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Company History

Welcome to a journey through the history of Retarus.

2023 – ISO 27001, Satisfied Customers
With the start of the new fiscal year in June, Retarus expands its sales network in the US opening a new office in Hingham near Boston, a major center for the US healthcare industry. Retarus’ European technology sites in Timișoara and Lisbon continue to grow as well. In July, the development and operation of Retarus’ services in Munich as well as the Munich data center itself are certified according to ISO 27001 (DIN EN ISO/IEC 27001:2017). In cooperation with two German universities, Retarus offers a dual study program for the first time in the winter semester of 2023/24: Three students begin their studies in September alongside six new trainees. In terms of customer satisfaction, Retarus impresses both in Gartner Peer Insights as well as with an excellent Net Promoter Score.
2022 - 30 years … and counting
Retarus turns 30 on December 2, 2022. Internally, however, this is celebrated in advance in the summer (along with the Christmas party, which was postponed due to the pandemic) at Munich’s legendary Park Café. The development site in Portugal is bursting at the seams having grown substantially. In May, they relocate to a new, larger office. In March, Retarus donates 100,000 euros to the victims of the war against Ukraine in addition to providing active help on an individual basis. The Munich headquarters continue to be renovated during ongoing operations, adapting them to the hybrid reality of “New Work” with airier room concepts and stylish new furniture. The new developer portal developers.retarus.com goes live at the end of January.
2021 - Continued Growth

Retarus opens another subsidiary in Portugal. The new location in Lisbon is home to mainly developers, who support the teams in Munich and Timișoara. And speaking of Romania… the subsidiary there moves into a new, more central office space and continues to grow. The company’s headquarters in Munich is renovated with stylish new furniture and a setup that reflects the “new normal” of working in the post-pandemic world.

2020 - Partners and the Pandemic

The year is marked by the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite being pandemic-related, it is an unproblematic shift to working from home and Retarus hires more new employees than ever before. The partnership business expands to include Eastern Europe and the Netherlands, with the branch in Singapore being joined by a second foothold in Asia— Thailand.

2019 - Founding of Retarus (România) S.R.L.

At the end of November, Retarus founded a new local subsidiary in Romania and, at the same time, inaugurated its 15th corporate site, located in Timișoara. Many of the eleven employees of the new subsidiary have been working for numerous years for a local Retarus partner and will now become employees of the newly founded retarus (România) S.R.L. on December 1. Retarus will operate a Service Center for international customers of its Business Integration Services, as well as for development and quality assurance, at the new site in Timișoara.

2018 - Partners, Politicians and Patents

Retarus expands its Email Security with Sandboxing and enters into a partnership with Palo Alto Networks. Lexmark and Retarus digital fax solutions for multifunction printers (MFPs) are now available worldwide.

Retarus’ new Global Service and Support Center in Erfurt is officially opened in the presence of Minister Wolfgang Tiefensee. The European Patent Office (EPO) grants Retarus the patent for its “Patient Zero Detection®.

2017 - 25 Years of Retarus
Retarus, together with select customers and partners, celebrates its 25th anniversary at its Christmas party in mid-December. Founder and Group CEO Martin Hager still has a lot in store for his company.

The product portfolio is significantly strengthened over the course of the year with features such as Postdelivery Protection and ATP for E-Mail Security, as well as a massively scalable innovation for E-Mail for Applications.

2016 - Swiss Made Service
Demand for local data processing services is showing strong growth. In response to this trend, Retarus is expanding its data center site in Switzerland, and we’re confident that this additional capacity will enable us to cater even more effectively to the specific needs of our Swiss customers.

Retarus complies with the international assurance standard ISAE 3402, which applies to internal control systems. All processes that impact on our financial statements were scrutinised by a reputable external auditing firm as part of a comprehensive audit.

2015 - Retarus Opens New Data Center in Frankfurt
Retarus expands its global network of data centers and is additionally providing services from a new data center in Frankfurt, Germany. A multilevel physical security concept coupled with information processes certified according to ISO 22301 und ISO 27001 ensure top levels of protection for sensitive data. The data center meets the highest standards for energy efficiency and also benefits from a redundant and failsafe power supply.

