ADC Telecommunications
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| Public company (NASDAQ) | |
| Industry | Communications Services |
| Fate | Acquired |
| Successor | TE Connectivity |
| Founded | Minneapolis, Minnesota 1935 |
| Defunct | 2010 (acquisition completed) |
| Headquarters | Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, USA |
|
Key people
|
Alan Clarke, President & CEO of TE Connectivity (Captain Bant) |
| Products | Networking hardware, Wireless Coverage & Capacity, Telecommunications |
| Revenue |
 US$1.157 Billion (FY 2010)
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US$45.9 Million (FY 2010)
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|
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US$78.5 Million (FY 2010)
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|
| Total assets |
US$1.475 Billion (FY 2010)
|
| Total equity |
US$429 Million (FY 2010)
|
|
Number of employees
|
9,300 (Sept 2010) |
| Website | adc.com |
ADC Telecommunications was a communications company located in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, a southwest suburb of Minneapolis. It was acquired by TE Connectivity (Tyco Electronics) in December 2010 and ceased to exist as a separate entity. It vacated its Eden Prairie location in May 2011 and moved staff and resources to other locations. ADC products were sold by CommScope after it acquired the BNS business from TE Connectivity in August 2015.
In 1935, Ralph Allison founded the Audio Development Company in the basement of his south Minneapolis home, inventing ADC's first product, the audiometer, an electronic device designed to test hearing. The company was later renamed to ADC Telecommunications, Inc.
Two years later, fellow engineer Walt Lehnert joined Allison, and together they diversified the company's product line to include amplifiers and transformers for the broadcast industry. By 1942, the company had designed a sophisticated audio system for the University of Minnesota, and the resulting jacks, plugs, patch cords and jackfields became the cornerstones for ADC's later entry into telecommunications.
In 1949, ADC sold its audiometer product line and Ralph Allison left the company to form a new business in California. ADC diversified and focused its efforts in the area of transformers and filters for power lines, military electronics, telephone jacks and plugs. In 1961, ADC merged with Magnetic Controls Company, a manufacturer of power supplies and magnetic amplifiers with strong ties to the U.S. space program. The resulting company, ADC Magnetic Controls, had a decade of mixed success. Although transformer sales boomed during the 1960s, other new product initiatives failed to materialize. Perhaps the most significant product innovation during this period was the bantam jack, a miniaturized component that eventually became the standard for telephone circuit access and patching. Building on its growing sales of jacks and plugs in the early 1970s, ADC introduced prewired, connectorized jackfields, wired assemblies and test equipment for telephone operating companies. By 1974 the company was on solid ground, and by 1976, ADC had become the largest independent supplier of test boards in the United States.
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