Logitech
| Logitech international SA
|
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| legal form | Corporation |
| ISIN | CH0025751329 |
| founding | 1981 |
| Seat |
Apples , Switzerland
|
| management | Bracken P. Darrell (Chief Executive Officer ) Guerrino De Luca ( Chairman of the Board of Directors ) |
| Number of employees | 5,900 |
| sales | 2,114,000,000 USD |
| Branch | Periphery |
| Website | www.logitech.com |
| As of December 31, 2015 | |
Logitech is an international computer accessories manufacturer with headquarters in Apples , Switzerland and operational headquarters in Newark , California . The most famous products are computer mice and keyboards .
The name Logitech is based on the French word for software ( French logiciel ), as one originally wanted to produce software.
history
Logitech was founded in 1981 by the Swiss Daniel Borel and a few colleagues from Stanford University on a farm in Apples , Switzerland .
In the same year, Logitech introduced the world's first serial mouse, the P4 ; largely unknown in Europe at the time. Niklaus Wirth brought the first mice from the Xerox Research Center in America back in 1980 and used them at ETH Zurich .
In 1985 the LogiMouse C7 appeared with electronics developed by René Sommer , which obtained power directly from the RS-232 interface and no longer required an external power source. The three-button function it introduced became a standard in the industry.
In 1988 Logitech went public in Geneva and Zurich . In 1989 Logitech developed the Mouse-Man, whose improved ergonomic shape had a long-term impact on the design of the Logitech mice. In 1991 the Cordless Mouse-Man was introduced, the first wireless wireless mouse and the KidzMouse, the first mouse specially designed for children. In 1992 the PhotoMan was introduced, a very early digital camera for under $ 1000. In 1995 two new premieres appeared in the product range: the VideoMan as the first webcam and the WingMan as the first accessory especially for computer games.
In 1996, the 100 millionth mouse left Logitech's production facilities, but Microsoft had cleared this hurdle almost ten years earlier - in 1988. In 1997 the company went public on the NASDAQ with the symbol LOGI . In 1998 the first cordless desktop , a combination of wireless keyboard and mouse, and the Formula Force GP series of steering wheels were introduced. The takeover of Connectix , the developer of the QuickCam product family, laid the foundation for market leadership in the webcam segment.
The Italian Guerrino de Luca, previously active as a marketing specialist at the computer manufacturer Apple , became the new CEO of Logitech, while Borel retired to the supervisory board. As early as 1999, just three years later, Logitech reported the number of 200 million computer mice sold. In 2000 the next million mark was reached, with two million wireless keyboards sold, an increase of one million was achieved within one year. The American company Labtec Inc. was taken over in 2001 to broaden the range in the loudspeaker segment . The first wireless optical mouse, the Cordless MouseMan Optical , and the first game console controller, the Driving Force steering wheel for the PlayStation 2 were presented.
In 2003 the next record was reached with the sale of the 500 millionth mouse and the millionth force feedback steering wheel. The breakthrough of the graphical user interface across all systems and applications has made a significant contribution to the exploding market for input devices. 55% of the 900 million PCs sold were equipped with a Logitech mouse. The world's first laser mouse, the MX1000, appeared in 2004. The company continued its journey into the living room with the Harmony universal remote control , the “mouse for the house”. The technology was developed by the Canadian manufacturer Intrigue Technologies , which Logitech took over in April 2004.
In July 2004, Logitech celebrated the shipment of 50 million wireless products. In 2006 Logitech took over Slim Devices. In 2007 the G9 appeared with a dot density of up to 3200 dpi and an acceleration of a maximum of 8G. The point density can be set in steps of 200. In 2008 Logitech launched the first mouse that can also be controlled in the air, the MX Air, which has a rechargeable battery and also serves as a remote control for various music programs on the PC. At the end of the same year, Logitech announced that the billionth computer mouse had been shipped. Since August 2008, Logitech has also had headphones from the manufacturer Ultimate Ears in its product range after its takeover. Ultimate Ears has also been active on the market for mobile loudspeakers since 2013 with the “BOOM” product line. At the end of 2017, the "BLAST" series was also launched. At the beginning of 2009, Logitech announced that despite the increase in profits, around 15 percent of the permanent workforce of around 3,000 jobs worldwide would be cut. More gaming hardware products from the G series were presented. This now includes various product segments. At the end of 2009, the video conference manufacturer LifeSize was taken over.
Products
Logitech manufactures peripheral devices and computer accessories for the world market, such as mice , keyboards , speakers , headsets , webcams , joysticks , steering wheels and remote controls . In 2004 they launched the MX 1000, the world's first laser mouse .
In 2010 the company had sales of 2.363 billion US dollars. The company is listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange listed and at the 1997 NASDAQ listed.
In Japan, the products are sold under the name Logicool to avoid confusion, because in Japan there is Logitec (without h ), founded in 1982 , which also deals in computer accessories , but registered the name in 1974.
Unifying Receiver
Under the brand name Unifying Receiver , Logitech offers a wireless data transfer method that is used to wirelessly connect various types of input devices from the manufacturer, such as mice, keyboards or touchpads, to the PC via the USB interface. Like Bluetooth , the process works in the 2.4 GHz ISM band , but is incompatible with Bluetooth.
