History
GMV was born in 1984 as fruit of the business initiative of Professor Dr. Juan José Martínez García. From the word go GMV centered on the space and defense sector, taking its first steps in fields like mission analysis, flight dynamics, control centers, satellite navigation or simulation, all areas in which GMV is nowadays a leading light internationally. It started out with a small group of engineers that won a contract for ESA's European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) in an open international tender. GMV then went from strength to strength, growing into a solid firm boasting a 100-strong staff by the late eighties.
It participated actively in ESA's first space missions and provided highly specialized services for the main international satellite manufacturers and operators. In a few short years the sheer quality of its work won GMV a cast-iron reputation in the European space sector. In 1988 it was declared to be a Center of Excellence in Orbital Mechanics by the European Space Agency.
In the early nineties GMV decided to branch out into other sectors by way of technology transfer. This gave rise to new business lines in the transport and telecommunication sectors and in the application of information technologies for the public sector and companies in general. By breaking into these new areas GMV became a trailblazer in fields like internet or satellite navigation applications, still in their infancy in those days. GMV installed the first computer firewall system in Spain and set up Spain's first SMS-Internet gateway. In the transport field GMV became a pioneer in Spain in intelligent transport systems with the development of the first GPS-based fleet tracking and management systems. The company thus began to transfer to other markets the experience built up in the space sector in control centers, geographic information systems (GIS), satellite navigation, telecommunications and data networks. It was also during the nineties that GMV consolidated its position in the defense market, especially in the fields of command and control systems, military applications of satellite navigation systems and simulation.
By the end of the nineties GMV's diversification process had been successfully negotiated and its staff had built up to almost 300. The turnover now topped 20 million euros, of which about 50% came from sectors like transport, telecommunications and information technologies.
In 2001 the founder and president of GMV, Professor Juan José Martínez García, passed away. This led to a change in the executive structure of the business group GMV. As a result the post of CEO was created while the presidency was taken over by Dr. Mónica Martínez Walter.
In the following years GMV entered upon a new stage with a twofold objective: firstly to maintain its business independence and secondly to develop a future plan that would guarantee ongoing profitable growth both in its traditional areas and the new ones. A big investment was therefore made in the development of new products and solutions in space, defense, transport and information technologies; the decision was also taken to break into new sectors and an ambitious program was unfurled for internationalizing the long-standing business lines.
As a result of this international expansion policy GMV took a crucial step forwards in 2004 with the creation of its US-based subsidiary, thus becoming a company trading in two continents. The new subsidiary focused on the US aerospace market with the aim of carving itself out a niche as a tried and trusted supplier of this sector.
In May 2005 the business group GMV reaffirmed its strategy of international growth and development by buying a 58% stake in Skysoft, a Portuguese firm with very similar business lines and target markets to GMV’s. In 2007 the operation was completed with the purchase of 100% of Skysoft, its operations then being knitted seamlessly into the rest of the business group.
GMV’s new corporate identity was officially launched in September 2006, to bring it into line with the current situation of business group GMV and tackle a thoroughgoing overhaul of the image and architecture of the corporate brand, unifying all the company’s separate brands under a single denomination. As a result, all the subsidiaries took on the new GMV brand as a single corporate identity.
In 2007, GMV rounded out its range of passenger-transport telematics by purchasing a 66% stake in Masisconvi, S.A., a company specializing in the design, development, manufacturing and marketing of ticket-vending and fare collection systems. Masisconvi thus input its business in South America and North Africa. In early 2011 GMV completed the 100% purchase of Masisconvi, S.A, whose assets in 2012 passed over to the subsidiary GMV Sistemas SAU.
In late 2007 GMV decided to internationalize those business lines that had previously been conducted within national borders, such as the intelligent transportation business. This soon came good, the company winning its first contracts in Asia and Central-Eastern Europe. To cater for this new business it opened new offices and set up new subsidiaries in several countries of these regions in 2009. In 2010 and 2011 this whole process culminated in the winning of important contracts in India, Hungary, Malaysia and Poland and the opening of new subsidiaries in these regions.
In nearly 30 years GMV has evolved from a tiny three-person engineering firm working almost exclusively in the space sector into a 1000-strong business group established in Europe, the USA and Asia, trading in several hi-tech sectors with a swelling order book in all five continents. With this almost 30-year track record behind it GMV still looks to the future with undimmed zest and enthusiasm, maintaining its original aim of building up a strong knowledge-based company whose main asset is still the talent, imagination and effort of its personnel.
