
The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc., usually known as The Hartford, is a United States-based investment and insurance company. The Hartford is a Fortune 500 company headquartered in its namesake city of Hartford, Connecticut. It was ranke ...
Financial Services Group, Inc.
* ITT Industries – ITT operated under this name until 2006 and is a major manufacturing and defense contractor
The arms industry, also known as the arms trade, is a global industry which manufactures and sells weapons and military technology. It consists of a commercial industry involved in the research and development, engineering, production, and serv ...
business.
** On July 1, 2006, ITT Industries changed its name to ITT Corporation as a result of its shareholders vote on May 9, 2006.
** In 2011, ITT Corporation spun off two businesses. The defense business became Exelis, which was acquired by Harris
Harris may refer to:
Places Canada
* Harris, Ontario
* Northland Pyrite Mine (also known as Harris Mine)
* Harris, Saskatchewan
* Rural Municipality of Harris No. 316, Saskatchewan
Scotland
* Harris, Outer Hebrides (sometimes called the Isle o ...
in 2015; the water business became Xylem Inc.
Criminal prosecution
In March 2007, ITT Corporation became the first major defense contractor to be convicted for criminal violations of the U.S. Arms Export Control Act
The Arms Export Control Act of 1976 (Title II of , codified at ) gives the President of the United States the authority to control the import and export of defense articles and defense services. The H.R. 13680 legislation was passed by the 94th ...
. The fines resulted from ITT's outsourcing
Outsourcing is an agreement in which one company hires another company to be responsible for a planned or existing activity which otherwise is or could be carried out internally, i.e. in-house, and sometimes involves transferring employees and ...
program, in which they transferred night vision goggles
A night-vision device (NVD), also known as a night optical/observation device (NOD), night-vision goggle (NVG), is an optoelectronic device that allows visualization of images in low levels of light, improving the user's night vision. The dev ...
and classified information
Classified information is material that a government body deems to be sensitive information that must be protected. Access is restricted by law or regulation to particular groups of people with the necessary security clearance and need to know, ...
about countermeasure
A countermeasure is a measure or action taken to counter or offset another one. As a general concept, it implies precision and is any technological or tactical solution or system designed to prevent an undesirable outcome in the process. The fi ...
s against laser weapon
A laser weapon is a directed-energy weapon based on lasers. After decades of R&D, directed-energy weapons including lasers are still at the experimental stage and it remains to be seen if or when they will be deployed as practical, high-perfor ...
s, including light interference filters, to engineers in Singapore
Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...
, the People's Republic of China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
, and the United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
. They were fined US$100 million although they were also given the option of spending half of that sum on research and development
Research and development (R&D or R+D), known in Europe as research and technological development (RTD), is the set of innovative activities undertaken by corporations or governments in developing new services or products, and improving existi ...
of new night vision technology. The United States government will assume rights to the resulting intellectual property.
In its investigation and subsequent ruling the United States Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and administration of justice in the United State ...
found that the corporation went to significant lengths to circumvent rules regarding the exports including setting up a front company
A front organization is any entity set up by and controlled by another organization, such as intelligence agencies, organized crime groups, terrorist organizations, secret societies, banned organizations, religious or political groups, advocacy gr ...
. According to U.S. Attorney
United States attorneys are officials of the U.S. Department of Justice who serve as the chief federal law enforcement officers in each of the 94 U.S. federal judicial districts. Each U.S. attorney serves as the United States' chief federal c ...
John L. Brownlee
John Leslie Brownlee (born January 31, 1965) (payment required) is an American lawyer who served as the United States Attorney for the Western District of Virginia from 2001 to 2008. He has since worked as the chair of the National White Collar ...
, the company fought the investigation in order "to essentially run out the clock on the statute of limitations."
Purchases
An agreement was reached on June 26, 2007, for ITT to acquire privately held ''International Motion Control'' (IMC) for $395 million. The deal was closed and finalized in September 2007. An announcement was made September 14, 2010, to close the Cleveland site.
