Founded by Gustav Krone in Berlin, Germany, in 1928, the Krone Group began as a specialized telecommunications manufacturer. For the first half of their history, Krone manufactured physical telephones and private branch exchanges (PABX systems) for the state run post office. In the 1970s, Krone invented the LSA-PLUS system, a proprietary German take on the Insulation-Displacement Connector (IDC). Before this, connecting hundreds of copper phone wires inside a building required stripping the plastic coating off each tiny wire and manually wrapping or soldering it to a terminal block. This invention completely revolutionized telephone exchanges and server rooms. To this day, network technicians use the term "Krone block" or "Krone tool" to describe punch-down networking hardware, regardless of who actually manufactured it.
