GlobalSight

GlobalSight
Company type	Open source software
Industry	Translation management system, Software
Predecessor	Ambassador Suite
Founded	1997
Founder	GlobalSight Corp.
Fate	Acquired by Transware Inc. in 2005; later acquired by Welocalize in 2008
Products	Translation management system (TMS)
Parent	Welocalize
Website	www.globalsight.com

Adapted from the English Wikipedia article GlobalSight, available under CC BY-SA 4.0Updated 9 August 2025

GlobalSight is an open source translation management system (TMS) available free of charge, distributed under the terms of the Apache License 2.0. Starting with version 7.1, it incorporates support for TMX and SRX 2.0 standards established by the Localization Industry Standards Association. Built using Java and backed by a MySQL database, GlobalSight facilitates both computer-assisted translation and machine translation processes.

History

Between 1997 and 2005, GlobalSight operated under the name Ambassador Suite and was developed by GlobalSight Corp., which earned recognition from Red Herring magazine as one of the "ten companies to watch" in 1999. In 2005, Transware Inc. acquired the product and maintained its development until Welocalize purchased both Transware and GlobalSight in May 2008. By January 2009, Welocalize had transitioned proprietary components to open source solutions—covering workflow, database systems, object-relational mapping, middleware, directory services, and scheduling—and subsequently released version 7.1.

Steering committee

The project's Steering Committee comprises representatives from prominent organizations engaged in the initiative:

Stephen Roantree (AOL)
Mirko Plitt (Autodesk)
Jessica Roland (EMC Corporation)
Frank Rojas (IBM)
Daniel McGowan (Novell)
Martin Wunderlich
Melissa Biggs (Sun Microsystems)
Tex Texin (XenCraft)
Reinhard Schaler (The Rosetta Foundation)
Phil Ritchie (VistaTEC)
Sultan Ghaznawi (YYZ Translations)
Derek Coffey (Welocalize)

Other companies involved

As of December 2008, participation included four Language Service Providers: Afghan Translation Service, Applied Language Solutions, Lloyd International Translations, and VistaTEC.

Features

Official training documentation highlights the following capabilities:

Graphical workflow editor allowing extensive customization
Integration of both human translation and machine translation (MT)
Automation covering localization tasks such as filtering, segmentation, leveraging translation memories (TM), costing, file transfers, notifications, TM updates, and generation of target files
Sophisticated TM management supporting multiple languages and simultaneous use of several TMs
In Context Exact matching alongside traditional exact and fuzzy matching methods
Centralized terminology management coupled with TM oversight
Comprehensive support for projects involving multiple Language Service Providers (LSPs)
Availability of two web-based translation editors plus compatibility with desktop CAT tools like Trados
Configurable cost calculations tailored to each localization phase
Filters accommodating a wide array of file formats including Word, RTF, PowerPoint, Excel, XML, HTML, JavaScript, PHP, ASP, JSP, Java Properties files, FrameMaker documents, and InDesign files
Concordance search functionality and alignment tools designed to create TMs from pre-existing translations
Reporting options combined with a web services API for automated system integration

Although a plugin named Crowdsight was developed to facilitate crowdsourcing features, GlobalSight proved inadequate for workflows dependent on redundant input methods.

Integration with other platforms

In 2011, Globalme Language & Technology introduced an open source plugin that links the backend of Drupal and Wordpress websites to GlobalSight, enabling content publishers to dispatch material directly to the platform.

Drupal CMS In 2014, a collaboration between Globalme and Welocalize produced an open source Drupal plugin designed to integrate with Drupal’s TMGMT translation management system.

External links