Plantronics
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Plantronics, Inc. is an American electronics company — branded Poly to reflect its dual Plantronics and Polycom heritage — producing audio communications equipment for business and consumers. Its products support
unified communications Unified communications (UC) is a business and marketing concept describing the integration of enterprise communication services such as instant messaging (chat), presence information, voice (including IP telephony), mobility features (including e ...
, mobile use, gaming and music. Plantronics is headquartered in
Santa Cruz, California Santa Cruz (Spanish for "Holy Cross") is the county seat and largest city of Santa Cruz County, in Northern California. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 62,956. Situated on the northern edge of Monterey Bay, Santa Cruz is a pop ...
, and most of its products are produced in
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
and
Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
. On March 18, 2019, Plantronics announced that it would change its name to Poly following its acquisition of Polycom, although it continues to trade on the
New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed c ...
as Plantronics, Inc. (POLY; listed as PLT until May 24, 2021). On March 28, 2022,
HP Inc. HP Inc. is an American multinational information technology company headquartered in Palo Alto, California, that develops personal computers (PCs), printers and related supplies, as well as 3D printing solutions. It was formed on Novembe ...
announced its intent to acquire Poly for $1.7 billion in cash as it looks to bolster its hybrid work offerings, such as headsets and videoconferencing hardware. Including debt, the deal valued at $3.3 billion and closed in August 2022.


History

In the early 1960s, airline headsets were so large and cumbersome that many pilots had switched back to the use of handheld
microphone A microphone, colloquially called a mic or mike (), is a transducer that converts sound into an electrical signal. Microphones are used in many applications such as telephones, hearing aids, public address systems for concert halls and public ...
s for communications. The speed and complexity of jet airliners caused a need for the introduction of small, lightweight headsets into the cockpit. In 1961,
United Airlines United Airlines, Inc. (commonly referred to as United), is a major American airline headquartered at the Willis Tower in Chicago, Illinois.
solicited new designs from anyone who was interested. Courtney Graham, a United Airlines pilot, was one of the many who thought the heavy headsets should be replaced by something lighter. He collaborated with his pilot friend Keith Larkin to create a small, functional design which was robust enough to pass airlines standards. (Larkin had been working for a small company called Plane-Aids, a Japanese import company which offered spectacles and sunglasses that contained transistor radios in their temple pieces.) The final design, incorporating two small
hearing aid A hearing aid is a device designed to improve hearing by making sound audible to a person with hearing loss. Hearing aids are classified as medical devices in most countries, and regulated by the respective regulations. Small audio amplifiers su ...
-style transducers attached to a headband was submitted to United Airline approval. UAL's approval of the innovative design caused Graham and Larkin to incorporate as Pacific Plantronics (now called Plantronics, Inc.) on May 18, 1961. They introduced the first lightweight communications headset, the MS-50, to the commercial marketplace in 1962. In the mid-1960s, the
Federal Aviation Agency The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the largest transportation agency of the U.S. government and regulates all aspects of civil aviation in the country as well as over surrounding international waters. Its powers include air traffic ...
selected Plantronics as the sole supplier of headsets for air traffic controllers, and thereafter was selected to supply headsets to the operators of the
Bell Telephone company The Bell Telephone Company, a common law joint stock company, was organized in Boston, Massachusetts, on July 9, 1877, by Alexander Graham Bell's father-in-law Gardiner Greene Hubbard, who also helped organize a sister company – the New Englan ...
.


