SDL plc


SDL plc is a multinational professional services company headquartered in Maidenhead, United Kingdom. SDL specializes in language translation software and services. SDL is listed on the London Stock Exchange. SDL is an abbreviation for "Software and Documentation Localization".

History

The Company was founded by Mark Lancaster with nine employees in 1992. It opened its first overseas office in France in 1996 and was first listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1999. The company has grown organically via acquisitions. SDL acquired Polylang Multimedia in 1998, International Translation & Publishing in 2000, Alpnet in 2001, and the machine translation assets of Transparent Language in 2001. It bought Trados, a rival translation memory developer, in 2005. In 2007, the company acquired Tridion, a content management system vendor, and PASS Engineering, developers of PASSOLO software. In 2008, it bought Idiom Technologies, a global information system management business. In December 2009, SDL acquired Fredhopper, a Dutch eCommerce onsite search and navigation, onsite targeting and targeted advertising software vendor. Later that same year, it bought Xopus, another Dutch company and the leader in online XML editing. In May 2011 SDL acquired Dutch-based Media Asset Management company, Calamares, in 2012 the campaign management and social media analytics company, Alterian, and in 2013, Bemoko, a supplier of internet software for mobile devices.
In January 2016 SDL announced the divestment of Fredhopper and Alterian as non-complementary to its new strategy having undertaken a strategic review.

Operations

SDL provides software for language translation purposes.