Nuremberg, 15 December 2020 – Founded 25 years ago in Switzerland as a solution provider for train communication and control, duagon AG is now a global technology group for rail, medical and embedded applications with over 700 employees worldwide.
A quarter of a century of developing and manufacturing network and control technology: Since its foundation in 1995, the Swiss company duagon has focused on robust and reliable network and control technology in critical applications. With the company's success came growth: Today, duagon AG consists of the business units Network & Control, Computing Systems and Engineering Services with a worldwide sales and technical support network.
Network technology for the rail industry
25 years ago, recognizing the need for solutions for train communication and control duagon focused exclusively on technically high-quality solutions for the railroad industry. The first product development was the MVB network card DC1A in 1996, which was produced for a manufacturer of door systems. The DC1A, designed according to railroad standard EN50155, was used on a vehicle of a leading supplier to the rail industry. On the follow-up product, the MVB network card DC2A with CPU, software could already be installed which could support more complex communication protocols. The first customer was a manufacturer of railroad equipment in Italy. Further development of the electronic card led to today's PC/104 card D113. In 2000, the development of MVB's own IP core made the company independent of the existing chip solution and gave it greater flexibility in the design of new products.
Another milestone in the company's development was the introduction of its own SMT production in Switzerland in 2003. After developments had been manufactured in previous years by a local partner, the company's own production now allowed it more flexibility through shorter development loops, product launch times and overall delivery times. Just two years later, duagon had expanded the product portfolio to include stand-alone devices for remote I/O and gateway applications. This was followed in 2009 by the development of its own Ethernet and CAN IP core. "At all times, the focus of our work was on customer benefits and the claim to adapt our products to the requirements of our customers down to the smallest detail and to optimally support them in their product roadmaps," explains Jörg Rapka, Senior Network Architect at duagon AG, the motivation.
Focus on technology leadership
With its focus on innovation and flexibility in development, duagon has grown organically over the years, through opening its own subsidiary in China especially. "Due to the rapidly progressing development in the Chinese rail market, we still see enormous potential in the Chinese market for the future. Accordingly, it is important for us to have a strong, technical team of experts on site in order to handle all inquiries from our partners competently and as quickly as possible," says Dr. Markus Dilger, Chief Executive Officer of duagon AG.
At the same time, duagon is growing through successful company acquisitions. In 2017, Deutsche Beteiligungs AG (DBAG) joined duagon as part of a management buyout. In the course of the strategy to establish duagon AG as a full-service provider of solutions for data communication in rail vehicles, the product portfolio was expanded and acquisitions were made in the immediate and extended competitive environment.
In 2018, MEN Mikro Elektronik GmbH, based in Nuremberg, was integrated as the business unit Computing Systems, which manufactures highly sophisticated embedded products for use in critical applications. This year, duagon AG also developed the groundbreaking WTB-MVB Gateway, a core module for the future development of the gateway business. In 2019, duagon AG acquired Australian OEM Technology Solutions, a specialist provider of electronic transport monitoring and control systems for the rail industry. The integration into the corporate structure took place in the Network & Control division.
2020 saw the acquisition of the Spanish TechOnRails, an engineering service provider specializing in the conception and design of rail signaling systems. By adding the company to the Engineering Services business unit, duagon AG combines the competencies of software development, hardware and FPGA design for the rail, medical and other industries. "Our stated goal is to provide our customers with innovative and extensively tested products that are at the same time highly user-friendly, flexible and easy to integrate into demanding rail and medical applications. Our many years of experience in the industry, the expertise of our employees and our global presence enable us to flexibly meet our customers' requirements," confirms Dr. Michael Goldbach, Chief Sales & Marketing Officer of duagon AG.
Innovation and growth remain important goals of duagon AG for the coming year as well, through further acquisitions and an increased focus on technology. This includes, for example, the planned increase in software products and an expansion of research capacities. Due to the continuing demand for rail vehicles and the increased need for medical technology, there is also a lot of potential for the company in the coming year.