Tait Communications is a multinational radio communications company with headquarters based in

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon Rive ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...

. The company has offices in 17 countries and employs 869 staff (2011). Tait develops voice and data radio technologies, exporting about 95% of products from its Christchurch manufacturing base. Customers include

London Buses London Buses is the subsidiary of Transport for London (TfL) that manages most bus services in London, England. It was formed following the Greater London Authority Act 1999 that transferred control of London Regional Transport (LRT) bus ...

Country Fire Authority The Country Fire Authority (CFA) is a volunteer fire service responsible for fire suppression, rescues, and response to other accidents and hazards across most of the state Victoria, Australia. CFA comprises over 1,200 brigades organised in 2 ...

and Basin Electric Power Cooperative. Competitors include

Motorola Motorola, Inc. () was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, United States. After having lost $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009, the company split into two independent public companies, Motorola ...

Harris Corporation Harris Corporation was an American technology company, defense contractor, and information technology services provider that produced wireless equipment, tactical radios, electronic systems, night vision equipment and both terrestrial and spac ...

E.F. Johnson Company EF Johnson Technologies, Inc. is a two-way radio manufacturer founded by its namesake, Edgar. Frederick Johnson, in Waseca, Minnesota, United States in 1923. Today it is a wholly owned subsidiary of JVCKenwood of Yokohama, Japan. EF Johnson Te ...

Raytheon Raytheon Technologies Corporation is an American multinational aerospace and defense conglomerate headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. It is one of the largest aerospace and defense manufacturers in the world by revenue and market capitaliz ...

, HYT, Selex and EMC spa.

History

Tait Limited (trading as Tait Communications and formerly known as Tait Electronics Ltd) was founded in 1969 by New Zealand electronics innovator and businessman Sir

Angus Tait Sir Angus McMillan Tait (22 July 1919 – 7 August 2007) was a New Zealand electronics innovator and businessman. Tait had a childhood fascination for electronics and during and after high school at Waitaki Boys' High School, he worked in a fri ...

, KNZM, OBE. The company's founding staff of 12 radio technologists produced the first generation of all-

transistor upright=1.4, gate (G), body (B), source (S) and drain (D) terminals. The gate is separated from the body by an insulating layer (pink). A transistor is a semiconductor device used to Electronic amplifier, amplify or electronic switch, switch ...

mobile radio Mobile radio or mobiles refer to wireless communications systems and devices which are based on radio frequencies(using commonly UHF or VHF frequencies), and where the path of communications is movable on either end. There are a variety of views ...

s in New Zealand.http://www.victoria.ac.nz/canz/research/docs/tait.pdf * In 1973, Tait released the Mini-phone series of mobile radios, which were adopted as the industry standard in New Zealand. * In 1979, Tait launched a range of portable radios and base stations, exporting over 25% of its production. The first wholly owned subsidiary was opened in

Huntingdon Huntingdon is a market town in the Huntingdonshire district in Cambridgeshire, England. The town was given its town charter by King John in 1205. It was the county town of the historic county of Huntingdonshire. Oliver Cromwell was born there ...

, UK. * In 1982, Tait opened facilities in

Houston Houston (; ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in Texas, the Southern United States#Major cities, most populous city in the Southern United States, the List of United States cities by population, fourth-most pop ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

. * In 1988, Tait opened facilities in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

, Australia. * In the mid-1980s Tait moved into developing

trunking In telecommunications, trunking is a technology for providing network access to multiple clients simultaneously by sharing a set of circuits, carriers, channels, or frequencies, instead of providing individual circuits or channels for each clie ...

technology. Substantial investment followed in a broad range of trunked products and TaitNet systems based on the open MPT 1327 standard. * In 1990, the T800 series of modular

base station Base station (or base radio station) is – according to the International Telecommunication Union's (ITU) Radio Regulations (RR) – a " land station in the land mobile service." The term is used in the context of mobile telephony, wireless c ...

