The Techstreet unit will form part of the Scientific business within the Thomson division and continue to be managed by its founders, Gregg Hammerman, president, and Andrew Bank, vice president of business development. With the Techstreet acquisition, Thomson Scientific adds industry standards to its already strong offerings in sci-tech journals and patents. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

In making the announcement, Mike Tansey, CEO of Thomson Scientific, stated: "This business provides Thomson a key source of foundational content that is required by our customers. Adding Techstreet makes Thomson a stronger one-stop resource for technical and intellectual property information for engineering research and development - delivering patents, journal literature, and standards information."

Hammerman added, "As part of Thomson, with its expertise and resources, we will continue to provide mission-critical information resources and information management tools for technical professionals."

Techstreet's collection draws on material from over 350 Standards Developing Organizations (SDOs) around the world, including the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM), the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), the British Standards Institution (BSI), the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), and hundreds more. Most documents can be obtained in both print and electronic format, via subscription or single-document delivery.

The collection of books, technical documents, market research, conference proceedings, journal articles, and training and education products is searchable online and covers research, design, manufacturing, testing, and inspection information for industries such as electrical and electronics, petrochemical, architecture and construction, food safety and public health, wastewater engineering, information technology, and aerospace/aviation. Some 95,000 of its documents are immediately downloadable in Adobe PDF.

Bank stated that he and Hammerman were "excited about this event and the future of Techstreet. Since starting our business in a small Ann Arbor apartment in the pre-dot-com days, we have focused on expanding the company to the tune of double-digit growth. We are proud of our staff and our overall success in building a profitable business that serves 40,000 customers worldwide. We are all looking forward to future successes within the Thomson family."

Bank also indicated that the entire Techstreet staff would remain in place in Ann Arbor, Mich. He added: "Thomson's technology and tools for information delivery are among the best in the world. Long-term plans will incorporate these resources to provide unique product offerings and maximize standards subscription sales."

Chris Pooley, senior vice president for strategic marketing and planning at Thomson Scientific, stated that the acquisition represented a "third leg" in the document delivery services Thomson offers to the engineering community. Thomson plans to link standards and spec literature to other offerings in the future, for example, in the new Thomson Patent Store developed with Thomson's recent acquisition of Delphion.

Serving more than 20 million users, Thomson Corp. had 2002 revenues of $7.8 billion from its global business. The Thomson Scientific operation also includes Derwent, ISI, and Current Drugs among its units.