SPENCOMM and NASA

In 1961,
NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...
astronaut An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member aboard a spacecraft. Although generally r ...
Wally Schirra Walter Marty Schirra Jr. (, March 12, 1923 – May 3, 2007) was an American naval aviator, test pilot, and NASA astronaut. In 1959, he became one of the original seven astronauts chosen for Project Mercury, which was the United States' f ...
contacted Courtney Graham, a fellow pilot, to discuss creating a design for a small, lightweight headset to be used in the
Mercury Mercury commonly refers to: * Mercury (planet), the nearest planet to the Sun * Mercury (element), a metallic chemical element with the symbol Hg * Mercury (mythology), a Roman god Mercury or The Mercury may also refer to: Companies * Merc ...
spacecraft. Pacific Plantronics assembled its Space Environmental Communications (SPENCOMM) division to begin working on a reliable solution. SPENCOMM personnel traveled to NASA's Manned Spacecraft Center (now
Johnson Space Center The Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center (JSC) is NASA's center for human spaceflight (originally named the Manned Spacecraft Center), where human spaceflight training, research, and flight control are conducted. It was renamed in honor of the late U ...
) and
Kennedy Space Center The John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC, originally known as the NASA Launch Operations Center), located on Merritt Island, Florida, is one of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) ten field centers. Since December 1968 ...
to meet with and get design feedback from Schirra and several other astronauts, including
Gordon Cooper Leroy Gordon "Gordo" Cooper Jr. (March 6, 1927 – October 4, 2004) was an American aerospace engineer, test pilot, United States Air Force pilot, and the youngest of the seven original astronauts in Project Mercury, the first human spac ...
. Together, SPENCOMM and NASA spent only 11 days to create a working microphone design for space communications and Schirra was the first to use the new communication technology during the
Mercury-Atlas 8 Mercury-Atlas 8 (MA-8) was the fifth United States crewed space mission, part of NASA's Mercury program. Astronaut Walter M. Schirra Jr., orbited the Earth six times in the ''Sigma 7'' spacecraft on October 3, 1962, in a nine-hour flight focus ...
mission. Significant redundancy was built into these headsets, as each microphone circuit had two transducers and each receiver had five transducers—in addition, the headsets were used in pairs. The use of these SPENCOMM-NASA headsets in astronaut
space suit A space suit or spacesuit is a garment worn to keep a human alive in the harsh environment of outer space, vacuum and temperature extremes. Space suits are often worn inside spacecraft as a safety precaution in case of loss of cabin pressure, ...
s continued through the remainder of the Mercury program, the
Apollo Apollo, grc, Ἀπόλλωνος, Apóllōnos, label=genitive , ; , grc-dor, Ἀπέλλων, Apéllōn, ; grc, Ἀπείλων, Apeílōn, label=Arcadocypriot Greek, ; grc-aeo, Ἄπλουν, Áploun, la, Apollō, la, Apollinis, label= ...
program and on to this day. The words spoken by U.S. astronaut
Neil Armstrong Neil Alden Armstrong (August 5, 1930 – August 25, 2012) was an American astronaut and aeronautical engineer who became the first person to walk on the Moon in 1969. He was also a naval aviator, test pilot, and university professor. ...
as he stepped on the moon were transmitted through a Plantronics headset.


MS-50

Following the Pacific Plantronics partnership with NASA in the Space Program, the MS-50 headset gained recognition in the communication marketplace. The FAA,
Western Electric The Western Electric Company was an American electrical engineering and manufacturing company officially founded in 1869. A wholly owned subsidiary of American Telephone & Telegraph for most of its lifespan, it served as the primary equipment ma ...
, and companies with telephone
call centers A call centre ( Commonwealth spelling) or call center ( American spelling; see spelling differences) is a managed capability that can be centralised or remote that is used for receiving or transmitting a large volume of enquiries by telephone ...
adapted the MS-50 as a replacement for existing headsets. On May 18, 1965, U.S. Pat. No. 3,184,556 was issued to W. K. Larkin for a


StarSet

In 1970, Ken Hutchings, an engineer who had joined Pacific Plantronics, patented a device which was marketed as the "StarSet". United States Patent 3548118 describes


Wireless products

In the 1980s, Plantronics created a line of cordless products using
infrared Infrared (IR), sometimes called infrared light, is electromagnetic radiation (EMR) with wavelengths longer than those of visible light. It is therefore invisible to the human eye. IR is generally understood to encompass wavelengths from around ...
technology. Though the technology utilized was the same one being used by television
remote control In electronics, a remote control (also known as a remote or clicker) is an electronic device used to operate another device from a distance, usually wirelessly. In consumer electronics, a remote control can be used to operate devices such as ...
s, the link did not require a
Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdiction ...
(FCC)
telecommunications Telecommunication is the transmission of information by various types of technologies over wire, radio, optical, or other electromagnetic systems. It has its origin in the desire of humans for communication over a distance greater than that fe ...
approval. One of the first products used the infrared beam to create a communications link between a small transmitter and a base unit which was connected to the telephone network. This product was the first "echo-free" speakerphone for use in conference rooms. The small transmitter could be handheld or clipped to clothing to ensure a good pickup of the speaker's voice.


Wireless office headsets

In 2003, Plantronics introduced the CS50 wireless headset for use on office phones. Since that time, Plantronics has manufactured other wireless headsets, including the "CS70N", CS500 Series, and Savi 700 Series. In recent years there has also been strong focus on Unified Communications headsets and speakers.


Mobile and Bluetooth mobile headsets

Plantronics manufactures mobile headsets, including a line of
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 limi ...
headsets for mobile phones. The Pulsar 590, for example, is designed for use with Bluetooth- and
A2DP In order to use Bluetooth, a device must be compatible with the subset of Bluetooth ''profiles'' (often called services or functions) necessary to use the desired services. A Bluetooth profile is a specification regarding an aspect of Bluetooth-b ...
-enabled cellphones.


