Rauland is an American manufacturing company based in Mount Prospect, Illinois that produces workflow and life-safety solutions for hospitals and schools worldwide. Rauland's healthcare product, Responder is an intelligent nurse call solution designed for direct patient-to-staff communication, intelligent call routing, and real-time reporting of patient care. Rauland's education product, Telecenter, is a critical communications solution designed to assist school communications involving emergencies, scheduling and events, and everyday messaging.
History
Rauland was founded in 1922 by inventor E. Norman Rauland. In 1924, he became a pioneer in the radio broadcast industry by launching his own, Chicago-based radio station, WENR. Throughout the Great Depression, Rauland manufactured power amplifiers and equipment for public address systems. During this time, the Rauland Company won government contracts to produce radio and communication systems for the military. In 1941, Norm Rauland and George Borg entered a partnership, changing the history of the company. The Rauland Corporation acquired the Webster-Chicago Corporation, a leader in school communications, and Rauland became established as the dominant supplier of internal school communications systems. In 1948, Norm Rauland and George Borg started a new company, Rauland-Borg Corporation, continuing the sound and communications business. In the early 1960s, after recognizing the need to keep school instructors and staff in touch with each other, Rauland-Borg introduced the first generation of Telecenter products in 1968. Telecenter was the first-ever commercial application of touch-tone technology. In 1979, after the acquisition of the Picker-Briggs Company, the manufacturer of the Responder health care communications systems, Rauland-Borg established itself as a leader in nurse call communications. In 2017, Rauland was acquired and became a division of AMETEK Inc., a global manufacturer of electronic instruments and electromechanical devices. Today, Rauland has two distinct communication system product lines: Responder, designed for the healthcare industry and Telecenter systems which serve the educational market.
