ABB is a global leader in power and automation technologies. Based in Zurich, Switzerland, the company employs 150,000people and operates in approximately 100 countries.  The firmsshares are traded on the stock exchanges of Zurich, Stockholm andNew York.ABBs business is comprised of five divisions that are in turnorganized in relation to the customers and industries weserve. The company in its current form was created in 1988, but itshistory spans over 120 years.  ABBs success has been drivenparticularly by a strong focus on research and development. The company maintains seven corporate research centers aroundthe world and has continued to invest in R&D through all marketconditions.The result has been a long track record of innovation.  Manyof the technologies that underlie our modern society, fromhighvoltage DC power transmission to a revolutionary approach toship propulsion, were developed or commercialized by ABB. Today, ABB stands as the largest supplier of industrialmotors and drives, the largest provider of generators to the windindustry, and the largest supplier of power grids worldwide.