CANADA
The history of the Thales Group goes as far back as 1893 , when the Compagnie Française Thomson-Houston formed to operate patents for the emerging markets of power generation and transmission . An acquisition and a merger later , after the 1970s oil crises , the company started getting contracts in the Middle East and expanded its portfolio to include telecommunications and other forms of technology .
Later renamed Thales , it switched to defence electronics , still a big part of the business today along with aerospace , security and transport . The 9 / 11 attack made Thales strengthen its focus on areas like technology-centric warfare , and it has since acquired full control of several defence and aerospace subsidiaries . Thales in the UK is now Britain ’ s second-largest defence contractor , selected for various sizable Ministry of Defence programs .
In 2007 , it acquired security , space and transport activities from longstanding partner Alcatel-Lucent , increasing its employees and revenue . More recently Thales acquired a big data management company , adding the Internet of Things and digitization to its ever-growing roster .
Transportation The urban rail transport Centre of Competence of Thales is located in Toronto , Ontario , Canada . It has built automated signalling for metro systems
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