EF Johnson Technologies' P25 subscriber line rebranded under Kenwood name

LAS VEGAS—EF Johnson Technologies announced that the company will rebrand its P25 portofolio of Viking subscriber radios under the Kenwood name, a reflection of EF Johnson’s integration with its parent company, Japan-based manufacturer JVCKENWOOD.

“As a company, we market ourselves as EF Johnson Technologies, as we are a subsidiary of the JVCKENWOOD group—that’s how we articulate who we are,” Suzuki said during an interview with IWCE’s Urgent Communications. “As a company, EF Johnson Technologies is offering our subscriber line as Kenwood Viking radios.

“The thought process was to reinforce to the market (1) there’s an alignment of brands, so it’s all Kenwood subscriber radios; and (2) with the Kenwood Viking line, it’s a reinforcement to the market that this product is manufactured by a global electronics company out of Japan who’s got a reputation for high quality.”

Christian Barker, director of product management/marketing for EF Johnson, agreed.

“We are essentially signaling to the industry our full integration with the JVCKENWOOD family,” Barker said during an interview with IWCE’s Urgent Communications. “The message that we will be providing to the industry is that really we will be offering the best of everything that JVCKENWOOD has to offer, with the world-class manufacturing out of Japan—I believe the industry is well aware of that—as well as EF Johnson’s expertise in the software development in the P25 system.”

Since JVCKENWOOD’s purchase of EF Johnson Technologies in 2014, an ever-increasing portion of the manufacturing for Viking radios has moved to Japan, according to Karthik Rangarajan.

 “In 2015, we pretty much completed the shift of all manufacturing to the JVCKENWOOD factories in Japan,” Rangarajan said during an interview with IWCE’s Urgent Communications. “At IWCE this year, we are kind of putting the final wrap around that activity, while also bringing the brands together.

“Currently, both the Kenwood brand and the EF Johnson brand are product brands with the JVCKENWOOD parent company. To make it easier to go to market and through the [dealer] channel, we’re effectively taking one step further in our integration by communalizing on the Kenwood brand for all of the subscriber radio products.”

Although Kenwood USA and EF Johnson Technologies are both owned by JVCKENWOOD and share the Kenwood brand, the two companies are not combining, according to Rangarajan.

“Kenwood USA and EF Johnson Technologies, as corporate entities, remain distinct, but the Kenwood brand is shared between those two companies,” he said.

EF Johnson Technologies products will be showcased at the Kenwood USA booth—number 1229—this week in the exhibit hall at IWCE 2016 in Las Vegas.