Plantronics Celebrates 50th Anniversary and Expands Business in Africa

CAPETOWN, South Africa--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Plantronics, the world’s leading telephone headset manufacturer, is celebrating its 50^th anniversary this year. The half-century has been full of telecommunications breakthroughs and Plantronics, since introducing the communications headset category in 1961, has been involved with many of them.

Plantronics was the first headset in outer space, when the MS50 was used on the Mercury mission, then Plantronics made history when Neil Armstrong used his Plantronics headset on the moon. Back on earth, Plantronics invented the first call center headset in 1983 and by the '90s, our products were transforming the business environment as office workers everywhere adopted Plantronics ultra-lightweight, in-the-ear models. And by century's end, we were perfecting headsets for multimedia, gaming and Internet telephony. Since 2000, Plantronics has simply created one revolution after another, in call clarity, noise reduction and ingenious ergonomics. In 2005, it was the Discovery 640. Its sleek design and amazingly clear audio helped Bluetooth headsets go mainstream. And the epitome of design and headset technology launched in 2009 with the award-winning Voyager PRO.

Now we see an evolution towards a future way of work where legacy office hierarchies and fixed work locations are gradually disappearing; where ‘virtual’ presence and a new armoury of communication and collaboration tools take creative and know-how work to a new level of productivity. This method of working demands Unified Communications, in which phones (hard, soft, mobile) instant messaging, conferencing and video chat can be seamlessly connected. Plantronics’ Unified Communications portfolio offers a broad range of solutions for all working styles and in environments as diverse as the corporate campus and busy airport, with clear, high-quality, reliable audio and world class technical support.

PLANTRONICS IN AFRICA

Telecommunications is one of the fastest growing industries in Africa. As African telecommunications infrastructure deployment accelerates, telecommunications will become even more relevant to the continent’s business success. In particular, it is likely that bandwidth hungry communication technologies such as Unified Communications will see rapid take up in Africa in the medium term.

Plantronics has worked with a Business Partner in South Africa for more than two decades. This partner is Headset Solutions, with offices in Capetown and Johannesburg.

In order to ensure that Plantronics is truly a part of the telecommunications revolution happening on the continent, both Plantronics and Headset Solutions are in the process of implementing significant change for growth.

Philip Vanhoutte, Plantronics Senior Vice President and Managing Director for Europe, Middle East & Africa says:

“We in Plantronics have always worked shoulder to shoulder with our Unified Communications channel partners to ensure we bring the very best audio experience to the Enterprise. We see major potential for very significant Unified Communications deployments in Africa and the Middle East and, in order to work more closely with our Unified Communications channel partners and their Enterprise clients in the region, Plantronics has recruited onto its staff Mr Duncan Barnes, a Unified Communications expert based in South Africa. Duncan has worked in the IT industry since 1995 and has first-hand experience working at Microsoft WECA (West East Central Africa) as an Account manager looking after South East Africa. Duncan has also worked with DELL South Africa and more recently with Headset Solutions, the Plantronics Business Partner. We believe that moving forward Duncan will be a great asset for us and we look forward to having him on the expanding Plantronics Unified Communications team.”

Duncan Barnes starts his Plantronics career on July 16^th, and will report to the Plantronics General Manager responsible for M East, E Europe and Africa, Mr Howard Shenton.

Headset Solutions has also been expanding its organisation, and has recently recruited a new Managing Director, Mr. Sven Kaulbach. Sven completed his MBA in Germany and South Africa and for the last 8 years has worked as Managing Director for leading high-tech companies in Europe, Asia and Africa.

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ABOUT PLANTRONICS – SIMPLY SMARTER COMMUNICATIONS™

Plantronics is a global leader in audio communications for businesses and consumers. We have pioneered new trends in audio technology for 50 years, creating innovative products that allow people to simply communicate. From unified communication solutions to Bluetooth® headsets, we deliver uncompromising quality, an ideal experience, and extraordinary service. Plantronics is used by every company in the Fortune 100, as well as 911 dispatch, air traffic control and the New York Stock Exchange. For more information, please visit www.plantronics.com.

Plantronics, Savi and Voyager are trademarks or registered trademarks and Smart Sensor is a trademark of Plantronics, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.