UL Acquires IDES, Launches Dynamic Plastic Search Tool Integrating Data Sheets and UL Test Results

NORTHBROOK, Ill. and LARAMIE, Wyo., July 25, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- UL, a world leader in advancing safety, announced today the acquisition of Laramie, Wyoming-based IDES, the leading informational resource for plastic material.  Coinciding with the announcement, UL unveiled the next-generation version of IDES' popular Prospector online service which combines plastic materials data sheets and UL plastic identification reports within a single searchable interface.

IDES Prospector is the industry standard for plastic material specification, relied upon by 319,000 design engineers and processors to streamline polymers selection.  Specifiers for plastic materials can now visit IDES.com to find all crucial polymer data sheet and UL verified data in one place, featuring the easy-to-use search, comparison and navigation functionality that Prospector users expect. 

Search queries and results now include data from UL's plastics recognition yellow cards, featuring materials attributes independently verified from small scale flammability and ignition, mechanical, electrical, and short term thermal tests.  More than 60,000 different plastic materials have yellow cards, which are trusted by product makers and specifiers for qualification.

"We're thrilled to add the talented IDES team and industry-leading information technology," said Sara Greenstein, senior vice president of UL.  "The Prospector tool gives UL a dynamic medium for converting our data into accessible intelligence that can inform and speed decisions throughout the plastics supply chain." 

"For our people and our customers, this is an exciting combination that is bearing fruit already," said Mike Kmetz, managing director of IDES.  "Our Prospector upgrade as part of UL is a tremendous milestone – the first of many more to come."

While yellow cards can still be found at ULiQ, UL IDES Prospector will eventually become the exclusive resource for yellow card information.  ULiQ remains the destination for UL list searches in other product categories, including appliance wiring materials, printed wiring boards, switches, electrical insulation systems and restricted substances.

About IDES

IDES is the world's leading informational resource for plastic material, based in Laramie, Wyoming.  IDES provides plastic materials information and data sheets in Prospector, an online searchable data sheet catalog of plastic materials properties, relied upon by more than 319,000 industry users worldwide.  Additional information about IDES may be found at IDES.com.

About UL

UL is a premier global independent safety science company with more than 118 years of history.  Employing more than 9,000 professionals in over 100 countries, UL has five distinct business units -- Product Safety, Environment, Life & Health, Knowledge Services, and Verification Services – to meet the expanding needs of our customers and to deliver on our public safety mission.  Additional information about UL may be found at UL.com.

SOURCE UL