| Type | Public |
|---|---|
| Traded as | NASDAQ: TRMB |
| Industry | Land Survey, Construction, Agriculture, Transportation, Telecommunications, Asset tracking, Mapping, Utilities, Mobile Resource Management, Government, RFID |
| Founded | 1978 |
| Founder(s) | Charles Trimble, et al. |
| Headquarters | Sunnyvale, California, United States |
| Key people | Steven Berglund (CEO) |
| Revenue | $1.3 billion for FY 2008 |
| Operating income | $185 million for FY 2008 |
| Net income | $141 million for FY 2008 |
| Employees | 3,800 (as of 2008) |
| Website | www.trimble.com |
Trimble Navigation, Ltd. (NASDAQ: TRMB), based in Sunnyvale, California, is a provider of advanced positioning equipment, most notably GPS receivers, laser rangefinders and inertial navigation systems. The company is best known in the fields of surveying, construction, agriculture, scientific instrumentation, and mobile and fleet management. The company has employees in 18 countries and has a network of dealers and distribution partners. The company has over 850 patents.
Trimble Navigation was founded in 1978 by Charles Trimble and two partners, initially operating from Los Altos, California. Prior to founding Trimble Navigation, Mr. Trimble was manager of Integrated Circuit Research and Development at Hewlett-Packard’s Santa Clara Division.
In September, 1993, the first GPS receiver ever flown on the space shuttle was a Trimble TANS Quadrex.
In 2000, Trimble merged with Spectra Precision. This was a significant event for Trimble — it allowed the company to have GPS and Laser positioning technologies in its core research and development teams for product development.
In 2002, Trimble and Caterpillar Inc. formed Caterpillar Trimble Control Technologies LLC (CTCT). The joint venture, 50 percent owned by Trimble and 50 percent owned by Caterpillar, are developing advanced electronic guidance and control products for earthmoving machines in the construction, mining and waste industries. CTCT is based in Dayton, Ohio and started operations on April 1, 2002.
A year later, in March 2003 another 50:50 joint venture was formed with Nikon in Japan, forming Nikon-Trimble Co., Ltd. which assumed the operations of Nikon Geotecs Co., Ltd. in Japan. This new company is focused on the development of surveying instruments including mechanical total stations and related products.
In the last years Trimble has expanded by acquiring several technology companies. Among others, Tripod Data Systems, Advanced Public Safety, Inc., Apache Technologies, Accutest Engineering Solutions Ltd, Applanix, Géo-3D, INPHO, Meridian Systems, NTech Industries, Pacific Crest, Quantm, QuickPen International, SECO Mfg. Co., Inc., Visual Statement and XYZ Solutions, Inc.
On August 12, 2010 Trimble acquired the assets of privately-held Accubid Systems based in Concord, Ontario, Canada. Accubid is a leading provider of estimating, project management and service management software and services for electrical and mechanical contractors.
In July 2010, Trimble acquired Punch Telematix NV, which was rebranded as Trimble Transport & Logistics on October 1.[1] Punch Telematix NV, based in Belgium, provides transport management solutions (such as Track & Trace and Fleet management) for companies of all sizes in the transport and logistics sector.
On October 25, 2010, Trimble acquired the Cambridge, Massachusetts based developer of radio frequency identification (RFID) technology ThingMagic, Inc. Financial terms were not disclosed.[2]
On May 9, 2011, Trimble acquired Espoo, Finland based Tekla Corporation. Tekla is a leading provider of Building Information Modeling ("BIM") software.