On 1 October Siemens announced the introduction of important changes to the structure of the company. Siemens managing director in the Czech Republic, Pavel Kafka, told journalists on Tuesday that a number of company divisions had ceased to exist on that day, among them the public telecommunications division and the Siemens Nixdorf division. In their place new divisions are to be created, which will be better suited to the development of the market and information technology. "As one of the five biggest telecomunications companies in the world Siemans must react in a flexible manner to developments on the world market. The changes, which have taken place on it, have necessitated an optimisation of the company portfolio, which must react like a living organism," said Mr. Kafka on the changes implemented in the Czech branch of Siemens. The restructuring now taking place in the light-current divisions is, according to Kafka, analagous to that implemented by the company last year in heavy-current divisions.

The disbanded organisational units will be replaced with divisions called Information and Communication - Products, Information and Communication - Networks, and Siemens Business Services (SBS). An introduction to the new Information and Communication - Products division was presented by its director, Josef Krch, who emphasised that hardware cannot be overlooked in the tempestuous development of information technology. "Each system is only as powerful as its weakest element. It is, therefore, essential to devote the appropriate attention to the production of hardware". Petr Klouda said a few words on the division Information and Communication - Networks, of which he is director, and introduced the new communication systems products prepared by Siemens for the Czech market. These include, for example, the HiCom 300 telecommunications server, speech-control telephone and multi-lingual in-terminal help. The Siemens Business Services division will take over the administration of Ministry of the Interior and Czech Army documents from Siemens Nixdorf.

At the press conference Siemens representatives released some basic information on the company. It has a world-wide annual turnover of more than 120 million German marks, and employs four hundred thousand people. In the Czech Republic its turnover amounts to around a million marks, and managing director Pavel Kafka anticipates this to double within five years. Siemens has ten thousand employees in the Czech Republic.