TAC (building automation)

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 introducing the first transistorized heating regulator in 1962 and a computer-based system for climate control in 1974. Tour Agenturer became Tour & Andersson in 1977 following a merger with AH Andersson.[2]

Over the following years, Tour & Andersson extend its 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, 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 "moves towards open systems architecture." The following year, Tour & Andersson was separated into two companies: TA Hydronics and TA Control.

The first major development by TA Control arrived in 1996 with 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.

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 became TAC Satchwell for a brief period between 2005 and 2007 during the integration of Satchwell Controls into the company.

The year 2007 brought TAC's most recent merger with Pelco, Dean Meyer in charge of the Pelco division. TAC now covers 7 continents and 80 countries.[3]