STAR – The Story of Success
New ideas and concepts
STAR AG was founded in 1984 as a service company with the goal of providing technical editing and translations not just through manual production, as had always been the norm, but by combining information technology and automation. This objective was reflected in the company's name: STAR Software, Translation, Artwork, Recording.
STAR's concept of developing automation software for editing and translation services was a novelty in the industry, which at that time was largely dependent on dictation devices, typewriters and completely incompatible, expensive and slow word processing systems. Software development was typically limited to supercomputers.
Service and automation technology from a single source
The arrival of the first personal computer in the mid-1980s signaled new opportunities for STAR. For the first time, data processing platforms became available, allowing companies to develop their own automation and streamlining concepts internally. Although the decision to build an in-house team of software developers and PC hardware specialists was commonplace in the industry, it formed the basis for the successful implementation of the company's business strategy: service and automation technology from a single source. The young company soon began developing new tools and software products in quick succession, allowing STAR to create a critical competitive advantage that it continues to enjoy to this day.
International locations – the STAR Group emerges
In 1986, STAR opened its first foreign office in Germany in order to serve the increasingly important software localization market. Successful software localization projects (e.g., all IBM operating systems) along with their associated technological requirements played an important role in the later development of STAR software products for information management (GRIPS) and translation memory (Transit). At the same time, client demand and growing export markets led to the establishment of additional overseas locations in Japan and China.
STAR has developed its presence in new markets into a model for success. By establishing its first foreign-based offices as a means of serving client needs locally, it gained crucial competitive advantages and paved the way toward its current role as a global player with 42 locations in 30 countries.
STAR markets its own software products
After positive experiences with software localization and increasingly with the translation of technical documents, in 1991 STAR decided to market its proprietary translation memory tool Transit (derived from the phrase "translate it") worldwide as one of its standard products. Until then, Transit was used exclusively for in-house production.
This laid the foundation for a unique success story that has made STAR one of today's most recognized software manufacturers in the field of information technology. Additional products were later developed for the implementation and automation of corporate product communications: TermStar, WebTerm, GRIPS, MindReader, SPIDER and STAR James. STAR is the only manufacturer that offers a complete palette of products covering the entire information process, from information production and multi-directional use in all languages to worldwide publishing for all media.
