VOXSON’S HISTORY
Australian Technology Company with 50+ Years History
Voxson is an Australian technology company with a long history (over 50 years) of investment and innovation in consumer electronics (audio-visual). Throughout that time, Voxson’s business has evolved to stay at the leading edge of technology and consumer trends.
Founded in 1969
Voxson was founded by Lucas Longginou in Melbourne in 1969 as a designer and distributor of hi-fi and audio-visual equipment. In 1980 it moved operations to Brisbane and continued marketing electronic products to major retailers such as Harvey Norman, Kmart, Myer and others.
Mobile Phones & Trunking Radio Systems
In the late 1980’s Voxson concentrated its efforts on the design and marketing of analogue mobile phones and trunking radio systems, drawing on its existing experience working with radio and television technologies.
In the early 1990’s Voxson recognised the potential of emerging digital technologies and shifted its focus from 1G analogue technology to 2G digital technology (eg. GSM and CDMA). Similarly, the Australian Government commenced the changeover from analogue to digital cellular networks.
Strategic Partner in Mobile Communications & Electronics
In 1992 Voxson, drawing on its unique technology offerings, bid for the third GSM cellular carrier licence in Australia in conjunction with Celcom Malaysia and an undertaking by Morgan stock brokers to underwrite a portion of the project. To differentiate the Voxson offering for the licence we developed the VOX-1 & VOX-2 patents in the believing if we were successful in winning the third licence it would had allowed to have a competitive edge being able to transmit real time video and GPS information over the cellular network. Voxson was one of the final bidders for the carrier licence, but was eventually outbid by Vodafone.
While Voxson’s carrier licence bid was unsuccessful, it remained committed to playing a leading role in the development of GSM and CDMA mobile communications technologies. It also continued to develop strategic partnerships to share its technology and innovations including supplying GSM technology to many Asian companies such as Haier in Qingdao including establishing a production line for Haier to manufacture the Voxson designed phone for Haier under the Haier brand which they marketed in China. Voxson also established a production line in the American Selectron plant in Malaysia to manufacture GSM modules enabling others to produce their own cosmetic design handsets and other communication needs. The module was the first 1.5v smallest in the world during the year 2000
Stock Exchange & Research
Morgan stock brokers had underwritten Voxson Limited to $44 million for a 25% share to the public.
Voxson invested over $20 million in R&D relating to digital cellular and GPS technologies and established a local team of engineers to lead its R&D program prior to going public. A further $30 million and a further $40 million from Morgan stock brokers was invested on the GSM R&D program including several million in patents and manufacturing enabling Voxson to commercialise its tri-band phones and V-Build interface.
Voxson built and operated a 3.3-hectare technology park in Eagle Farm, Brisbane which included a R&D department, SMD micro component manufacturing, plastic injection plant for the plastic housing of the phones and full production facilities enabling Voxson to manufacture state of the art cellular technology.
This research produced breakthroughs relating to high speed wireless data transmission and the transmission of GPS assistance data over cellular networks.
In turn, this provided Voxson with a leading-edge technology platform on which to base its products and to differentiate itself from its competitors.
Voxson also successfully obtained patent protection in 25 countries for:
a. Technology to enhance the performance of GPS location devices by delivering assistance data to GPS receivers using a mobile telephone network. This functionality is widely used in modern cellular telephone networks and mobile phones; and
b. Technology to convey broadband signals (such as video and data) over the limited bandwidth channels of cellular telephone networks. By simultaneously assigning multiple channels to a single mobile phone, a communications link of greater capacity is created.
This methodology is commonly referred to as ‘channel aggregation’ and is incorporated in today’s 3G and 4G standards for cellular packet data networks.
Voxson became the only Australian company (and, at the time, one of only a few companies in the world) to develop both software and hardware for GSM mobile telephones.
Voxson also continued to develop and sell a broad range of consumer electronics such as slimline long-range cordless phones, wireless GSM-GPS data modems, media players, and GPS navigation systems.
Voxson Now – Leading manufacturer of LED Products, LED Signs & Signage
Voxson also continued to develop and sell a broad range of consumer electronics such as slimline long-range cordless phones, wireless GSM-GPS data modems, media players, and GPS navigation systems.
