100 years Baggenstos
From typewriter workshop to cloud and managed services provider
Founding years
Company founder August Baggenstos describes the founding of the company in 1925 as “Baggenstos & Holderegger” in the first issue of the customer magazine “Baggenstos Kurier” as follows: “In addition to a typewriter repair workshop, I also represented the then new Swiss typewriter HERMES, a precision product of Paillard S.A., Yverdon & St. Croix, in the basement of the house at Auf der Maur No. 5.”
Company founder August Baggenstos in front of his collection of historical typewriters
The boom years of the typewriter
The company developed and “by 1955 had sold over 80,000 HERMES typewriters and thousands of calculating, adding and dictating machines”. Over the course of three decades, “a professional staff of travel agents, an efficient office operation and the most modern and largest repair workshop for typewriters and calculators in Switzerland” were also established, as the first “Baggenstos Kurier” continued.
1953: Baggenstos typewriter workshop at Quellenstrasse 25
The company continued to grow and moved into business premises at Waisenhausstrasse 2 (showroom and administration), Quellenstrasse 25 (technical service) and Uraniastrasse 9 (sales store) in Zurich. In 1971, August Baggenstos' sole proprietorship was transformed into A. Baggenstos & Co. AG. In 1965, Rolf Rinderknecht, a nephew of the founder, took over the management of the company as director, as it was called at the time.
In 1965, Rolf Rinderknecht, a nephew of the founder, took over the management as director, as it was called at the time.
1948: Advertising for Hermes typewriters
Everything for the office
The leading position of the Swiss typewriter HERMES began to falter with the launch of the IBM ball-head machine in 1962 and increased foreign competition. In 1974, Baggenstos became the only specialist company in the canton of Zurich to become a Hewlett-Packard sales partner. A successful partnership that continues to this day. The top seller was the then revolutionary HP-80 scientific calculator, priced at around CHF 2,000.
HP-80 scientific calculator Infotech 6510 one of the first fax machines
The decline of the HERMES brand was intensified at the beginning of the 1980s by the advance of electronics. Baggenstos and other Swiss HERMES agencies responded to this development by launching their own brand of typewriter, BUTEC, which was manufactured in Japan. The product range was also expanded to include the then emerging fax machines, photocopiers and later also office supplies and furniture. “Everything for the office” was Baggenstos' motto until the 1990s.
From Zurich to Wallisellen
At the beginning of the eighties, the company's management also came to the conclusion that “the constantly increasing traffic in the city of Zurich was too much of a hindrance to efficient operations”. For this reason, new company headquarters were acquired at Neugutstrasse 14 in Wallisellen in 1983. Technical services, sales and administration were brought together under one roof at Neugutstrasse. The former factory halls of Contraves AG were converted into modern offices, a showroom and workshop.
From 1983 to 2022 the Baggenstos company headquarters at Neugutstrasse 14, Wallisellen
The PC revolution
Thomas Baggenstos, the son of the company founder, joined the company in 1984. During this time, the first personal computers developed from purely hobby devices into tools for professional use. Although the Baggenstos typewriter salesmen were of the opinion that the PC was more of a toy (“you can never do proper word processing with it!”), Thomas Baggenstos believed in the future of the PC. When he took over the representation of IBM PCs, a stormy development began and the Baggenstos company was soon one of the largest IBM sales partners in Switzerland.
The IBM AT-02 in particular conquered Swiss offices with its outstanding performance features at the time: Intel 80286 processor, 8MHz, 16 bit), 512 KB RAM, 20 MB hard disk, VGA graphics 640x480 pixels, cost approx. CHF 20,000.
Go West!
IBM's leading position was soon replaced by compatible PCs. Baggenstos therefore began selling the Compaq brand, which was taken over by HP in 2002. The rapid expansion of Baggenstos' PC business followed in parallel with Compaq's upswing. With acquisitions (ICS Office AG, branches of Computer Handels AG and Mafioly AG) and new openings, a network of branches was established throughout Switzerland with a focus on French-speaking Switzerland. The newly founded subsidiary Dataset AG also made a foray into the distribution business with HP products. This was ended with the successful sale of the company to Computer 2000 (later Techdata, now TD Synex).
In 1988, Thomas Baggenstos took over the management of the company from Rolf Rinderknecht, who retired after 30 years of service.
However, when the PC boom flattened out in the early 1990s and the economy stuttered somewhat, it became apparent that the expansion was too rapid and unsustainable. The branches had to be closed one by one and Baggenstos concentrated on his headquarters in Wallisellen again.
Dotcom boom
The turn of the millennium marked the beginning of the Internet age and the dotcom era. Baggenstos was one of the first companies to launch an integrated online store for IT articles under the ITshop.ch brand. After initial sales success, the increasing competition from digitec & Co. took its toll and Baggenstos refocused on its traditional business.
Baggenstos website 1997
The cloud age
The focus on the partnership with Microsoft began with the acquisition of Netcom AG (2008). Michael Kistler, the founder of Netcom, initially took on the role of Head of Systems Engineering. Five years later, he took over the management from Thomas Baggenstos and became the company's fourth CEO in its 100-year history.
Kickoff 2009: Michael Kistler, Eckhard Neuhaus, Thomas Baggenstos and other members of the management
Under Michael Kistler, Baggenstos developed into one of the leading Microsoft cloud and managed service providers in Switzerland. In 2019, the company was the third company in Europe and the first company in Switzerland to be recognized by Microsoft as a Microsoft Azure Managed Service Provider. Numerous renowned Swiss companies now rely on Baggenstos' cloud solutions and entrust the operation and further development of their IT to the company as part of a managed service.
Innovative with 100 years
In 2023, the company moved into its new headquarters in the new Baggiwood building, an innovative and sustainable timber construction that replaced the old company building. In this year, Moritz Baggenstos, Thomas' son, also joined the company as the third generation of Baggenstos.
Since 1925, Baggenstos has continued to develop and is now one of the leading IT service providers in Switzerland. This success story is based on customer orientation, innovative strength and stability. We would like to thank our customers for their trust and our employees for their great commitment and enthusiasm.
