SDI Technologies is an American

Rahway, New Jersey Rahway () is a city (New Jersey), city in southern Union County, New Jersey, Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. A bedroom community of New York City, it is centrally located in the Rahway River, Rahway Valley region, in the New ...

–based

consumer electronics Consumer electronics, also known as home electronics, are electronic devices intended for everyday household use. Consumer electronics include those used for entertainment, Communication, communications, and recreation. Historically, these prod ...

manufacturer whose products are marketed under several national brands, including Timex, eKids, KIDdesigns, and iHome. SDI used to market under Soundesign, a now-defunct brand. SDI Technologies had 110 employees as of 2007, and has a distribution network that covers over 70 countries. Including Asia, SDI employs over 400 people.

History

SDI Technologies was founded as Realtone Electronics in 1956 by Saul Ashkenazi and Ely Ashkenazi. In that year, the company introduced a pocket cigarette lighter and a

transistor radio A transistor radio is a small portable radio receiver that uses transistor-based circuitry. Previous portable radios used vacuum tubes, which were bulky, fragile, had a limited lifetime, consumed excessive power and required large heavy batteri ...

, but neither one of the first. Realtone went public in 1961. It introduced the Soundesign brand of high-end audio components in 1963, and the company changed its name to Soundesign in 1968. Soundesign returned to being a

privately-held company A privately held company (or simply a private company) is a company whose Stock, shares and related rights or obligations are not offered for public subscription or publicly negotiated in their respective listed markets. Instead, the Private equi ...

in 1982. The company was renamed again, this time to its current name, in 1994.

Products

Soundesign

Soundesign, the defunct flagship division of SDI Technologies originally known as RealTone, marketed inexpensive home and

portable electronics Mobile computing is human–computer interaction in which a computer is expected to be transported during normal usage and allow for transmission of data, which can include voice and video transmissions. Mobile computing involves mobile commun ...

. The Soundesign brand faded as SDI began selling its products under the

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brand in 1993. SDI's current offerings include small electronics of the iHome and Timex brands.

iHome

Created in 2005, the iHome division produces docking stations, headphones, smart home devices, and other accessories. iHome speakers are able to stream music over

Apple An apple is a round, edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus'' spp.). Fruit trees of the orchard or domestic apple (''Malus domestica''), the most widely grown in the genus, are agriculture, cultivated worldwide. The tree originated ...

AirPlay Airplay is how frequently a song is being played through broadcasting on radio stations. A song which is being played several times every day (spins) would have a significant amount of airplay. Music which became very popular on jukeboxes, in n ...

Bluetooth Bluetooth is a short-range wireless technology standard that is used for exchanging data between fixed and mobile devices over short distances and building personal area networks (PANs). In the most widely used mode, transmission power is li ...

, as well as via a wired connection. In addition to playing music wirelessly, some systems can act as a charging station for many devices when connected. Their compatibility ranges from smartphones,

MP3 player A portable media player (PMP) or digital audio player (DAP) is a portable consumer electronics device capable of storing and playing digital media such as audio, images, and video files. Normally they refer to small, battery-powered devices ...

iPod The iPod is a series of portable media players and multi-purpose mobile devices that were designed and marketed by Apple Inc. from 2001 to 2022. The iPod Classic#1st generation, first version was released on November 10, 2001, about mon ...

s, tablets, and many more. Some iHome accessories act as a docking station so that users with tablets can use a physical keyboard rather than the one provided on-screen with many devices. iHome also produces several smart home accessories such as smart outlets and motion detectors, which are compatible with Apple

HomeKit Apple Home is a smart home platform developed by Apple Inc. that lets users configure, communicate with and control smart appliances using Apple devices. Apple Home communicates with devices using HomeKit, the software framework and communicati ...

Samsung Samsung Group (; stylised as SΛMSUNG) is a South Korean Multinational corporation, multinational manufacturing Conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered in the Samsung Town office complex in Seoul. The group consists of numerous a ...

SmartThings SmartThings Inc. is an American home automation company headquartered in Mountain View, California. Since August 2014 it is a subsidiary of Samsung Electronics. Founded in 2012, it focuses on the development of eponymous automation software and ...

Wink A wink is a facial expression made by briefly closing one eye. A wink is an informal mode of non-verbal communication usually signaling shared hidden knowledge or intent. However, it is ambiguous by itself and highly dependent upon additional c ...

, as well as others.iHome Smart Home Accessories

References

{{Reflist

External links

Official website
Electronics companies established in 1956 Rahway, New Jersey Companies based in Union County, New Jersey