Trimble Acquires LET Systems to Expand its Utilities Solutions for Smart Grid Outage and Incident Management

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Mar 05, 2010, 06:30 ET

SUNNYVALE, Calif., March 5 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Trimble (Nasdaq: TRMB) announced today it has acquired privately-held LET Systems based in Cork, Ireland. LET Systems is an internationally recognized leader in incident and outage management system (OMS) solutions for utilities. The acquisition is part of Trimble's strategic utilities and smart grid initiative to bring productivity solutions to the global utilities industry. Financial terms were not disclosed.

LET Systems provides OMS, network modeling, customer contact and mobile workforce management software for electric, gas, water and wastewater utilities. Its innovative eRespond™ software platform provides utilities with the tools to increase network reliability, improve efficiency and reduce the cost of day-to-day operations while improving customer service and regulatory reporting. eRespond is a modular spatially-enabled solution designed and proven to meet the needs of a broad range of utilities—from small, community-based utilities with fewer than 200,000 service connections to large utilities that cover an entire country with approximately 16,000,000 service connections.

eRespond provides a comprehensive set of features designed to simplify the end-to-end process of incident and outage management in a utility's distribution network. It supports business processes such as customer trouble call management, fault identification and detection, automatic grouping of calls and telemetry using unique algorithms, smart meter and distribution management system (DMS) integration, work force management and regulatory reporting.

LET System's eRespond can improve the management of trouble calls, outages, planned outages and maintenance events, and provide quicker fault location identification, aiding in reduction of fault durations. The software platform can also improve the usage of field resources by providing tools to accurately report on outages via mobile and by allowing crews to identify and add devices to outages. eRespond also includes background monitoring of key event parameters with automatic user alerting, which is received via third party Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA), Smart Meter Automated Meter Infrastructure (AMI) and telemetry systems.

"Innovative technology is transforming the way utilities are planned, managed, built and maintained. LET Systems and the eRespond smart grid OMS solution provide utility customers the tools to save time and cost to improve decision making and operational efficiencies," said Katherine Sandford, general manager for Trimble's Utilities Field Solutions business. "The acquisition of LET Systems will strengthen Trimble's Utilities Field Solutions product portfolio by adding comprehensive, scalable incident and outage management capabilities."

"Becoming part of Trimble is the ideal next step for eRespond and the team at LET Systems," said Marcus McCarthy, managing director of LET. "We are looking forward to expanding our customer base with the help of a global team and are anticipating being able to offer broader solutions to our current customers in Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Africa. The acquisition will strengthen our partnerships with smart grid industry leaders and allow us to better serve their needs in a rapidly changing marketplace."

LET System's business will be reported in Trimble's Field Solutions segment.

About LET Systems

LET Systems, with headquarters in Cork, Ireland, is a world leader in the design, development, and deployment of real-time incident and outage management, network modeling, and workforce management solutions for the utility sector.

LET's proven mission critical eRespond incident and outage management system (OMS) solution brings the latest, most comprehensive decision support tools into an enterprise-wide IT environment for the management of customer contact, outages, workforce, crew dispatch, mobile data, and emergency and disaster recovery.

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

About Trimble's Utilities Field Solutions

Trimble's Utilities Field Solutions specializes in smart grid geographic information system (GIS) mapping, mobile workforce management, asset and outage management, automated vehicle locating (AVL), and field design, data collection, and inspection solutions for electric, gas, water and wastewater utilities. Trimble's UtilityCenter®, Fieldport®, and Utility Fleet Manager™ enterprise solutions automate utility operations which can lead to increased field worker productivity, enhanced customer service and faster emergency response.

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.

Certain statements made in this press release are forward looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements involve risks and uncertainties, and actual events and results may differ materially from those described in this news release. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to, whether Trimble will be able to strengthen and expand its product portfolio through the acquisition and successfully bring productivity solutions to the global utilities industry; whether the acquisition will strengthen partnerships with smart grid industry leaders and better address customer needs; and the impact of the current economic climate on customer purchasing decisions. Additional risks and uncertainties include: the risks inherent in integrating an acquisition; unanticipated expenditures, charges or assumed liabilities that may result from the acquisition; and retaining key personnel. More information about potential factors which could affect Trimble's business and financial results is set forth in reports filed with the SEC, including Trimble's quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and its annual report on Form 10-K. All forward looking statements are based on information available to Trimble as of the date hereof, and Trimble assumes no obligation to update such statements.

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