100 years of Baggenstos: From a typewriter workshop to a cloud and managed services provider

100 years of company history in 2 minutes

Founding years

The company's founder describes the establishment of the firm in 1925 as "Baggenstos & Holderegger" August Baggenstos in the first issue of the customer magazine "Baggenstos Kurier" as follows: "At that time, in the basement of the house at Auf der Maur No. 5, I ran a typewriter repair workshop alongside the agency for the then-new Swiss HERMES typewriter, a precision product from Paillard S.A., Yverdon & St. Croix."

The boom years of the typewriter

The company developed and "sold over 80,000 HERMES typewriters and thousands of calculating, adding, and dictating machines by 1955." As the first "Baggenstos Kurier" continues, "over the course of three decades, a professional staff of traveling sales representatives, an efficient office operation, and the most modern and largest repair workshop for typewriters and calculating machines in Switzerland were established."

The company continued to grow and moved into its business premises in Zurich at Waisenhausstrasse 2 (showroom and administration), Quellenstrasse 25 (technical service), and Uraniastrasse 9 (retail store). In 1971, August Baggenstos's sole proprietorship was converted into A. Baggenstos & Co. AG.

In 1965, Rolf Rinderknecht, a nephew of the founder, took over the management as director, as it was called at the time.

He successfully led the company for 30 years and initiated the expansion of the product range to become a full-service office provider.

1948: Advertisement for Hermes typewriters - Learn more

Everything for the office

The leading position of the Swiss HERMES typewriter began to waver with the launch of the IBM Selectric typewriter in 1962 and the generally intensified foreign competition. In 1974, Baggenstos became the only specialist company in the Canton of Zurich to be a sales partner for Hewlett-Packard. A successful partnership that continues to this day. The bestseller was the then-revolutionary scientific pocket calculator, the HP-80, priced at around CHF 2,000.

The decline of the HERMES brand was accelerated in the early eighties by the rapid advancement of electronics. Baggenstos and other Swiss HERMES distributors countered this trend by launching their own typewriter brand, BUTEC, which was manufactured in Japan. The product range was also expanded to include the then-emerging fax machines, photocopiers, and later, office supplies and furniture. "Everything for the office" was the Baggenstos motto until the nineties.

From Zurich to Wallisellen

In the early eighties, the company's management also concluded that "the constantly increasing traffic in the city of Zurich was hindering efficient operations too much." For this reason, a new company headquarters was acquired at Neugutstrasse 14 in Wallisellen in 1983. The technical service, sales, and administration departments were brought together under one roof there. The former factory halls of Contraves AG were converted into modern offices, a showroom, and a workshop.

The PC Revolution

In 1984, Thomas Baggenstos, the son of the company founder, joined the business. During this period, the first personal computers evolved from hobbyist devices into tools for professional use. Although the Baggenstos typewriter salespeople were of the opinion that the PC was more of a toy ("You'll never be able to do proper word processing with that!"), Thomas Baggenstos believed in the future of the PC. With the acquisition of the IBM PC dealership, a period of rapid growth began, and Baggenstos soon became one of the largest IBM distribution partners in Switzerland.

The IBM AT-02, in particular, conquered Swiss offices with its then-outstanding performance features: Intel 80286 processor, 8MHz, 16-bit, 512 KB RAM, 20 MB hard drive, VGA graphics 640x480 pixels, cost approx. CHF 20,000.

Go West!

IBM's leading position was soon superseded by compatible PCs. Baggenstos therefore began distributing the Compaq brand, which was acquired by HP in 2002. Parallel to the rise of Compaq, the Baggenstos PC business expanded rapidly. Through acquisitions (ICS Office AG, branches of Computer Handels AG, and Mafioly AG) and new openings, a nationwide branch network was established, with a strong focus on French-speaking Switzerland. With the newly founded subsidiary Dataset AG, the company also ventured into the distribution business for HP products. This was concluded with the successful sale of the company to Computer 2000 (later Techdata, now TD Synnex).

In 1988, Thomas Baggenstos took over management from Rolf Rinderknecht, who retired after 30 years of service.

When the PC boom leveled off in the early nineties and the economy began to stutter, it became clear that the nationwide expansion was not sustainable. The branches were gradually closed, and Baggenstos refocused on its headquarters in Wallisellen.

Dot-com boom

The turn of the millennium marked the dawn of the internet age and the dot-com era. Baggenstos was one of the first companies to launch an integrated online shop for IT products under the brand ITshop.ch. Following initial sales success, increasing competition from specialized e-commerce players like Digitec and others took its toll, and Baggenstos refocused on its traditional business-to-business operations.

The cloud era

The acquisition of Netcom AG in 2008 marked the beginning of a strategic focus on the partnership with Microsoft. Michael Kistler, the founder of Netcom, initially took on the role of Head of System Engineering. Five years later, he took over management from Thomas Baggenstos and became the fourth CEO in the company's 100-year history. Since then, Thomas Baggenstos has served as an actively involved Chairman of the Board.

Under Michael Kistler , Baggenstos evolved into one of the leading Microsoft cloud and managed service providers in Switzerland. In 2019, the company was recognized by Microsoft as the third firm in Europe and the first in Switzerland to become a Microsoft Azure Managed Service Provider. Today, numerous renowned Swiss companies rely on Baggenstos cloud solutions, entrusting the company with the operation and ongoing development of their IT through managed services.

Innovative at 100 years old

In 2023, the company moved into its new headquarters in the Baggiwood new build, an innovative and sustainable timber structure that replaced the old company building. That same year, Moritz Baggenstos, Thomas's son, became the third generation of the Baggenstos family to join the company.

Since 1925, Baggenstos has continuously evolved and is now one of the leading IT service providers in Switzerland. This success story is built on customer focus, innovation, and stability. We thank our customers for their trust and our employees for their great dedication and enthusiasm. Together, we are shaping the future—with quality, reliability, and a clear vision for what lies ahead.