An agreement was reached September 18, 2007, for ITT to buy EDO Corporation
EDO Corporation was an American company which was acquired by ITT Corporation in 2007. EDO designed and manufactured products for defense, intelligence, and commercial markets, and provided related engineering and professional services. It emp ...
for $1.7 billion. After EDO shareholders' approval, the deal was closed and finalized on December 20, 2007.
On April 16, 2009, ITT announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Laing GmbH of Germany, a privately held leading producer of energy-efficient circulator pumps primarily used in residential and commercial plumbing and heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) systems.
2011 breakup
On January 12, 2011, ITT announced a transformation to separate the remaining company into three publicly traded
A public company is a company whose ownership is organized via shares of stock which are intended to be freely traded on a stock exchange or in over-the-counter markets. A public (publicly traded) company can be listed on a stock exchange (list ...
independent companies. On July 14, 2011, ITT announced the names of the three companies: the Industrial Process & Flow Control division to retain the name ITT Corporation, the Water & Waste Water division, later named Xylem
Xylem is one of the two types of transport tissue in vascular plants, the other being phloem. The basic function of xylem is to transport water from roots to stems and leaves, but it also transports nutrients. The word ''xylem'' is derived from ...
, symbol XYL (a reference to xylem
Xylem is one of the two types of transport tissue in vascular plants, the other being phloem. The basic function of xylem is to transport water from roots to stems and leaves, but it also transports nutrients. The word ''xylem'' is derived from ...
tissue in plants), and the Defense division to be named Exelis Inc., symbol XLS. Then-ITT stockholders subsequently owned shares in all three companies following the spinoff.
Headquarters
In 1929 ITT's headquarters were at (75) 67 Broad Street, Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
, New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
, New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
. "During World War II the building was a hub for communications with American submarines operating in the Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...
."
From 1961 to 1989, ITT's headquarters were at 320 Park Ave., New York.
1330 Sixth Avenue in Manhattan, New York City, which was ITT's corporate headquarters prior to its merger with Starwood
Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide, Inc. was one of the largest companies that owned, operated, franchised and managed hotels, resorts, spas, residences, and vacation ownership properties. It was acquired by Marriott International in 2016.
...
, was originally owned by the American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company (ABC) is an American commercial broadcast television network. It is the flagship property of the ABC Entertainment Group division of The Walt Disney Company. The network is headquartered in Burbank, Cali ...
(ABC), which ITT attempted to acquire in 1963. After a financial downturn, ABC moved out of the building known as "Brown Rock" and sold it to a Japanese conglomerate which then in turn leased a good portion out to ITT Corporation.
In 2022, ITT's global headquarters moved out of White Plains, NY and into Harbor Point in Stamford, CT.
ITT Avionics
ITT Avionics was a division of ITT Corporation in Nutley, New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...
. A 300-foot research tower at ITT Avionics was built in 1947 for scientists for microwave communications
Microwave transmission is the transmission of information by electromagnetic waves with wavelengths in the microwave frequency range of 300MHz to 300GHz(1 m - 1 mm wavelength) of the electromagnetic spectrum. Microwave signals are normally lim ...
systems. Research at the tower had stopped in the 1970s. On the morning of April 4, 1996 at 10:00 am, the tower was demolished with explosives to prepare the site for sale.
In October 1989, the Naval Air Systems Command
The Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) provides materiel support for aircraft and airborne weapon systems for the United States Navy. It is one of the Echelon II Navy systems commands (SYSCOM), and was established in 1966 as the successor to the ...
(NAVAIR) awarded a contract to ITT Avionics for production of an Airborne Self-Protection Jammer (ASPJ), and a similar contract was issued to Westinghouse Electric Corporation
The Westinghouse Electric Corporation was an American manufacturing company founded in 1886 by George Westinghouse. It was originally named "Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company" and was renamed "Westinghouse Electric Corporation" in ...