The Retarus Group has continued its US expansion with the opening of a new site in Boston.

Retarus has immediately achieved inclusion in the quadrant “Product Challenger” for the category “E-Mail / Web / Collaboration Security” in the Security Vendor Benchmark 2016 process carried out by the Experton Group.

“Bayerns Best 50” award: Bavarian Ministry for Economic Affairs has once again honored Retarus for outstanding growth.

2014 - Retarus Awarded with PCI DSS Certification
Retarus has been the first and only messaging service provider so far to be awarded with the PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard) certification for both data centers and communication services. Retarus helps companies and organizations to seamlessly meet compliance requirements when electronically transmitting account and payment card data.
2013 - Europe's 500 Award for Retarus
Retarus was ranked 75th out of the 500 top growth companies in Europe at the European Growth Summit 2013 held at the European Parliament. This reflects Retarus’ positive corporate development and commitment to creating jobs. Over 20 million companies across Europe were evaluated during the ranking process.

Retarus is changing its “Messaging Services” claim to “Global Messaging” in order to reflect the company’s local presence all over the world, irrespective of the customer’s size and industry and the systems they use. Retarus offers the world’s most comprehensive messaging portfolio which consists of email, fax, SMS and EDI services.

Formation of retarus (Asia) Pte. Ltd. in Singapore

Formation of retarus (Ibérica) S.L.U. in Madrid

2012 - Retarus Named One of Bavaria’s Top 50
The Bavarian Ministry of Economic Affairs, Infrastructure, Transport and Technology has named retarus GmbH one of Bavaria’s top 50 companies within the scope of its “Bayerns Best 50” competition, which acknowledges mid-sized businesses whose turnover and employee numbers have increased exceptionally in the last five years.

Retarus expands to Canada.

Unrivaled reliable SMS communication: Retarus uses multiple aggregators to ensure that 99% of business SMS are delivered to their intended recipient, no matter where they are in the world.

On December 2nd Retarus turns 20.

2011 - Retarus Goes to Australia and Great Britain
Branch offices are established in Australia (Sydney) and Great Britain (London).

U.S. data centers launched in Ashburn (Virginia) and Chicago (Illinois).

Retarus France moves from Lyon to Paris.

2010 - Retarus Expands to Dubai and Singapore
In February Retarus expands to Dubai and Singapore.

In its “Cool Vendors in Imaging and Print Services, 2010” report the IT research and consulting firm Gartner Inc. singles out Retarus as a Cool Vendor. Retarus receives the coveted accolade in the category “Imaging and Print Services” for its Faxolution for Exchange and SMS for Exchange services, which are based on Cloud computing technology.

2009 - Retarus Inc. (U.S. Headquarters) Established
Launch of the first Cloud Fax Services for Microsoft Exchange worldwide, “Retarus Faxolution for Exchange”.
retarus, inc. is founded in the USA (New York).

In May Retarus moves to a new office space, – the “Criterion” building in Aschauer Straße 30, Munich – due to company growth the offices located at Neumarkter Straße were no longer able to accommodate the staff.

Retarus relocates their data center with no interruption of operations. The new data center’s air conditioning system uses geothermal heat pumps that run on green energy, underlining Retarus’ commitment to the environment.

Implementation of multihoming ensures that the Retarus infrastructure achieves optimal levels of availability.

2008 - Retarus opens branch offices in Austria and Spain

The EDI and Business Process Management product portfolio becomes a pure Managed Service.

We’re turning even greener… As of August 2008 Retarus only uses hydro-electricity to power all data centers and offices in Europe.

Retarus joins forces with RIPE NCC and Local Internet Registry. This entails a transfer to Provider Independent Addresses.

New horizons are explored as Retarus opens branch offices in Austria (Vienna) and Spain (Madrid).

