Android Security Director Adrian Ludwig left his post at Google in order to formally join its parent company Alphabet as a Director of Security and Privacy for Nest, one of the tech giants “Other Bets” that deals in various Internet of Things devices. Mr. Ludwig announced his professional milestone in a Google+ post earlier this week, adding that he assumed his new duties in December. The Android Security unit is now directly led by Dave Kleidermacher, Google’s Vice President and Head of Security for Android, Chrome OS, and the Play Store, though a direct replacement for Mr. Ludwig may be named in the near future.
Nest’s new director has been with Google since mid-2011, having worked as Android Security Director for more than six and a half years. Prior to his move to the Mountain View, California-based tech giant, Mr. Ludwig spent over half a decade at Adobe Systems where he filled various positions ranging from a Product Security Manager to a Group Manager of the entire Flash Platform Product Marketing division. The move comes amid reports that Google is pondering the possibility of reabsorbing Nest Labs under its corporate umbrella after spinning it off as one of Alphabet’s side projects during its 2015 restructuring. Nest remains one of the search giant’s largest acquisitions to date, having cost the company $3.2 billion in early 2014. While originally establishing itself as a pioneer of smart thermostats at the turn of the decade, Nest eventually transitioned to a broader IoT market in which it currently operates.
Industry sources previously said Nest and Google have been exchanging employees for the better part of the last two years and as their offerings are gradually becoming more integrated with one another, a formal merger would make sense in order to fully capitalize on such synergies and possibly even boost Nest’s brand by combining it with that of Google, especially since many consumers still aren’t associating the two companies with each other. Regardless of whether a consolidation ends up happening going forward, Nest’s brand is unlikely to be discontinued, even though the firm is expected to put a much larger focus on intertwining its offerings with Google-made products and services over the course of this year.