The Brown, Boveri & Cie (also known as BBC) was a Swiss electrical engineering company, founded in 1891 in Baden, Switzerland, by Charles Eugene Lancelot Brown and Walter Boveri, former employees of Maschinenfabrik Oerlikon. The company was a pioneer in the development of electric drives, generators, gas turbines, and transformers. In 1988, BBC merged with the Swedish company ASEA, creating the multinational ABB, which is now a leader in the energy and automation sectors. BBC played a key role in the development of electrical infrastructure, designing systems for railway and trolleybus transportation, using direct current, alternating current, and three-phase technologies, as well as generators, gas turbines, and transformers.