The PeopleNet acquisition of 2011 has worked out for California-based Trimble Transportation, the big trucking logistics and mobile solutions operation.
Trimble conducted its annual meeting last week in Minnetonka, which is home base for fast-growing PeopleNet.
Since 2011, PeopleNet has grown from 132 employees to nearly 800, as part of Trimble's mobile solutions business segment. That includes 500 Minnesota employees.
Trimble's mobile solutions business, of which PeopleNet is part, grew 170 percent to $588 million in revenue in 2016 compared with 2011.
CEO Steve Berglund, a Minnesota native and University of Minnesota graduate, has led Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Trimble since 1999. He led the annual meeting here last week.
Trimble's revenue has doubled to $2.4 billion over the last decade and the stock price of the $10.5 billion-value company has hit all-time highs this quarter.
In August, PeopleNet President Brian McLaughlin was named president of the reconstituted "Trimble Transportation Mobility" division.
The unit, with PeopleNet at the core, brings together multiple Trimble business units, including software engineering, oil and gas services, and mobility solutions India.
McLaughlin said PeopleNet has evolved over the years to enable trucking fleets to "improve safety, connectivity and efficiency, including video intelligence from onboard cameras and electronic logging devices that replace manual drivers' logs."