Computer and gaming headsets

Plantronics manufactured headsets for PC audio and online and
console gaming A video game console is an electronic device that outputs a video signal or image to display a video game that can be played with a game controller. These may be home consoles, which are generally placed in a permanent location connected to a t ...
via its GameCom and .Audio and RIG Gaming labels. Plantronics entered the multimedia headset market in 1999 with the release of the HS1 and the DSP-500 headsets, the latter featuring a built-in
digital signal processing Digital signal processing (DSP) is the use of digital processing, such as by computers or more specialized digital signal processors, to perform a wide variety of signal processing operations. The digital signals processed in this manner are ...
card. In 2002, Plantronics and
Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washing ...
created the headset for the
Xbox Xbox is a video gaming brand created and owned by Microsoft. The brand consists of five video game consoles, as well as applications (games), streaming services, an online service by the name of Xbox network, and the development arm by the na ...
Communicator, the first headset to enable voice communication with
Xbox Live The Xbox network, formerly and still sometimes branded as Xbox Live, is an Internet, online multiplayer video game, multiplayer gaming and digital media delivery service created and operated by Microsoft. It was first made available to the Xbox ...
. The company created a special headset for the
Xbox Xbox is a video gaming brand created and owned by Microsoft. The brand consists of five video game consoles, as well as applications (games), streaming services, an online service by the name of Xbox network, and the development arm by the na ...
as a tie-in with the videogame ''
Halo 2 ''Halo 2'' is a 2004 first-person shooter game developed by Bungie and published by Microsoft Game Studios for the Xbox console. ''Halo 2'' is the second installment in the ''Halo'' franchise and the sequel to 2001's critically acclaimed '' ...
'' in 2004. Plantronics exited the gaming and consumer markets in 2019, focusing on enterprise collaboration with its Poly brand.


Corporate expansion and acquisitions

Plantronics has expanded into other segments of the audio equipment market through acquisitions.


Clarity

In 1986, Plantronics acquired Walker Equipment,
Ringgold, Georgia Ringgold is a city in and the county seat of Catoosa County, Georgia, United States. Its population was 3,414 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Chattanooga, Tennessee–GA Metropolitan Statistical Area. History Ringgold was founded in 184 ...
, a manufacturer of amplified handsets and telephones. The Clarity products were created to enhance telephone usability for those with
hearing impairment Hearing loss is a partial or total inability to hear. Hearing loss may be present at birth or acquired at any time afterwards. Hearing loss may occur in one or both ears. In children, hearing problems can affect the ability to acquire spoken l ...
. Walker later acquired Ameriphone in 2002, and became Walker Ameriphone before changing its name to Clarity; Clarity is now a US supplier of amplified telephones. In February 2015, Plantronics released the Clarity 340 handset style phone for UC communications.


Altec Lansing

In 2005, Plantronics acquired computer speaker manufacturer Altec Lansing for approximately $166 million. In spite of a corporate makeover the brand continued to struggle and was acquired by Profit Equity in October 2009 for approximately $18 million.


Volume Logic

Plantronics later acquired Octiv, Inc. in March 2005 as one of its brands and renamed it as the Volume Logic division. Octiv produced an audio toolset for creating 5.1 surround sound soundtracks. Although the Volume Logic series of applications have since been discontinued, the underlying technology has been adapted for use in Plantronics
telephony Telephony ( ) is the field of technology involving the development, application, and deployment of telecommunication services for the purpose of electronic transmission of voice, fax, or data, between distant parties. The history of telephony is i ...
products.


Polycom

On March 28, 2018, Plantronics announced it would acquire Polycom for approximately $2 billion.


2005 to present

In October 2016, long-time chief executive S. Kenneth Kannappan retired and was replaced by Joe Burton, who had joined in 2011. On February 10, 2020, Plantronics announced the appointment of Robert Hagerty as interim CEO, replacing Joe Burton.


Gallery

File:Armstrong-Spencom01.jpg, NASA Astronaut Neil Armstrong wearing "
Snoopy cap A Snoopy cap, or communication cap, is a part of a space suit worn by American astronauts on the head and incorporating an Headset (audio), audio headset for communication. The cap is nicknamed after Snoopy, the Peanuts character, whom its black an ...
" with Plantronics (SPENCOM) headset prior to his Apollo 11 lunar landing in 1969. File:SPENCOM-Stafford.jpg, NASA Astronaut Tom Stafford wearing "Snoopy" cap with Plantronics (SPENCOM) headset in 1975 (Apollo-Soyuz Mission) File:SPENCOM-NASA.jpg, Plantronics (SPENCOM) headsets in use by NASA Astronauts
Evans Evans may refer to: People *Evans (surname) *List of people with surname Evans Places United States *Evans Island, an island of Alaska *Evans, Colorado *Evans, Georgia *Evans County, Georgia *Evans, New York *Evans Mills, New York *Evans City, ...
and Cernan, both wearing "Snoopy" caps, aboard the
Apollo 17 Apollo 17 (December 7–19, 1972) was the final mission of NASA's Apollo program, the most recent time humans have set foot on the Moon or traveled beyond low Earth orbit. Commander Gene Cernan and Lunar Module Pilot Harrison Schmitt walked on ...
spacecraft.


References


Further reading

* * * * *


External links

* {{Authority control 1961 establishments in California American companies established in 1961 Audio equipment manufacturers of the United States Bluetooth Companies based in Santa Cruz, California Companies formerly listed on the New York Stock Exchange Electronics companies established in 1961 Headphones manufacturers Manufacturing companies based in California 2022 mergers and acquisitions Hewlett-Packard acquisitions