1.
CONSUMER CONNECT — RIEDEL COMMUNICATIONS
NOVEMBER 2017 | DIGITAL STUDIO22
C
elebrating 30 years of business
this year, Riedel Communications
has become synonymous with
excellence in real-time audio, data, and
communications networks. Riedel solutions
have starred in a wide range of marquee
events such as Formula 1, the Lillehammer
and Sochi Winter Games, and Red Bull
Stratos, when Felix Baumgartner jumped to
earth from the stratosphere. Today, Riedel
has almost 500 employees working at its
state-of-the-art headquarters in Wuppertal,
Germany and locations around the world.
Here,weaskedthecompany’sfounderand
CEO, Thomas Riedel, to share his thoughts
on Riedel’s past, present, and future.
Riedel Communications has come a long
wayin30years.Canyoutellusmoreabout
your humble beginnings, and how things
have evolved over the past three decades?
My interest in entertainment probably
started when I was about 12 and launched
my first ‘career’ as a magician. Later on in
30 YEARS OF INNOVATION
in a position to take advantage of them,
rather than some grand plan. For instance,
I happened to purchase some radios from
Motorola, which created an opportunity
to provide specialised communications
solutions that resulted in my first product,
the RiFace radio interface.
As we have grown over the years, we have
been keenly aware that we needed a strong
company that could be trusted to handle
large projects, but at the same time would
also be small and agile enough that we could
respond quickly to changing market needs.
However, if I had to boil our success down
to a single element, I would say it is about
findinggreatpeopleandthengivingthemthe
freedom and tools to do their best.
Today, this is evident throughout our
organisation, from the executive team to
our product management teams, the guys
in rental, the back-office team, and the
professionals who are out there every day
advising, teaching, and supporting our
clients worldwide.
Thomas Riedel, founder and CEO of Riedel Communications shares his thoughts on Riedel’s
past, present, and future.
school, I got interested in lighting and sound
technologies, and it grew from there. My
early interest in theater soon expanded to
broadcast and everything else in the world of
entertainment.
In the beginning, it was really more about
being aware of opportunities, and then being
Thomas Riedel.
“If I had to boil our success
down to a single element, I
would say it is about finding
great people and then giving
them the freedom and tools
to do their best.”

2.
CONSUMER CONNECT — RIEDEL COMMUNICATIONS
DIGITAL STUDIO | NOVEMBER 2017 23
As you think back over the company’s
history, what Riedel milestones stand out
the most for you?
Our entry into Formula 1 happened by
accident. I was in Lillehammer working
on the 1994 Winter Games, and I was
doing an interview for Radio Wuppertal,
a local station. We were talking about
our work on matrix intercom technology
prior to launching Artist. In Germany, an
F1 representative was driving down the
Autobahn and heard the interview, and that
is how we got involved in motor sports. We
have been supporting F1 events around
the world with communications and signal
transmission solutions ever since.
A very important milestone for our
company was the introduction of our Artist
digital matrix intercom system in 2000.
Artist brought us our first real international
customer base, and it was really ahead of its
time–abrandnewintercom approachbased
on decentralised nodes in a fiber network.
That was a pretty revolutionary idea at the
time, and now decentralized networks are a
given today.
Of course, the MediorNet launch in
2009 was another big product milestone.
MediorNet broke ground as the first fiber-
based video network for integrated signal
transport. It was a completely new approach
to broadcast, event, or stadium production –
a single box for signal transport, routing, and
processing that can handle any type of signal.
Recently on another interview, a journalist
asked me what was coming next after
we’d been to the stratosphere with Felix
Baumgartner’sStratosproject–providingnot
just communications and audio but also the
professionalvideothatbillionsofpeoplesaw.
Imentionedthatwewouldliketogotothe
moonnext,andnowwehavethatproject.We
will be providing the communications and
signal infrastructure for next year’s Mission
to the Moon, led by PTScientists, whose aim
is to be the first private company to land on
the Moon.
And of course, 2017’s big product news
is the Bolero wireless intercom system.
Why is Bolero so groundbreaking?
DECT-based intercom systems have
previously had a problem with reflections,
which means they haven’t really been
reliable in large buildings like sports arenas.
We knew there was a huge demand for a
DECT system that could actually work and
could cover all segments of the market, not
just certain areas like outside broadcast or
fixed installations. There was no universal
system that could solve the frequency issues
and also provide the quality, low latency, and
intelligence people were looking for in an
advanced intercom system.
We were very determined not to launch
a product until we were sure it could meet
these requirements. All we needed was the
rightideaandthepathtoaviabletechnology.
It took about three years and a serious R&D
investment, but we finally hit on the right
solution with our Advanced DECT Receiver
(ADR) technology. ADR is a diversity
receiver technology specifically designed
to reduce sensitivity to multipath RF
reflections, making it useable in challenging
RF environments where other systems have
great difficulty. With Bolero and ADT, we
believe we offer the absolute best DECT
solution on the market, and so far the sales
numbersbearthisout.Boleromeetsacritical
marketneedlikenothingelsethat’savailable.
Entrepreneurship seems to be a big
passion of yours. Tell us about the work
you’re doing with groups like the leAD
Sports accelerator in Berlin.
Asalife-longentrepreneur,Iamverygrateful
for the support I got from family and my
first clients when I started Riedel 30 years
ago. And today, encouraging and supporting
new business creation has never been more
important.AtRiedel,westronglybelievethat
creating environments where imagination,
enthusiasm, and entrepreneurship all come
together is critical for driving innovation and
fostering new businesses.
That is why I am proud to contribute to
the work of leAD Sports. leAD seeks to unite
entrepreneurs, experts, athletes, mentors,
and international investors with start-
up companies and is closely linked to the
philosophy of Adidas founder Adi Dassler
– creating the best to help athletes perform
at their best. There’s a lot of synergy there
with Riedel, since we are closely aligned with
marquee sports and entertainment events.
It is clear to me that sports will continue to
move and motivate the masses, and these
new innovators are the ones that will find
and develop the technologies that will draw
viewers more deeply into events.
So what’s next for Riedel?
The future’s bright. We’re looking forward
to participating in projects like Mission to
the Moon and continuing to provide the
best-possible solutions for the complex
and mission-critical comms and signal
transmission challenges that this type of a
highly visible event presents. With the best
and most passionate people in the business–
fromengineersandproductmanagerstosales,
service,andsupport–we’reontopofourgame.
I may have gotten my start as a magician, but
now almost 500 Riedel employees perform
their magic every day. It just proves the
maxim,‘Thereisno‘I’inTEAM!’
“We will be providing the communications
and signal infrastructure for next
year’s Mission to the Moon, led by
PTScientists, whose aim is to be the
first private company to land on
the Moon.”