and repeater equipment was on the market. The T700 series also appeared. * In 1992, the T2000 series of mobile radios was released. * In 1993, additional offshore subsidiaries were opened and the T3000 series of hand-portables and the Quasi-Sync base station/repeater systems were introduced. * In 1994, the first in a series of mobile data despatch products for use with the T2000 radios was launched. * In 1996, the T3000 Series II, an enhanced version of the portable series, went to market. * In 1997, Tait's T2000 range was updated with the launch of the T2000 Series II. * In 1998, Tait released the Orca series of portable radios. Additional base-station and system enhancements followed, including the T1810 single-site trunked channel controller, before the release of Tait's portable radio range, the Tait Orca 5000. * In 2003, the release of the 8000 tier of base stations and mobiles replaced the T800 base station and T2000 mobile. * In May 2005, Tait launched P25 (Project 25) products based on open standards and open interfaces. * In 2008, the TP8100 replaced the Orca portable radio. * In 2010, Tait opened facilities in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

. * In 2011, Tait opened facilities in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/ Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a me ...

, Australia and expanded in

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

, China. (Office in Beijing has been shut down) * In 2012, Tait Electronics Ltd changed its name to Tait Limited. * In 2014 the regional office in Huntingdon UK was closed and opened office in Milton, Cambridge UK

Technologies and solutions

* P25 (Project 25) *DMR (

Digital Mobile Radio Digital mobile radio (DMR) is a specification for commercial products so they can interoperate. It is defined by a standard created by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI), and is designed to be low-cost and easy to use. DMR, ...

) * MPT 1327 *MPT-IP *Distribution Automation *

Network Management Network management is the process of administering and managing computer networks. Services provided by this discipline include fault analysis, performance management, provisioning of networks and maintaining quality of service. Network manageme ...

Corporate affairs

CEO

* Alan Martyn Gall - General Manager Nov 1992 to Jan 1998 * Warren Francis Rickard - Chief Executive - Jan 1998 to May 2001 * David Michael Chick - Managing Director - Jun 2001 to Jun 2009 * Frank Owen was the CEO of Tait Communications from March 2009 until April 2014. Previously he was the CEO at privately owned Australian company GPC Electronics. In April 2014, David Wade has been appointed as the acting CEO until a replacement for Frank Owen was found. * Garry Diack was CEO from September 2014 until June 2021, after having been a director of the board since July 2014. * Yoram Benit was made Interim CEO in June 2021, before being confirmed by the board as CEO in January 2022.

Structure

Sir

(founder) established a trust structure for the company to be held in. The company is owned by three trusts: the Contel Charitable Trust, The Tait Foundation, and the Lady Tait Charitable Trust. Tait is financially independent and audited annually by

PricewaterhouseCoopers PricewaterhouseCoopers is an international professional services brand of firms, operating as partnerships under the PwC brand. It is the second-largest professional services network in the world and is considered one of the Big Four account ...

Corporate recognition

Tait Communications has received the following awards: *Canterbury Champion Supreme Award (2003) Tait partners with the following associations and groups in their industry: *Funding and oversight of Wireless Research Centre, located at the

NZi3 The NZi3 Innovation Institute is a partnership between the New Zealand government and the University of Canterbury. It was formed in 2006 to commercialise the university's IT research and to develop high-tech industry in Canterbury. A large eco ...

Innovation Institute,

University of Canterbury The University of Canterbury ( mi, Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha; postnominal abbreviation ''Cantuar.'' or ''Cant.'' for ''Cantuariensis'', the Latin name for Canterbury) is a public research university based in Christchurch, New Zealand. It was ...

, New Zealand *Founding member of the DMR Association *Member of

International Association of Public Transport The International Association of Public Transport (UITP, from the french: L’Union internationale des transports publics) is a non-profit advocacy organization for public transport authorities and operators, policy decision-makers, scientific i ...

*Associate Member of the Utilities Telecom Council

Offices by location

*Australia –

*Austria –

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

*Brazil - São Paulo *France - Paris *New Zealand – Christchurch *Singapore *UK - Milton - *USA –

* Locations information via Tait website

References

External links

Tait Communications
official site
Tait Communications corporate video
Companies based in Christchurch Manufacturing companies of New Zealand