Nokia is acquiring San Mateo, California-based artificial intelligence and Internet of Things company SpaceTime Insight, the Finnish tech giant said Monday. The move is being described as Nokia’s direct attempt to boost its IoT business, particularly in regards to industrial products and services. Founded in 2008, SpaceTime Insight presently has offices in its home country, Canada, Japan, India, and the United Kingdom, having specialized in IoT apps and analytics software based on contemporary machine learning solutions. One of the firm’s flagship offerings comes in the form of AI-powered asset health prediction systems described as being highly accurate and suitable for businesses that operate on a large scale.
SpaceTime Insight Chief Executive Officer Rob Schilling will join the IoT division of the Nokia Software group following the conclusion of the acquisition. No financial details of the tie-up have been revealed, with the move itself being in line with Nokia’s recent strategy that saw it start moving away from consumer goods and services and transitioning to an even more enterprise-focused business model, first with its smartphone exit, then with its decision to liquidate the majority of its digital health arm specializing in wearables and smart scales. The company retained its brands in both scenarios and is still generating revenue through licensing but isn’t directly involved in either segment any longer, i.e. won’t be after it completes its Nokia Health sale.
Besides IoT, Nokia is currently also continuing its pursuit of the fifth generation of mobile networks, having already announced deals that will see it support the deployment of 5G infrastructure throughout the world. It’s still unclear whether SpaceTime Insight’s existing offerings will be rebranded following the acquisition and if Nokia intends to discontinue some of them in their entirety. The Espoo, Finland-based networking juggernaut is presently experiencing a decline in commercial performance across numerous segments but remains confident it will see its sales spike once 5G starts being embraced on a significant scale in the coming years.