. Westinghouse and ITT had worked together with the U S Government to develop the ASPJ. The contract was later terminated by the government for convenience because the ASPJ failed independent operational test and evaluation
An operational definition specifies concrete, replicable procedures designed to represent a construct. In the words of American psychologist S.S. Stevens (1935), "An operation is the performance which we execute in order to make known a concept." F ...
(OPEVAL) procedures.
In 1991 the company won a $19.6 million contract from the United States Air Force
The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...
to develop the "intraflight data link", a communications system for "tactical airborne forces". In 2004 they were awarded a $24.9 million contract from the Naval Air Systems Command Weapons Division for engineering software support services provided to the Tactical Aircraft Electronic Warfare Integrated Program Team at Point Mugu, California
Point Mugu (, Chumash: ''Muwu'') is a cape or promontory within Point Mugu State Park on the Pacific Coast in Ventura County, near the city of Port Hueneme and the city of Oxnard. The name is believed to be derived from the Chumash Indian term ...
and China Lake, California.
Consumer electronics
Through their then subsidiary Schaub Elektrik Lorenz, ITT manufactured consumer products under the ITT Schaub-Lorenz brand, such as Touring radio receivers and Ideal Color television sets employing Heliochrom picture tubes.
Some television models feature the Ideal-Computer cartridge system, featuring a slot suitable for housing an ultrasonic remote control (acting as front panel buttons while docked), a teletext
A British Ceefax football index page from October 2009, showing the three-digit page numbers for a variety of football news stories
Teletext, or broadcast teletext, is a standard for displaying text and rudimentary graphics on suitably equipp ...
decoder, or Tele-Match video game dedicated console
A dedicated console is a video game console that is limited to one or more built-in video game or games, and is not equipped for additional games that are distributed via ROM cartridges, discs, downloads or other digital media. Dedicated consol ...
s (unrelated to the "ITT Telematch Processor" console, a rebrand of the Fairchild Channel F
The Fairchild Channel F, short for "Channel Fun", is a video game console, the first to be based on a microprocessor and to use ROM cartridges instead of having games built-in. It was released by Fairchild Camera and Instrument in November 1976 a ...
); the Ideal-Computer system was licensed to other German producers of its time.
ITT Schaub-Lorenz was also behind the Digivision, the first television employing digital signal processing
Digital signal processing (DSP) is the use of digital processing, such as by computers or more specialized digital signal processors, to perform a wide variety of signal processing operations. The digital signals processed in this manner are ...
of the image.
For a comparable time span, ITT had also controlled and then fully absorbed English radio and television manufacturer Kolster-Brandes
Kolster-Brandes Ltd was an American owned, British manufacturer of radio and television sets based in Foots Cray, Sidcup, Kent.
History
The company was a descendant of ''Brandes'', a Canadian company founded in Toronto in 1908. Brandes became pa ...
.
In 1986 throughout the following year, the ITT Telecommunications division (which included Schaub-Lorenz and Kolster-Brandes) was transferred to Alcatel Alcatel may refer to:
* Alcatel, a former French telecommunications equipment company, which became Alcatel-Lucent and is now part of Nokia
* Alcatel Mobile, a brand of mobile phones, tablets and wearables, formerly a joint venture between Alcatel ...
through the French CGE, then in 1988 the consumer electronics division was further spun off and sold to Nokia
Nokia Corporation (natively Nokia Oyj, referred to as Nokia) is a Finnish multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications industry, telecommunications, technology company, information technology, and consumer electronics corporatio ...
, who sold some products under the ITT Nokia brand.
Nokia closed their German TV factories in 1996, although their use of the ITT brand may have been discontinued earlier.
Since 2006, the ITT brand and logo are licensed to the Karcher corporation, which is not part of the ITT group.
Customers and programs
Federal Aviation Administration NextGen
In 2007, ITT was awarded a $207 million initial contract by the Federal Aviation Administration
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the largest transportation agency of the U.S. government and regulates all aspects of civil aviation in the country as well as over surrounding international waters. Its powers include air traffic m ...
