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It all started back in 1988 when a bank manager in Umeå (a city in northern Sweden) had a problem. He needed a conference telephone installed in the bank’s new offices, and despite testing all the systems on the market wasn’t at all satisfied. The main problem was that the sound was ’cut’ which meant you had to wait for each other to talk in turn. This made a conversation difficult and the whole experience frustrating.
The bank manager asked an electrical consultant working at the new offices if he could find a good conference telephone solution. The consultant was Peter Renkel, who is today the Managing Director of Konftel. Renkel searched the market and quickly concluded that there was no quality solution available.
Renkel had a friend called John-Erik Eriksson, who is today the Acoustic Designer at Konftel. In 1998 Peter and John-Erik started a small company as a hobby building sound systems in assembly halls and other difficult sound environments in their spare time.
“Is it alright if we try and build a conference telephone system?” asked Peter Renkel.
The rest, as they say, is history. The bank manager said yes and was delighted with the results. He used the system constantly and pretty soon Renkel started to get enquiries about building more systems. The Swedish government telecommunications agency Televerket was also interested. Two local businessmen backed the project and a short time afterwards Konftel was founded.
‘The Sound of a Company – the history of Konftel’
To celebrate Konftel’s 20th anniversary we have
published a book tracing the company’s history.
You can order this book from us or read it here
in pdf format.
Call +46 (0)90 70 64 70 if you want to order the book,
which is available in either Swedish or English. |
 | Foreword – Peter Renkel. Read More (pdf) >>
Chapter One – Two technicians and a bank manager
It all started with a technically-minded bank manager, a sound problem and two hi-fi guys from Lapland. Pretty soon a modestly interested businessman became involved in the search for a solution to the sound problem. Read More (pdf) >>
Chapter Two – A promising start
At the same time as construction of the Sparbank building continued, work carried on at Peter Renkel and John-Erik Eriksson’s small sound company. During the evenings and weekends they worked on the construction of a conference telephone that didn’t cut the sound off... Read More (pdf) >>
Chapter 3 – Gunnar and Hasse make an entrance
Brothers Hans and Gunnar Ekström took their first steps in Botsmark, 70 kilometres outside Umeå. In 1958 the family moved into the town and settled in Teg – a ‘proud’ part of town located on the southern side of the Ume river. Read More (pdf) >>
Chapter 4 – Climbing up from the basement
The idea was that Crecom AB would manufacture and install the conference telephones that Konftel AB then sold. The results were mixed… Read More (pdf) >>
Chapter 5 – Konftel takes over the show
After about a year it became clear to all those involved that something needed to be done in order to increase sales volume and make production more efficient. Indications from the market were positive but sales…Read More (pdf) >>
Chapter 6 – Lots of development but little income
John-Erik Eriksson’s first task at Konftel was to begin working with Essex’s technicians in Sundsvall. The goal was to follow the advice from Televerket’s sales staff to build a conference telephone that looked like a normal phone… Read More (pdf) >>
Chapter 7 – An important Norwegian from San Francisco
If the young guys at Crecom had needed investment from a strong local player – which turned out to be Gunnar and Hans Ekström’s company – now it was the brother Ekström’s turn to look for financial help... Read More (pdf) >>
Chapter 8 – Investing in design
In the spring of 1993 the first class graduated from the Umeå Institute of Design, a four-year education focusing on industrial design. Soon after leaving school Johan Gustavsson, Tord Berggren and Stina Sjöström … Read More (pdf) >>
Chapter 9 – Working with the big guys
The classic Konftel look was finalised in the spring of 1994. Then the production process started as well as various tests... Read More (pdf) >>
Chapter 10 – Riding the stock exchange during the IT bubble
During the middle of the 1990s a new catchphrase began creeping its way into Swedish society. Pretty soon “the new economy” was something everybody was talking about. Information Technology (IT) would save the world after the recession…
Read More (pdf) >>
Chapter 11 – OmniSound® makes waves throughout the world
The rapid digital development, surface assembly technology and constantly shrinking IC-circuits created a boom of product ideas during the 90s that were suddenly possible to achieve. Read More (pdf) >>
Chapter 12 – A culture of cooperation
At the end of the 1990s Konftel’s conference telephones were well established in the Scandinavian market. Conference telephony had become synonymous with Konftel... Read More (pdf) >>
Chapter 13 – Keeping an open mind
Sales of Konftel’s conference telephones were expanding steadily throughout Europe and in other parts of the world. The products were perfect for the growing need for quick meetings and fitted in perfectly with the general public’s increasing environmental concerns… Read More (pdf) >>
Chapter 14 – From the north of Sweden to Shenzhen
Today Konftel’s products can be found in around 50 countries across the world. Since the company left the stock market and became even more focused on their mission to become producers of conference telephones turnover has increased and profits have risen. Read More (pdf) >>
Chapter 15 – The next step
In October 2008 it is exactly 20 years ago that Konftel was registered as a company in Sweden. In 1998 a dream was shared between two businessmen and two young inventors that their conference telephone would be a success in the Scandinavian market. That dream has been surpassed with ease – today the whole world is Konftel’s marketplace. Read More (pdf) >>
© Copyright and publishing details Read More (pdf) >>
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