There was a VERY close connection between AIMS and Sheffield back in the day, then Hexagon bought out Sheffield around 2004. This is not the same AIMS as the former midwest distributor for Sheffield, AIM, however.
One of the things Hexagon did when they bought out Sheffield was kill the Discovery line of CMMs, which were extremely popular. AIMS knew quite a bit about how the Discoveries were produced, and just because they weren't being made anymore doesn't mean the demand diminished. So what you are seeing is a machine whose components are probably sourced from the same places and the Discoveries were, and modeled after them.
The controller, however, is Hexagon proprietary, and in fact the Sheffield controller is still in use by Hexagon (the UMP-360 is an updated SMP-350), so these machines are sold with Renishaw UCC2 controllers, I believe.
Discoveries are rock solid machines, I've seen them perform well in some really hellish environments. If these are half as durable, they're extremely durable.