With a Unifying Receiver, which is plugged into a free USB port on the PC, up to six different wireless and usually battery-operated input devices such as keyboards or mice can be connected. Input devices linked to a Unifying Receiver can also be released with special software and, if necessary, linked to other Unifying Receivers - however, a peripheral device can only be actively connected to one Unifying Receiver at a time. Depending on the version of the Unifying Receiver, two different chips are used internally as the hardware platform: Either the nRF24L chip from Nordic Semiconductor or a chip from the TI-CC254X series from Texas Instruments .
The software for configuring the Unifying Receiver is officially only available for Windows and macOS . There are also programs such as Solaar for free operating systems such as Linux , which allow essential functions such as the connection and separation of input devices to the Unifying Receiver.
The Unifying Receivers can also be purchased individually from specialist retailers, for example as a replacement if the Unifying Receiver supplied with a wireless keyboard or mouse is lost. The radio range is around 10 m outdoors, but can be extended by using directional antennas . A fact that is particularly important in the event of possible attacks on radio transmission.
Furthermore, there is the special feature of some wireless products from Logitech that these devices can only be reconnected to a Unifying Receiver a maximum of 45 times. If this number is exceeded, for example by regularly changing a peripheral device between two computers, each with its own Unifying Receiver, a new registration is no longer possible.
Security issues
Depending on the device, the radio transmission is either unencrypted, plain text transmission is common with mice, or encrypted with the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) with a 128-bit key length , as is common with wireless keyboards. However, not all key codes are transmitted in encrypted form on keyboards either. The codes of the multimedia keys for controlling the volume and also the touch pads integrated in some keyboards are transmitted unencrypted. The secret key required for encryption is randomly selected as part of the initial binding between the Unifying Receiver and the peripheral device, transmitted once via the radio interface, and remains unchanged as long as the peripheral device is bound to a specific Unifying Receiver.
In 2016, at DEFCON 24, it became known that, in addition to various other radio transmission methods , the Unifying receiver also suffers from weak points such as MouseJack . With the publicly revealed security problems, among other things, the injection of unencrypted but evaluated keystrokes or the unauthorized registration of a special peripheral device based on a Software Defined Radio (SDR) with GNU radio to a Unifying Receiver in the area is possible. In response, a corrected firmware was made available by Logitech , which the user can program into his Unifying Receiver.
The computer magazine c't laid open in July 2019 information from the IT security expert Marcus Mengs, after which the Unifying receiver have more security vulnerabilities. All products since 2009 that use the Unifying Receiver are affected. Logitech pledged to fix some - but not all - security holes. Logitech justifies this decision with otherwise occurring compatibility problems.
Web links
- Logitech website
- Die Firma mit der Maus - Technology Review , Issue 1/2004, Heise online
Individual evidence
- ↑ Logitech 2015 Form 10-K Report , accessed November 12, 2016
- ↑ Logitech 2015 Annual Report , accessed November 12, 2016
- ↑ FORM 10-Q ( Memento from February 10, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Commercial Register of the Canton of Vaud
- ↑ Andreas Link: History of the computer mice from 1968 to 2008. A review in pictures. In: PCGames Hardware, the hardware magazine for PC gamers. Computec Media AG, January 7, 2009, accessed June 28, 2011 .
- ↑ Press release on the takeover ( Memento from May 26, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Logitech celebrates the billionth mouse ( Memento from December 24, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Logitech takes over Ultimate Ears
- ↑ Logitech Product Portfolio Now Includes Earphones and In-Ear Monitors from Ultimate Ears ( Memento from April 12, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ The Story of Ultimate Ears (UE). (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on December 5, 2016 ; Retrieved December 4, 2016 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ List of companies (letter L, p. 4). NASDAQ , accessed June 25, 2011 .
- ↑ Logitech's Japanese website, accessed July 1, 2010
- ↑ http://www.logitec.co.jp/ Logitec website, accessed December 1, 2010
- ^ Gary Gallegos: Gadgets: The Logitech Unifying Receiver (aka "fake bluetooth") . Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved February 23, 2013.
- ↑ a b c d MouseJack, KeySniffer and Beyond: Keystroke Sniffing and Injection Vulnerabilities in 2.4GHz Wireless Mice and Keyboards. Retrieved March 30, 2017 .
- ^ Solaar - Linux devices manager for the Logitech Unifying Receiver. Retrieved March 30, 2017 .
- ↑ Limitations on Unifying devices - Logitech Support Article . Retrieved March 17, 2015.
- ↑ Logitech Unifying wireless technology - Q&A for the IT Manager or Business Manager. (PDF) Retrieved March 30, 2017 .
- ↑ Mouse Jack Affected Devices. Retrieved March 30, 2017 .
- ^ Logitech Response to Unifying Receiver Research Findings. Retrieved March 30, 2017 .
- ↑ Ronald Eikenberg: c't reveals: Logitech keyboards and mice are widely vulnerable. Retrieved July 9, 2019 .
