Trimble Acquires Definiens' Earth Sciences Business to Expand Its GeoSpatial Portfolio

eCognition to Power Trimble's Image Analysis in Geospatial Industries

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Jun 11, 2010, 06:30 ET

SUNNYVALE, Calif., June 11 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Trimble (Nasdaq: TRMB) and Definiens, a Germany-based company specializing in image analysis solutions, today announced Trimble's acquisition of Definiens' Earth Sciences business assets and licensing of its software technology platform in an all-cash transaction. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Definiens' Earth Sciences business includes eCognition® software, an advanced image analysis software suite for geospatial applications that facilitates fast and accurate geo-information extraction from remote sensing imagery. The "original" object-based image analysis (OBIA) software has been used by industry leading data providers, remote sensing professionals, and university researchers in urban planning, forestry, agriculture, energy, insurance, and security for nearly a decade. eCognition software is scalable and offers a comprehensive range of tools to create powerful image analysis applications that can handle all common data sources, such as medium- to high-resolution satellite, high-resolution aerial photography, laser scanner, radar, and hyperspectral data.

"eCognition software speeds the creation of answers from geospatial sensor data," said Ken Spratlin, general manager of Trimble's GeoSpatial Division. "Timely and accurate answers can empower organizations to operate more efficiently, with less waste and rework, and provide enhanced capabilities for decision making. We see significant potential to realize synergies between eCognition and Trimble's geospatial technologies as well as other solutions that may include image analysis."

"Trimble's acquisition of Definiens' Earth Sciences business is a perfect fit for both organizations," said Thomas Heydler, CEO of Definiens. "eCognition offers Trimble world class image analysis capabilities to complement its broad range of geospatial products and solutions, while allowing Definiens to dedicate its focus to image analysis in the healthcare industry."

The patented Definiens Cognition Network Technology® was developed by 1986 Nobel Laureate Prof. Gerd Binnig and his team. The technology platform emulates human cognitive processes of perception to extract intelligence from images. The power behind the innovative technology is its ability to quickly and easily transform user knowledge and domain expertise into automatic routines. Definiens applies advanced machine learning concepts to train the software and render this knowledge in a production environment, enabling the software to automatically process millions of images.

The operating results of the acquired business will be reported within Trimble's Engineering and Construction segment.

About eCognition Software

eCognition software enables organizations involved in earth sciences to quickly extract accurate geo-information from any kind of remote sensing data. The software assists data providers, value adders, scientists and end users in integrating earth observation and remote sensing data to generate accurate GIS-ready information. eCognition's intelligent feature extraction capabilities accelerate mapping, change detection and object recognition—delivering standardized and reproducible image analysis results.

For more information, visit: www.ecognition.com.

About Definiens

Definiens is a leading Germany-based firm specializing in Enterprise Image Intelligence® for analyzing and interpreting images on every scale—from microscopic cell structures to full body scans. The Definiens Cognition Network Technology®, developed by Nobel laureate Prof. Gerd Binnig and his team, is an advanced and robust context-based technology designed to fulfill the image analysis requirements of the Medical and Life Science markets. The technology is modeled on the powerful human cognitive perception processes to extract intelligence from images. Definiens provides organizations with faster image analysis results, allowing deeper insights enabling better business decisions. The company is headquartered in Munich, Germany and has offices in the U.S.

Further information is available at www.definiens.com.

About Trimble

Trimble applies technology to make field and mobile workers in businesses and government significantly more productive. Solutions are focused on applications requiring position or location—including surveying, construction, agriculture, fleet and asset management, public safety and mapping. In addition to utilizing positioning technologies, such as GPS, lasers and optics, Trimble solutions may include software content specific to the needs of the user. Wireless technologies are utilized to deliver the solution to the user and to ensure a tight coupling of the field and the back office. Founded in 1978, Trimble is headquartered in Sunnyvale, Calif.

For more information, visit: www.trimble.com.

This news release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of U.S. federal securities laws that involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in this news release. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to, Trimble's ability to realize synergies between eCognition software and Trimble's geospatial technologies, and to successfully complement its range of products and solutions as a result of the acquisition. Additional risks and uncertainties include: the risks inherent in integrating acquisitions; unanticipated expenditures, charges or assumed liabilities that may result from the acquisition; and retaining key personnel and commercial relationships. More information about potential factors that could affect Trimble's business and financial results is set forth in reports filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including Trimble's quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and its annual report on Form 10-K. Trimble assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement contained in this news release.