AEC industry product and pricing info publisher, Trade Service, to merge with Trimble Buildings segment
Trimble Navigation Ltd. said Tuesday it acquired San Diego-based Trade Service Company, LLC, a major publisher and distributor of product and pricing information used by over 21,000 manufacturers, distributors and contractors in the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry.
Privately-held Trade Service, focused on adding efficiency and accuracy to the bidding and estimating process, was sold by GF Capital Private Equity Fund LP and senior management. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Sunnyvale, Calif.-based, publicly traded (Nasdaq: TRMB) Trimble, with $2 billion in 2012 revenue, uses positioning technologies – GPS, lasers and optics – to focus on applications requiring position or location, including surveying, construction, agriculture, fleet and asset management, public safety and mapping.
Trade Service’s portfolio of content and pricing products gives distributors and contractors subscription-based access to current product pricing and specification data within a web-based environment. Trade Service’s data solutions will be integrated with Trimble Buildings’ leading technology platform, Trimble DBO (design-build-operate).
“Real-time specification and pricing information are key elements to the construction bidding process as well as the overall building construction lifecycle,” said Bryn Fosburgh, Trimble vice president. “Tightly integrating Trade Service data into Trimble’s estimating solutions as well as using the information to extend the value of BIM data to the owner is a strategic goal of connecting key workflows across the design, build and operate continuum.”
The Trade Service business will report as part of Trimble’s Engineering and Construction segment.