2007 - Retarus Is Fax Service Provider N° 1
Retarus is the leading fax service provider on the European market.

Retarus WebExpress relaunched so customers can send faxes, emails and SMS to large target groups.

2006 - Branch Offices Established in Switzerland, Italy and France
Branch offices are established in Switzerland (Zurich), Italy (Milan) and France (Lyon).

Retarus’ Swiss data center goes into operation.

2005 - Retarus EAS Administration Portal Launched
A third data center is set up in Germany.

Entry into the digital signature business with Retarus eSign.

2004 - Headquarters Relocated to Munich
retarus network services GmbH is renamed retarus GmbH.

Retarus is given a bit of a makeover with the introduction of a new corporate design.

Retarus relocates from the Munich suburb of Höhenkirchen to Munich city center.

A significant expansion of the data centers.

2003 - Retarus WebExpress Launched
Relocation of a data center to allow for expansion.
WebExpress is a web-based tool that customers use to swiftly and reliably fax mailings, newsletters and corporate

information to large target groups.

2002 - Retarus Turns Ten
Retarus celebrates its tenth birthday with employees, customers and business partners.
2001 - Data Center N° 2
An additional data center is set up in Munich.

Retarus takes over management of BITKOM’s fax Robinson list.

2000 - Retarus Faxolution© is Certified by SAP
Development of an interface for the Faxolution infrastructure, which enables the transmission of fax messages directly out of SAP systems and the secure delivery of transaction records. This interface is certified by SAP AG.
1999 - Implementation of the Faxolution© Infrastructure
The launch of the first Retarus Anti-Spam service.
1998 - Retarus Alarm Call Launched at CEBIT
Our online wake-up service (“weckruf.de”) goes live. By the end of 2003 more than 150,000 users have signed up, requesting 8 million wake-up calls.

Retarus takes over Communicate EDI Systems.

Launch of a new version of the Faxolution infrastructure offering optimal transactional security and virtually unlimited fax capacity.

1997 - Retarus Encrypts Emails
Email encryption is offered as a managed service for the first time.

Highly integrative, optimally customized EDI services are offered for companies of any size wishing to connect their ERP systems and company applications, no matter which data formats or platforms are being used.

1996 - Getting Started with EDI Business
Retarus offers EDI services with EDI products and outsourcing solutions.

Lotus Domino consulting services are launched.

The establishment of Interactive Voice Response and fax retrieval services.

1995 - First Retarus Trainee
Eager to invest in young talent, Retarus takes on its first apprentice who starts his education as an IT systems management assistant. This type of apprenticeship does not even have a syllabus at vocational colleges yet.

Decentralized fax transmission hubs are built up in Germany and Austria.

1994 - E-Mail-Security as a Service
Retarus develops its own solutions and add-ons to support various communications products, enabling customers to customize their communications structures.

Development of an ISDN Router for cc:Mail called RMX.

Launch of a globally available dial-in platform, which links up with decentralized LAN email systems such as MHS and cc:Mail. Introduction of specialized communication services for proprietary company infrastructures via UUCP, SMTP and x.400.

Retarus offers its first email service gateway as an out-tasked solution. Increasing importance of LAN email systems for business communication means that email security gains in relevance.

The creation of our first email virus protection, available to customers either as a managed service or as a local solution.

Development of the fax infrastructure “Faxolution” for secure and reliable transmission of high volumes of faxes.

1993 - Corporate Fax Service
CIS:Link is developed. This software uses a single CompuServe user ID to provide all cc:Mail users with access to CompuServe email and forums. Retarus becomes the first service provider to link a LAN based email system with a public network.

Software Brokerage – Retarus begins trading in software licenses.

The first faxes are sent on behalf of Retarus’ customers.

1992 - Retarus is Established
Birth of a truly innovative company, Retarus network services GmbH, founded by Martin Hager, was the first Lotus Premium Partner to specialize in sales, consulting and operation of the LAN-based e-mail system cc:Mail. Retarus is also the first service provider to offer communication services which are monitored 24×7.