Belden Launches New Customer Innovation Center in Chicago, IL

May 05, 2023 at 11:00 AM EDT

Grand opening event celebrates Belden’s return to Chicago

Belden Inc. (NYSE: BDC), a leading global supplier of network infrastructure and digitization solutions, has opened the company’s fourth Customer Innovation Center (CIC) in Chicago, Illinois. The event brought together customers, partners and Belden leaders and showcased Belden’s capabilities to provide customized Industry 4.0 solutions to build a reliable network foundation for the digital world.

To commemorate the opening, an exclusive event celebrating the newly commissioned Customer Innovation Center was held on May 4^th and marked a return of the company to its roots. The location in America’s heartland holds special historical significance for the company as it was founded by Joseph C. Belden in Chicago in 1902. The original Belden home office was located on the top floor of a five-story building at 116-118 Michigan Street in Chicago’s Loop district.

Customer Innovation Centers, also known as CICs, are one of Belden’s newest methods of delivering value to customers by providing a space where solutions can be crafted and validated onsite. The new Chicago center provides an ecosystem for Belden customers to co-innovate with sales and product engineers to develop, test, document, and validate proven solutions that drive efficiency, security and innovation.

“We are thrilled to open the doors of our flagship Customer Innovation Center and return to the great city of Chicago,” said Andries Boone, Managing Director, Solutions Delivery at Belden. “This milestone is so much more than a facility opening, it represents the future of Belden and our commitment to collaborating, driving innovation and building solutions with our customers. We are looking forward to welcoming guests for many years to come.”

Belden uses a vendor-agnostic approach to provide best-in-class consulting to transform ideas into solutions and technical support, empowering companies to feel secure and maintain focus on their business objectives. The Belden CIC model was developed to address key business goals and outcomes that encompass various areas of customers’ operations. These include safety, automation, quality, and productivity, all tested to simulate challenges and stressors a network may face.

A team of Belden technologists and application experts work together to accelerate the design and implementation of future-ready networks, beginning with Solutions Architects who develop modular solutions that can be customized for each customer. Digital Automation Consultants then study customers’ existing networks to recommend opportunities for enhanced digitization and data flow management. These recommendations are customized in collaboration with the customer and Solutions Consultants, who then validate the solution with the architects in our validation lab. Finally, Service Engineers provide on-site implementation and post-sales support. All of these steps in the CIC model are designed to provide a complete solution that reduces risk for the customer while enabling their digital transformation journey.

The first of five Belden Customer Innovation Centers opened in 2021 in Stuttgart, Germany. A second location opened in Santa Clara, California in 2022 and a third location was unveiled in Shanghai, China in March of 2023. Later this year, following the opening of the Chicago location, Belden plans to launch a Customer Innovation Center in Bangalore, India.

We look forward to welcoming you to the Chicago Customer Innovation Center. To learn more about what is possible at a Belden CIC, visit the Customer Innovation Center (belden.com).

About Belden

Belden Inc. delivers the infrastructure that makes the digital journey simpler, smarter and secure. We’re moving beyond connectivity, from what we make to what we make possible through a performance-driven portfolio, forward-thinking expertise and purpose-built solutions. With a legacy of quality and reliability spanning 120-plus years, we have a strong foundation to continue building the future. We are headquartered in St. Louis and have manufacturing capabilities in North America, Europe, Asia, and Africa. For more information, visit us at www.belden.com; follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.

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