Tekla

Tekla Oyj

Company type	Private
Industry	Computer software IT Services
Founded	1966
Headquarters	Espoo , Finland
Key people	"Ari Kohonen". {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help) President and CEO
Products	Building & Construction Infra & Energy
Revenue	60 Million Euros (2007)
Number of employees	450
Website	"http://www.tekla.com". {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help); External link in |title= (help)

Tekla Oyj is a software engineering corporation specializing in 2- and 3-dimensional design and drafting. The company was founded in 1966. The headquarters is in Espoo, Finland, but there are offices all over the world. The company has been listed on the Helsinki Stock Exchange since May 2000.

Products

Building and Construction

Tekla Structures

Tekla Structures is 3D building information modeling (BIM) software used in building and construction industries to create, open and combine data-rich and highly constructable 3D structural models especially for large and complex structures, to navigate around them in real-time, and to review the model using tools included in the software, e.g. 4D scheduling visualization. Tekla Structures encompasses specialized solutionsfor structural design/engineering, steel detailing and fabrication, precast concrete detailing and manufacturing and construction management. Tekla Structures was created by Finland-based developer Tekla Corporation. Tekla is a Microsoft Registered Partner.

Tekla models can be simultaneously shared between team members in different geographic locations. The structure of a building can be modeled using any building material, such as concrete, steel, precast concrete, and timber. Tekla Structures enables choosing a localized environment to model in, including the region-specific settings and information that define, for example, which profiles, material names, and templates can be used in which area. Tekla works in a multi-vendor environment together with other construction disciplines to provide a virtual single model where all building information can be seen as if in one integrated model.

File:Tekla Structures.GIF

Tekla Structures Model

Configurations:
- Full Detailing
- Steel Detailing
- Precast Concrete Detailing
- Reinforced Concrete Detailing
- Engineering
- Viewer
- Drafter
- Construction Management

File Format Support:
Tekla Structures achieves software compatibility and interoperability on three levels: by supporting standards, by de-facto standards, and by tight open API-type integration (Tekla Open API). Formats supported include for example:

• AutoCAD - .dwg .dxf
• MicroStation - .dgn .prp
• Cadmatic - .3dd
• ArchiCAD - via xml or IFC
• IFC (Industry Foundation Classes) 2x, 2x2, 2x3 certified - .ifc
• IFCXML 2X3 - .xml
• FEM: DSTV, Staad, MicroSAS, SFrame, MicasPlus, Eureka PLM
• CIS/2 LPM5, LPM6 -.stp .step .p21
• DSTV NC and part list
• SDNF V2 and V3
• PML
• HLI
• Calma
• PDMS
• Smartplant 3D
• PDS
• ASCII - .asc .txt
• IGES - .igs .iges
• STEP - .stp .step
• MS Project - .xml
• Primavera - .xml

Version History:
The product was originally called Xsteel. Tekla Structures was launched in 2004 to cover the full structural workflow and all building materials to widen the scope of an extensive BIM tool.

• Xsteel 9
• Tekla Structures 10->16

Tekla releases one main and one intermediate software version release per year as well as provides progress and service releases to decrease the lead time to critical improvements that enhance customer organizations' production.

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Infra & Energy

Energy companies

TEKLA Xpower

Municipalities

TEKLA Xcity

TEKLA Xstreet

Water Utilities

TEKLA Xpipe

The company also previously had a defense sector, but it was sold to Patria in April 2007.

Name

The name "Tekla" is a given name, used in the Nordic countries and in Poland. It is a form of the Greek word "Theokleia", which in turn is derived from "Theo" (God), and "kleia" (reputation). This can be interpreted as "praiser of God", or alternatively "famous through God". The name is in the Finnish and Swedish almanacs in memory of a woman, who was converted into Christianity by Paul the Apostle. The oldest recorded of its use is from 1725 in Sweden. However, in this case it is an abbreviation of the Finnish words "Teknillinen Laskenta", which means technical computation.

History

Formation of Tekla (1966)

By the mid-1960s, computers and automatic data processing were well established in Finland. Companies that performed advanced engineering computing had also adopted automatic data processing (ADP). Due to the ever-increasing amount of computing work and lack of resources, IBM sales representative Reino Heinonen spearheaded the efforts of five engineering offices on establishing a joint software company on June 9, 1956. As the negations continued, more engineering offices met on October 5, 1965, to prepare the formation of a new software company. The company, named Teknillinen laskenta Oy (“technical computing”) was registered in February 1966. The same spring, its trading name was abbreviated to Tekla. Tekla’s first office was located in Helsinki. Tekla started operations on July 1, 1966. Reino Heinonen was invited to become the Managing Director, and the first programmers were hired over the course of the fail. The foundation for Tekla’s operations was defined to include ADP consultation, computing services, training courses and software development.

