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HomeMy WebLinkAboutESRI InfoESRI Info I Company History f' .'Software ADVANTAGE w ESRI was founded by Jack Dangermond as Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc., in 1969 as a privately held consulting firm that specialized in land -use analysis projects. The worldwide headquarters of ESRI are anchored in a multicampus environment in Redlands, California. The early mission of ESRI focused on the principles of organizing and analyzing geographic information. The firm carefully managed project work to ensure growth without the need for venture capital or going public. From these early projects emerged concepts for processes and tools that could be applied in an automated environment. During the 1980s, ESRI devoted its resources to developing a core set of application tools that could be applied in a computer environment to create a geographic information system (GIS). This is what is known today as GIS technology. In 1981, ESRI held its first User Conference. This conference, attended by 16 people at the ESRI office in Redlands, has now grown to be the largest annual GIS event in the world, with more than 14,000 attendees from around the globe. In 1982, ESRI launched its first commercial GIS software called ARC/INFO. It combined computer display geographic features, such as points, lines, and polygons, with a database PC ARC/INFO launched, 1987 Page I of 5 http://www.esri.com/about-esri/about/history.html 1 l /190009 ESRI Info I Company History management tool for assigning attributes to these features. Originally designed to run on minicomputers, ARC/INFO offered the first modern GIS. As the technology shifted to UNIX and later to the Windows operating systems, ESRI created software tools that took advantage of these new platforms. This shift enabled users of ESRI software to apply the principles of distributed processing and data management. ESRI evolved from a small consulting firm to the largest research and development organization dedicated to GIS by focusing on its user community. The relationship between ESRI and its users is synergistic. Over the years, a unique culture has developed—a culture that is user focused and emphasizes a team -based approach. .In 1986, another milestone was achieved with PC ARC/INFO, a stand-alone PC-based GIS station. This changed ESRI from a one - product company and opened the doors to even more innovative product development. The 1990s brought more change and evolution. The global presence of ESRI grew with the release of ArcView, an affordable, easy -to -learn desktop mapping tool, which shipped an unprecedented 10,000 copies in the first six months of 1992. The company also launched the ArcData Program, designed to promote the publishing of commercial off- the-shelf, high-quality datasets to help users quickly build and grow their GIS applications. (Today, that program has evolved into the ArcGIS Online, a collaborative, multiparticipant system for publishing, sharing, and using geographic information on the Internet.) ArcCAD software, also released in 1992, made GIS tools available in the CAD environment. http://www.esri.com/about-esri/about/history.html Campus expansion, 1996 Page 2 of 5 11/19/2009 ESRI Info I Company History Page 3 of 5 In 1995, SSRI addressed the needs of the business -to -business market with SDE, which allowed the storage of spatial and tabular data in commercial DBMS products. The business - to -consumer market became part of the ESRI family with BusinessMAP and its related family of business solutions. ESRI's product line grew again in the mid- 1990s with the release of ArcInfo for Windows NT, MapObjects (mapping and GIS components for software developers), and the Data Automation Kit and the acquisition of Atlas GIS. This expansion of ESRI's product family gave users a comprehensive set of GIS and mapping software options and fortified ESRI's position as the world leader in the GIS market. In 1997, ESRI embarked on an ambitious research project to reengineer all its GIS software as a series of COM objects. Several hundred man-years of development later, ArcInfo 8 was released in December 1999. ESRI also introduced ArcIMS, the only GIS software to enable users to integrate local data with Internet data in a simple browser interface. In April 2001, ESRI began shipping ArcGIS 8.1, a family of software products that forms a complete GIS built on industry standards providing exceptional yet easy-to-use capabilities right out of the box. ArcGIS is a scalable system for geographic data creation, management, integration, analysis, and dissemination for every organization, from individuals to a globally distributed network of people. In May 2004, ESRI released ArcGIS 9, the next generation of its integrated software products for building a complete GIS. Two new products were included in this major http://www.esri.com/about-esri/about/history.html 11/19/2009 ESRI Info I Company History release: ArcGIS Engine, for embedding GIS functionality into desktop and field applications, and ArcGIS Server, a centrally managed framework for serving enterprise GIS applications. Today, ESRI GIS products are poised for even greater growth. Innovations in computer technology allow sophisticated GIS operations to be performed in the field on a personal digital assistant (PDA), on desktops, and throughout the enterprise. Faster and cheaper computers, network processing, electronic data publishing, and easier -to -use tools are fueling rapid growth in the desktop arena. Private businesses are adopting GIS technology as a decision support tool. And with the introduction of live mapping applications to the Web, anyone with a computer has access to the benefits of GIS technology. Today ESRI has 2,700 employees in the United States, 1,900 of whom are based at its corporate headquarters in Redlands, California. ESRI offers employment opportunities to qualified professionals from around the world and has a richly diverse workforce. The Redlands campus expanded with the addition of a three-story Research and Development (R&D) Center in 1996. Further expansion of the R&D Center was completed in the summer of 1998, and another state-of-the-art facility opened in summer 2001. With 10 regional offices in the United States, more than 80 international distributors, and users in more than 150 countries, ESRI stands ready to meet the needs of its user community and set the standards for the GIS industry. SSRI is privately held and debt free, and there http://www.esn'.com/about-esn'/about/history.html Page 4 of 5 11/19/2009 ESRI Info ( Company History are no plans for the company to go public or change ownership. The company's focus remains on producing excellent software and delivering exceptional service to users. We at ESRI believe that better information makes for better decisions. Our reputation is built on contributing our technical knowledge, special people, and valuable experience to the collection, analysis, and communication of geographic information. http://w-,Arw.esri.com/about-esri/about/history.html Page 5 of 5 11/19/2009