(FAA) to lead a team to develop and deploy the Automatic Dependent Surveillance – Broadcast
Automatic may refer to:
Music Bands
* Automatic (band), Australian rock band
* Automatic (American band), American rock band
* The Automatic, a Welsh alternative rock band
Albums
* ''Automatic'' (Jack Bruce album), a 1983 electronic rock ...
(ADS-B) system. ADS-B is a key component of the FAA's NextGen air traffic control modernization program intended to increase safety and efficiency to meet the growing needs of air transportation
Aviation includes the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. ''Aircraft'' includes fixed-wing and rotary-wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, as well as lighter-than-air craft such as hot air ...
. ITT is responsible for overall system integration and engineering and under contract options will operate and maintain the system after deployment through September 2025. The ITT team includes its partners AT&T, Thales North America, WSI, SAIC, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Aerospace Engineering, Sunhillo, Comsearch, MCS of Tampa, Pragmatics, Washington Consulting Group, Aviation Communications and Surveillance Systems (ACSS), Sandia Aerospace and NCR Corporation.
GeoEye-1
On September 6, 2008, the ITT-built imaging payload was launched aboard the GeoEye-1 satellite to provide high-resolution earth imaging
Satellite images (also Earth observation imagery, spaceborne photography, or simply satellite photo) are images of Earth collected by imaging satellites operated by governments and businesses around the world. Satellite imaging companies sell ima ...
. The satellite has the ability to collect images at 0.41-meter panchromatic
Panchromatic emulsion is a type of black-and-white photographic emulsion that is sensitive to all wavelengths of visible light.
Description
A panchromatic emulsion renders a realistic reproduction of a scene as it appears to the human eye, altho ...
(black and white) and 1.65-meter multispectral
Multispectral imaging captures image data within specific wavelength ranges across the electromagnetic spectrum. The wavelengths may be separated by filters or detected with the use of instruments that are sensitive to particular wavelengths, ...
(color) resolution. GeoEye-1 can precisely locate an object to within three meters of its true location on the Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...
's surface. The satellite will also be able to collect up to 700,000 square kilometers of panchromatic imagery per day.
See also
*ITT Visual Information Solutions
L3Harris Geospatial develops products for the visualization, analysis, and management of geospatial imagery and scientific data. The company develops products such as IDL (programming language), IDL, ENVI, and Jagwire which are used in a variety ...
*ITT Interconnect Solutions
ITT Interconnect Solutions, a division of ITT Inc., is a globally diversified connector and connector assembly manufacturing company. Founded in 1915 as Cannon by James H. Cannon, the company developed some of the first equipment for sound films ...
*Top 100 US Federal Contractors
The Top 100 Contractors Report is a list developed annually by the U.S. General Services Administration as part of its tracking of U.S. federal government procurement, of the "Top 100" contractors in the United States.
In fiscal year 2005, the fe ...
References
Further reading
*
*
* Calvo, Angel. "State, firms and technology. The rise of multinational telecommunications companies: ITT and the Compañía Telefónica Nacional de España, 1924–1945." ''Business History'' (2008) 50#4 pp: 455–473.
*
* Ledbetter, Rosanna. "ITT: A multinational corporation in Latin America during World War II." ''Historian'' (1985) 47#4 pp: 524–537.
*
* Sisaye, Seleshi. "Contingencies influencing the effectiveness of acquisition-based corporate growth and development strategies: the case of ITT, 1920-1997." ''Leadership & Organization Development Journal'' (1998) 19#5 pp: 231–255.
*
*
*
External links
*
Emporis.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Itt Corporation
Conglomerate companies of the United States
Defense companies of the United States
Defunct telecommunications companies of the United States
Companies based in White Plains, New York
American companies established in 1920
Conglomerate companies established in 1920
Manufacturing companies established in 1920
Telecommunications companies established in 1920
Manufacturing companies disestablished in 1996
1920 establishments in New York (state)
Companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange
American companies disestablished in 1996
1996 disestablishments in New York (state)
Defunct manufacturing companies based in New York (state)
Companies based in Stamford, Connecticut
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