GlobalSpec

{{Short description|American technology services company}}

{{Infobox dot-com company

| name = GlobalSpec

| logo = GlobalSpec.png

| logo_caption =

| logo_alt = GlobalSpec logo

| founder = John Schneiter, Thomas Brownell, Andrea Schneiter and Mark Gaulin

| industry = Information technology

| services = Software and technology services, vertical search

| revenue = US$10–50 million

| url = {{Official URL}}

| company_type = Subsidiary

| foundation = 1996

| location_city = Albany, New York

| key_people = Lisa Paonessa, General Manager

| num_employees = 201–500{{cite web | title = GlobalSpec | work = Companies | publisher = LinkedIn Corporation | url = http://www.linkedin.com/companies/globalspec | access-date = 2008-12-26 | archive-date = 2009-05-10 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090510013808/http://www.linkedin.com/companies/globalspec | url-status = live }}

}}

GlobalSpec is a technology services company which provides a search engine of engineering and industrial products, indexing over 180 million parts divided into 2,300,000 product families, from over 24,000 manufacturer and distributor catalogs.{{cite web|title=GlobalSpec, Inc. |publisher=Bizjournals.com |url=http://albany.bizjournals.com/gen/company.html?gcode=1546971A79CF432E9DD4D14F0FB5361D |access-date=2008-12-26 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090210080937/http://albany.bizjournals.com/gen/company.html?gcode=1546971A79CF432E9DD4D14F0FB5361D |archive-date=February 10, 2009 }}

GlobalSpec is a domain-specific (or "vertical search") tool, in that its focused domain allows for optimized results. Within product families, searches can be narrowed by selecting values for parameters that are specific to that product type.{{cite web

| last = Battelle

| first = John

| title = GlobalSpec: Domain Specific Search and the Semantic Web

| work = Searchblog

| date = March 30, 2004

| url = http://battellemedia.com/archives/000519.php

| access-date = 2008-12-26

| archive-date = 2008-12-03

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20081203180803/http://battellemedia.com/archives/000519.php

| url-status = live

}}

The website has over 8 million registered members, and as of 2009, membership was growing at a rate of 20,000 per week. In 2007, the company achieved 35% revenue growth, the sixth year in a row that the company achieved double-digit revenue growth.{{Cite news | last = Devin | first = Amber | title = GlobalSpec Achieves Record Results in 2007 | newspaper = Reuters | publisher = Business Wire | date = Jan 22, 2008 | url = https://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS159538+22-Jan-2008+BW20080122 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090508013658/http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS159538+22-Jan-2008+BW20080122 | url-status = dead | archive-date = May 8, 2009 | access-date = 2008-12-26 }} The website has approximately 1.3 unique million visitors a month with 2.8 million page views and an average of 4.9 minutes time spent.{{fact|date=February 2022}}{{when|date=February 2022}} GlobalSpec has partnerships with several well-known companies, including:

• AltaVista{{cite web

| last = D'Errico

| first = Richard A.

| title = GlobalSpec partners with AltaVista

| work = The Business Review

| publisher = American City Business Journals, Inc.

| date = August 7, 2001

| url = http://albany.bizjournals.com/albany/stories/2001/08/06/daily18.html

| access-date = 2008-12-26

| archive-date = 2009-07-24

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090724211705/http://albany.bizjournals.com/albany/stories/2001/08/06/daily18.html

| url-status = live

}}

• The International Society of Automation (ISA){{cite web

| title = ISA Announces Partnership With GlobalSpec

| publisher = International Society of Automation

| date = October 25, 2005

| url = http://www.isa.org/Template.cfm?Section=Press_Releases5&template=/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=54507

| access-date = 2008-12-27

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090508061412/http://www.isa.org/Template.cfm?Section=Press_Releases5&template=%2FContentManagement%2FContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=54507

| archive-date = May 8, 2009

| url-status = dead

}}

• McGraw-Hill
• Dassault Systemes{{cite web | title = SolidWorks Corporation embeds 'The Engineering Web' in 3D mechanical design software | publisher = SolidWorks Corporation | date = Feb 14, 2005 | url = http://www.solidworks.com/sw/news/245_article2004_2_ENU_HTML.htm | access-date = 2008-12-26 | archive-date = 2009-06-16 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090616032425/http://www.solidworks.com/sw/news/245_article2004_2_ENU_HTML.htm | url-status = live }}

SolidWorks which is a product of Dassault Systèmes has embedded access to GlobalSpec's search engine inside its computer-aided design software.

Warburg Pincus sold GlobalSpec to IHS in 2012 for $135 million.{{cite web|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/BL-DLB-38672|title=IHS to Buy Engineering Site GlobalSpec From Warburg Pincus|website=Wall Street Journal|date=June 12, 2012}}

The IEEE acquired GlobalSpec from IHS in 2016.{{cite web | title = IEEE Acquires GlobalSpec and the Engineering360 Platform from IHS to Create Powerful New Resource for the Global Engineering Community | publisher = IEEE | date = April 29, 2016 | url = http://www.ieee.org/about/news/2016/29april_2016.html | access-date = 2016-04-29 | archive-date = 2016-04-30 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160430211622/http://www.ieee.org/about/news/2016/29april_2016.html | url-status = dead }}

GlobalSpec was acquired by Compare Networks Inc. on July 31, 2020.{{cite web | title = GlobalSpec acquired by San Francisco firm, renegotiates lease in SUNY Poly's ZEN Building | publisher = Albany Business Review | date = Sep 30, 2020 | url = https://www.bizjournals.com/albany/news/2020/09/30/globalspec-acquired-san-francisco-compare-networks.html | access-date = 2021-02-17 | archive-date = 2020-11-26 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20201126021812/https://www.bizjournals.com/albany/news/2020/09/30/globalspec-acquired-san-francisco-compare-networks.html | url-status = live }}