Tekla first produced ADP services using existing software supplied by the shareholder companies. Tekla’s first programs were completed in 1967. As Tekla did not have a mainframe computer of its own, it had to purchase computer time from external computation centers. Computerized calculations changed the way of working in engineering offices. Time saving calculation made engineering more efficient. In addition, more comprehensive and reliable plans could be made. The costs of calculation using a computer time used and add general expenses to that, their income conveniently increased. This encouraged engineering offices to adopt ADP even more at the time.

The Customer Base Expands

Nokia’s computing center enabled remote access in 1969. The development of information networks, third-generation computers and remote terminals paved the way for this evolution. Tekla obtained remote access to Nokia’s computing center in 1970, after which Tekla produced remote processing versions of its programs. In addition, it began delivering terminals to engineering offices. Remote processing changed Tekla’s business logic. As customers were able to perform computing via their own terminals Tekla started to collect lease fees for its software - being the first company in Finland to do so. Engineering offices saw remote processing as a major improvement, as it increased the efficiency of their operations. Now computing, apart from the largest tasks, no longer had to be routed via Tekla. Another major development was the introduction of minicomputers in 1973. Tekla adapted its software to them. As a consequence of the breakthrough of minicomputers, Tekla began to provide accounting software for engineering offices. With these, engineering offices were able to take care of internal computing, such as accounts and project and resource computing. From the outset, Tekla’s objective was able to gain customers from outside the co-owner offices, and this policy was successful. In terms of invoicing, external customers became a bigger customers group than the shareholding companies as early as the beginning of the 1970s. Some of these external customers included the cities of Helsinki and Espoo, which started using Tekla’s computing services. When Tekla opened a fixed remote access line to Control Data Corporation’s (CDC) computing center in Stockholm in 1972, Tekla began finite element methods (FEM) computing. This facilitated complex and advanced industrial strength calculations, which brought Tekla customers from several major industrial companies and workshops.

In the Squeeze of Economic Depression at (1970’s)

Finland’s economy entered a period of recessions in 1975 as a consequence of the global oil crisis, which also hit the demand for Tekla’s consultation and ADP services. In spite of this, Tekla invested heavily in product development, and several new software development projects were initiated. These included plotter software that facilitated graphical printing, accounting software for building firms and element method software for structural analysis. The latter replaced CDC’s Finite Element Method (FEM) computing programs, as this cooperation had broken off. Using the software, Tekla’s customers were able to produce challenging structural engineering for different sites in Finland and the Middle East, as well as United States.

Demand for Tekla’s ADP services increased anew at the end of the 70’s, when Finland’s economy began to grow again. The fact that Tekla offered software for several fields of engineering helped Tekla survive the recession. These fields included structural engineering, mechanical engineering, road building and earth-moving, land surveying, sanitary engineering, geotechnical engineering, heating, plumbing and ventilation engineering, and traffic engineering. In addition to these, Tekla’s services included administrative accounting services for engineering offices and building firms. A versatile software and service portfolio brought along with a broad customer base.

Investments in Technology Begin

A new ear for Tekla dawned in 1979, when company obtained its first solely-owned computer, a Perkin Elmer 7/32. The acquisition meant that all development and computing could be performed on Tekla’s computer, and there was no longer need for using external computing center. After acquiring the computer Tekla began an intensive transfer of software to the new hardware environment. New programs were also developed, such as one for programming machine tools. 1980 saw several new milestones. At the beginning of the year, Tekla moved to new premises in Olari, Espoo, the company’s official name was changed to Tekla Oy.

At the beginning of the 1980s, Tekla invested boldly in ADP hardware, which was in part made possible by their decreased prices. Massive investments in ADP led to Tekla’s computer room becoming a service center used by several engineering offices via remote connections. Due to competence accumulated through its own hardware acquisitions, Tekla decided to start selling hardware to its customers in 1983. Thus, when necessary, Tekla was able to provide its customers with an all-in-one package: both software and hardware.

In 1983, Tekla also founded the CAD Center, which offered services for computer-aided design. A new Digital VAX 11/750 computer was purchased for the CAD Center, and Tekla’s software was transferred to this environment. Even before this, Tekla had already moved its focus of software development to programs that helped customers in adopting CAD (computer aided drawing, later: computer aided design). Tekla developed CAD software for structural engineering, urban planning and road design in particular. The CAD Center, on the other hand, meant that customer offices could avoid the huge investments required by CAD, as a remote connection to Tekla was all that was needed.

