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About TOMST

TOMST develops durable, autonomous electronic devices designed for long-term operation in real-world conditions. Our core philosophy: long-term reliability, durability, consistency, and simplicity.

TOMST is an electronics manufacturer founded in 1995 and based in Prague, Czech Republic. We develop and manufacture our devices in-house - from hardware design and firmware to the Lolly Software used to configure dataloggers and download data - which lets us support every device we have ever shipped.

Our background comes from building systems like the Guard Tour System PES and ANTI-VANDAL® technology, where devices must operate reliably no matter what. That experience shaped how we design all TOMST products today - with robust construction, stable performance, and predictable behavior in the field.

We strongly value data consistency. Our devices are designed to run continuously with extremely low power consumption, so users do not have to rely on switching them on and off. This helps prevent data loss caused by human error, such as forgetting to start a device before deployment.

We also keep our systems practical and not unnecessarily complex. This allows scientists and organizations to use equipment that is reliable, easy to deploy, and accessible for large-scale deployments. In many research projects, TOMST devices are installed in large numbers across different regions, producing datasets that remain consistent and comparable over time.

TOMST products are used mainly by scientific institutions, research teams, and professional organizations that require reliable long-term data collection in demanding environments.

1995
Founded in Prague
by Tomas Haase, as a one-man workshop
100 000+
Dataloggers in use
on every continent
12+ years
Still recording
the oldest units in the field

TOMST devices in research

TMS dataloggers are among the most widely used microclimate loggers in ecological research. More than 100 000 TOMST dataloggers are now in use in the field, some still logging after more than 14 years. They are deployed in thousands across long-term monitoring networks and research plots on every continent, producing datasets that stay consistent and comparable over time. Community-maintained databases aggregate TMS measurements from deployments worldwide.

  • The TMS-4 measurement method - Wild J., Kopecký M., Macek M., Šanda M., Jankovec J., Haase T. (2019): Climate at ecologically relevant scales: A new temperature and soil moisture logger for long-term microclimate measurement. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology 268, 40-47.
  • Data processing - Man M. et al. (2023): myClim, an R package designed for microclimate data handling: reading logger files, cleaning, aggregation, and derived variables. Methods in Ecology and Evolution.

Security systems heritage

Before dataloggers, TOMST spent two decades building security electronics - and that engineering DNA is why our research instruments survive years in the field.

The Guard Tour System PES (1997) is an iButton-based patrol monitoring system: compact 49-gram readers with a 10-year internal battery that record who was where and when. Its ANTI-VANDAL® technology made the readers hard to kill - the electronics detect and log short circuits, three levels of hit intensity, external overvoltage including its polarity, and even attempts to destroy a reader in a microwave oven. The WinKontrol software evaluates patrol data and generates more than twenty report types. PES readers have served in guard tours, postal services, health care, and cleaning services across many countries.

The TLD™ access control system (1999) replaces bundles of keys with a single identification medium - a contact iButton chip or a contactless 125 kHz card - controlling locks, lifts, and alarms, with built-in attendance functions. The ALPUS attendance system builds on the same identification hardware.

PES readers are still available in selected regions (see the Products page on the EU and Czech sites). The software side is finished: neither WinKontrol nor ALPUS is developed any further, and new TLD units are no longer sold. We keep supplying spare parts so the systems in the field, many of them running for twenty years, can go on working. The same principles carried over directly to our dataloggers: sealed bodies, one long-life battery, no buttons, and data that survives whatever happens around it.

Company history

  • 1995 - TOMST begins trading on 1 January as a sole proprietorship, Tomas Haase-TOMST. Tomas Haase founded it and gave it its name. The first months are computer assembly; in July the work on TPU electronic sensors starts.
  • 1997 - The PES sensors (Portable Electronic Sensors) reach the market in April. The company moves to its own premises in Prague 4 and takes on its first employee.
  • 1998 - A tougher, redesigned sensor goes into production.
  • 1999 - Dallas Semiconductor awards Tomas Haase the ASD certificate (Authorized Software Developer) for iButton-based development. In May the TLD access system - TOMST Lock Devices - launches alongside WinKontrol 1.
  • 2001 - X-pro, the first contactless reading system, is shown at Pragoalarm. ATIS Group becomes the sole Czech distributor.
  • 2002 - ANTI-VANDAL® is introduced in April: sensors that detect and record attempts to destroy them. After the Dallas Semiconductor and MAXIM merger the ASD certification is renewed, and TOMST presents abroad for the first time, at a Dallas Semiconductor conference in the USA.
  • 2003 - Work deepens on both main systems, plus custom solutions - including rf TAGs for timing cycling races.
  • 2004 - First appearance at IFSEC Birmingham, exhibiting with Dallas Semiconductor, where a sole agency agreement for Great Britain is signed with M-Set Technologies. At ASIS in the USA, a sole agency for the United States is signed with Keyper Systems.
  • 2005 - Own stand at IFSEC Birmingham, and the "2005 Finalist" award in safety technologies.
  • 2006-2017 - Exhibitions and installations across five continents: Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Moscow, St Petersburg, Istanbul, Paris, Barcelona, Essen, Krakow, Sofia, Cairo, New Delhi, Chennai, Mumbai, Zambia, Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Las Vegas, San Francisco, Dallas, Houston and New York.
  • 2010s - The focus shifts to TMS microclimate dataloggers for environmental research, reusing the proven sealed-electronics platform.
  • 2019 - The TMS-4 method is published in Agricultural and Forest Meteorology (Wild et al.); the paper has since been cited by hundreds of studies.
  • Today - Dataloggers deployed by research institutions worldwide, direct sales from Prague and TOMST Inc. in Chicago, and Lolly Software on desktop and Android.

Where the security systems went

PES readers and the ANTI-VANDAL® technology were installed by organisations that had no tolerance for a system that stops working:

  • Musée du Louvre
  • London Underground
  • Sorbonne University
  • Paris Orly Sud airport
  • Malta Post
  • Rolls-Royce UK

Estonian Post put the system through a pilot in Tallinn before rolling it out nationally, to check that postboxes were being emptied on schedule. Those deployments are why the dataloggers are built the way they are.

Services

  • Consultancy in software design and development
  • Computer software design and development
  • Hardware design
  • Hardware design consulting
  • Technical support and software troubleshooting