The History of SDL
Celebrating innovation in the translation memory industry
Since its entry into the translation software market in 1984, Trados (acquired by SDL in 2005) has since become a widely recognized name within the industry.
Over the past twenty-five years, SDL has steadily grown its customer base of over 170,000 translation professionals (from freelance translators to large enterprises) by continuously delivering innovative and robust translation memory software.
How did it start?
Trados (TRAnslation & DOcumentation Software) was established in Stuttgart, Germany by Jochen Hummel and Iko Knyphausen in 1984. Hummell and Knyphausen initially set up Trados as a Language Service Provider (LSP) following their decision to tender for a translation project for IBM.
The 80s
The mid-eighties saw the emergence of Computer Assisted Translation (CAT) technology following the increasing demand for translated content. Translators were unable to keep up with number of translation projects being passed on to them from customers, leaving a requirement from technology to help bridge the gap between supply and demand. Hummell and Knyphausen recognised the opportunity for technology and started developing software to solve this issue.
At the dawn of the translation memory era in 1988, Trados developed TED, a very early version of what we know today as Translator's Workbench, one of the translation memory applications in SDL Trados 2007 Suite. It was around this time that Trados made the decision to split the company, passing the translation services part of the business to INK in the Netherlands, so that they could concentrate on developing translation software. It took a while for Trados to get established as a translation technology provider, however momemtum soon built up following successful strategic decisions, including moving software development onto the Microsoft Windows platform.
The 90s
In 1990, Trados launched their first product, MultiTerm (a terminology database, now known as SDL MultiTerm) into the market place. The first version of Translator's Workbench was later released in 1992. Trados also started expanding as a company in the mid-nineties. Matthias Heyn, a computational linguist from the University of Stuttgart joined the company and developed the first alignment tool on the market (T Align, later to become WinAlign, one of the applications available in SDL Trados 2007 Suite). In addition, Trados began to open a network of global offices, including Brussels, Virginia, UK and Switzerland.
The nineties saw a large amount of development in translation software technology. Many freelance translators were benefitting from the increasing sophistication and affordibility of personal computers, meaning that CAT tools were becoming more and more commonplace. As well as the time-saving and quality benefits of using translation memory tools at a desktop level, the Internet pathed the way for enhanced productivity through the real-time sharing of translation assets via server technology. This helped to rapidly accelerate the rate at which content could be localized, enabling organizations to enter new marketplaces and communicate their messaging in the language of their customers.
The new millenium
Despite the arrival of other translation software providers, Trados maintained a significant market share within the translation industry into the new millenium. The acquisition of Trados by SDL in 2005, enabled the two market leaders to leverage their respective product and technical knowledge to expand functionality and features for their customers. The latest product release, SDL Trados 2007 Suite, combines both robust technology built on 25 years work of research and development, with innovative new features, including automated translation (beta), to help further increase speed and productivity within the translation process.
25 years on
2009 sees the release of SDL Trados Studio 2009 Service Pack 1 (SP1), not only the best of Trados and SDLX, but the arrival of the next generation in translation memory software which will revolutionize the way people work. This release is the culmination of 25 years translation software expertise and over $100 million investment in R&D.