Tekla also started representing foreign CAD software. These included the DOGS (Design Office Graphic System) software by UK-based Pafec Limited for the production of drawings, and the structural steel software Bocad-3D by the Germany-based BOCAD. For Tekla, DOGS was an excellent seller, and it became the market leader in Finland. DOGS was integrated tightly into Tekla’s CAD software, so when a CAD program was sold to a customer, DOGS was delivered with it. Localization of the BOCAD software for the Finnish market was initiated in 1984. However, the software was handware-intensive, and errors in the model were common. Tekla developed a modeling preprocessor E3 for Bocad-3D at the end of the 1980s, which made it possible to replace the work-intensive numeric input with interactive graphics. This brought new life to Bocad-3D, and Tekla gained numerous customers, including many in Central Europe.

Adoption of Relational Database

In 1984, Tekla initiated a new type of structural engineering project. The goal was to produce integrated building engineering software that could be used for all engineering phases from start to finish. The key innovation was the new way of combining CAD graphics with a relational database. Alas, this was also the downfall of the project, as the performance of computers of the mid-1980s was not adequate to process a heavy relational database at the speed required by the graphics. The software, completed in 1986, did not gain enough customers and was scrapped. Nevertheless, Tekla continued looking for a solution to the speed problem with relational databases, and came up with the idea of virtual databases. The computing process could be accelerated significantly by picking only limited set of data from the massive relational database for a virtual database residing in the main memory. This made graphics truly interactive as well. Thus, the failed engineering software project provided Tekla with a new way of implementing development projects. Combining Tekla’s software with DOGS graphics and a relational database resulted in extremely fast data processing.

Tekla began to apply its invention to geographic information system (GIS) applications. The first relational database program was completed in 1987, when Tekla produced a forest information system for Enso Gutzeit, a Finnish paper company. Systems for Urban planning and road planning followed soon thereafter. The fast virtual database made its final breakthrough in network information systems for electricity companies of the cities of Espoo and Vantaa.

With the idea of the Virtual database came the establishment of the technology department in 1980. The new technology department developed technology tools called kits (DB-kit, X-kit and A-kit). These tools would soon replace old technology such as DOGS.

The X Product Family is Born

Tekla began developing a new generation of software I the UNIX environment in 1989. The X Window System was chosen for the graphical user interface (GUI) of the software. As for hardware, Tekla started shifting out the VAX environment by adopting UNIX-based workstations. In accordance with the new strategy, the focus of Tekla’s software development shifted to geographic information system (GIS) applications, which were realized with tools developed by the technology department. At the beginning of 1990s, they were named GISbase.

The speed of the new technology gave Tekla an advantage over its competitors. In addition, Tekla’s UNIX software was made independent of hardware and databases. Tekla’s traditional way of carrying out development projects in cooperation with its customers also proved its value. Not only did customers participate actively in defining the software, but Tekla was also able to test its new technology in new customer projects.

Tekla undertook a road planning development project with the Finnish National Road Administration. When it was completed in 1990, the resulting software was named Xroad. The prefix X came from X Window, the windowing system, and Tekla’s X-kit graphics library. Xroad soon had successors. When the urban planning development project was completed, the resulting system was named Xcity. The system gave cities and municipalities an overall solution that enabled them to produce maps as well as manage land use planning and the production and maintenance of geographic information. The network information system for electricity companies was called Xpower, and the network information system for telephone companies was dubbed Xcable. At this time, Xpower already had several customers all over Finland. With the addition of new properties to Xpower, such as use support functions, a real-time connection to an operation supervision system, and a network building information system, Xpower became the market leader in Finland.

Xpower was followed by another product: an electricity transmission main-grid system. Tekla started developing this in cooperation with the Finnish state-owned Imatran Voima (IVO) in 1990. The Elnet project was the largest in Tekla’s history, even to this day. The project aimed to build custom main-grid maintenance and repair system for IVO. When Nordic main-grid companies compared the efficiency of their operations towards the end of the Elnet project in 1994, Finland’s main-grid operations were ranked by far the most efficient in the Nordic countries. The Elnet project also carried Tekla through the economic slump that prevailed in Finland from 1991 to 1993. Future sales were made to the Finnish Defense Administration, which became a Tekla customer in 1993.

External links

• The website of Tekla International
• The website of Tekla USA