May, 1998
Greenlee Textron, another Textron business unit that
sells tools to electrical contractors, made a significant statement in the datacommunications market
with the introduction of over 175 new tools, dies and connectors. This move was in response to the
entry of many electrical contractors into this field and was marketed as the Greenlee
Data-Signal-Voice (DSV) product line. This introduction was a big success and led to Greenlee
Textron's acquisition of other companies.
August, 1998
Three months after the launch of DSV, Greenlee acquired Datacom Technologies, a designer and
manufacturer of Category 5 cable testers. Although the Datacom brand name still exists on some of
their older products, their newest technology is showing up in products bearing the Tempo brand name.
October, 1999
Greenlee acquired Progressive Electronics, a manufacturer of tone generators and probes used by telephone
technicians. With this acquisition, the Chesilvale acquisition and the most recent acquisition of
Industrial Technology, Tempo is the undisputed market leader in this product category. Progressive also
brought to Greenlee a strong base of datacommunications distributor access and a successful line of buried
line locators.
November, 1999
Greenlee acquired RIFOCS, a designer and manufacturer of fiber optic components and test instruments. RIFOCS
has a reputation for producing very high quality products which are sold primarily to telecommunications
manufacturers and the U.S. military. This was certainly a technology acquisition for Greenlee.
March, 2000
Greenlee announced the acquisition of Chesilvale Electronics, a UK manufacturer of butt-sets, tone generators
and probes. Tempo is aggressively marketing new butt-sets coming from Chesilvale and is using the UK location
as a marketing center for European expansion.
January, 2001
Greenlee acquired Tempo Research, a Vista, CA manufacturer of telecommunications testing equipment. Tempo
products, namely the Sidekick family of products, are well known among telecommunications technicians as the
preferred tool for troubleshooting telephone lines.
August, 2001
Greenlee acquired Industrial Technology, a manufacturer of advanced telecommunications electronics tools.
Industrial Technology manufactures the leading ThrowmasterÒ test set which permits the transfer of
telephone service from one cable to another without interruption of service. It also designs, manufactures
and markets digital signal identifiers and toner probes, cable fault locators and a unique line of electronic
marking and locator equipment.
August, 2001
Greenlee acquired Opto-Electronics, an Oakville, Ontario-based designer and manufacturer of high-speed
fiber-optic test instruments for the telecommunications, aerospace and defense industries. Products include
high-resolution picosecond (one trillionth of a second) Optical Time Domain Reflectometers (OTDRs), fiber-optic
systems, pulsed lasers and photodetectors.
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