TAC (building automation)

Infobox_Company
company_name = TAC AB
company_
company_type = Public (Sweden)
company_slogan =
foundation = 1925
location = Malmö, Sweden
locations = 80 countries, including UK, USA, France, Germany and Norway
key_people = Arne Frank, Chairman and CEO
Thomas Hansson, Chief Financial Officer
Dean Meyer, CEO, Pelco
industry = Building automation
products = Energy solutions and security
revenue = $2,000 million USD (2007)
num_employees = 7,500 (2007)
parent = Schneider Electric
divisions = Energy Solutions
Building Solutions
homepage = http://www.tac.com

TAC is a Swedish-based building automation company in the fields of both energy solutions and security. It also operates in other countries including the United Kingdom and the USA and was originally established as Tour Agenturer in 1925 in Stockholm.

History

1925–1995

Founded as Tour Agenturer in Stockholm in 1925, the company produced a product range focusing particularly on draught regulators and radiator valves. It continued to develop its product range and made its first pioneering development in 1962 with the first transistorized heating regulator. Its second pioneering development arrived in 1974 when it introduced a computer-based system for climate control. Tour Agenturer became Tour & Andersson in 1977 following a merger with AH Andersson. [cite web
url = http://www.tac.com/Navigate?node=1314|title = Milestones in TAC History
accessdate = 2008-06-26
date = 26 June 2008
work = TAC
publisher = TAC]

Over the following years, Tour & Andersson continued to extend is product range to include an integrated access control system and hotel management and signal system in 1980 and 1981 respectively. In 1987 it released Micro 7 which was an IBM PC-based control system with an easier user interface than previously available and operated with a mouse in a similar fashion to modern day computers.

In 1994, the company released TAC Vista and "moves towards open systems architecture." The following year, Tour & Andersson was separated into two companies: TA Hydronics and TA Control.

1996–2006

The first major development by TA Control arrived in 1996 with TAC Xenta, a programmable control system featuring graphical programming. The following year TA Control changed its name to TAC and focused equally on its services and systems operations in addition to its international partner networks. TAC acquired Norwegian major systems integration company Solberg Andersen in 1998 shortly before being bought by investment company EQT.

Between 1998 and 2006, several more acquisitions and mergers took place, beginning with TAC's acquisition of Danish-based Danfoss System Automatik. It then merged with CSI—an American company based in Dallas, Texas—in 2000 to create a new company of 2,000 employees covering three major regions: Europe, the Americas and the Pacific. According to the company's website, this 2000 merger allowed TAC to provide "end-users with world-class Building IT solutions and services." This merger was extremely successful and led to consulting firm Frost & Sullivan awarding its 2001 'Market Engineering Merger & Acquisition Strategy Award' to the newly-formed TAC Group.

The years 2002 and 2003 brought further development for TAC Group with its acquisition of both Control Solutions and MicroSign in 2002 before TAC Group was itself acquired by French-based Schneider Electric in 2003. In 2004, the company bought Seattle-based Abacus Engineered Systems which was then merged with the Energy Solutions Division of TAC. In the same year TAC's parent company, Schneider Electric, acquired Andover Controls which was then merged with TAC to boost its security operations in addition to expanding its building automation activities. The company became Tour Andover Controls and merged with three more companies over the next two years: Satchwell Controls and the European division of Invensys Advanced Building Systems in 2005, and Invensys Building Systems (IBS) in 2006. It become TAC Satchwell for a brief period between 2005 and 2007 during the integration of Satchwell Controls into the company.

2007–present

The year 2007 brought TAC's most recent merger with Pelco, bringing industry veteran and Pelco CEO Dean Meyer into the TAC fold. TAC now covers 7 continents and 80 countries and, according to its corporate brochure, is still growing. It has a wide variety of mottos regarding the way it carries out its business but its most prominent is its suggestion that "To enjoy reduced operating costs, build it right in the first place." This is particularly aimed at the increasingly problematic issue of Climate Change in the contemporary commercial and political world. [cite web
url = http://www.tac.com/data/internal/data/07/03/1212427722606/_2008TAC_CorporateBrochureSE_A4.pdf|title = Corporate Brochure
accessdate = 2008-06-26
date = 26 June 2008
work = TAC
publisher = TAC]

Industries

Commercial [cite web
url = http://www.tac.com/data/internal/data/35/1087292559930/Commercial+Intro.pdf|title = Commercial Intro
accessdate = 2008-10-05
date = 26 June 2008
work = TAC
publisher = TAC]

Education [cite web
url = http://www.tac.com/data/internal/data/35/1087292733108/Education+Intro.pdf|title = Education Intro
accessdate = 2008-10-05
date = 26 June 2008
work = TAC
publisher = TAC]

Healthcare [cite web
url = http://www.tac.com/data/internal/data/35/1087292818012/Healthcare+Intro.pdf|title = Healthcare Intro
accessdate = 2008-10-05
date = 26 June 2008
work = TAC
publisher = TAC]

Data Centers [cite web
url = http://www.tac.com/data/internal/data/05/91/1184597206408/Data+Centers+Case+Study_US.pdf|title = Data Centers Case Study
accessdate = 2008-10-05
date = 26 June 2008
work = TAC
publisher = TAC]

Hotel [cite web
url = http://www.tac.com/data/internal/data/35/1087293031147/Hotel+Intro.pdf|title = Hotel Intro
accessdate = 2008-10-05
date = 26 June 2008
work = TAC
publisher = TAC]

Transportation [cite web
url = http://www.tac.com/Navigate?node=1458|title = TAC Transportation
accessdate = 2008-10-05
date = 26 June 2008
work = TAC
publisher = TAC]

Retail [cite web
url = http://www.tac.com/data/internal/data/35/1087291916368/Retail_Introduction.pdf|title = Retail Introduction
accessdate = 2008-10-05
date = 26 June 2008
work = TAC
publisher = TAC]

Industry and Technology [cite web
url = http://www.tac.com/Navigate?node=1371|title = Precision Control in Critical Environments
accessdate = 2008-10-05
date = 26 June 2008
work = TAC
publisher = TAC]

Government and Military [cite web
url = http://www.tac.com/Navigate?node=1698|title = Comfort, Security, and Control Throughout
accessdate = 2008-10-05
date = 26 June 2008
work = TAC
publisher = TAC]

Residential [cite web
url = http://www.tac.com/Navigate?node=1373|title = Comfort, Security, and Energy Efficiency for Everyone
accessdate = 2008-10-05
date = 26 June 2008
work = TAC
publisher = TAC]

Life Sciences [cite web
url = http://www.tac.com/Navigate?node=1451|title = Life Sciences Overview
accessdate = 2008-10-05
date = 26 June 2008
work = TAC
publisher = TAC]

References