Nokia said it plans to buy U.S.-based Medio Systems to boost its HERE navigation, location and mapping division in what is the Finnish company's second acquisition for the business unit in two weeks.
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HERE CEO, Michael Halbherr |
The agreement to buy Medio Systems, which specialises in real-time predictive analytics, follows the announcement on May 30 that HERE was taking over Desti, which uses language-processing technology to provide personal recommendations for travellers.
Nokia, which now comprises the units Networks, HERE, and Technologies after selling its devices unit to Microsoft, said Medio's technology will enable it to create contextual maps and location services that change according to the situation to provide highly personalised and predictive experiences for people and businesses.
"We are entering the age of what I call cognitive mapping, in which maps will understand their environment and anticipate people's intent in order to deliver interactive and smart location experiences," said Michael Halbherr, CEO of HERE.
"We plan to extend Medio's talent and technology that analyses millions of connected devices and billions of interactions on the go to strengthen our ability to deliver highly personalised maps and location services for whatever people face throughout their day," Halbherr added.
Medio Systems was established almost 10 years ago and currently has 60 employees. The transaction, which is subject to customary closing conditions, is expected to close by the end of July 2014. The terms of the transaction are confidential.
Following the acquisition, HERE said it intends to share Medio's technology, as relevant, with the other two businesses of the Nokia Group, Networks and Technologies.
Desti, meanwhile, was set up just under two years ago. Its technology, which aspires to offer a humanised approach to personalised searches about travel-related matters by analysing the context around questions people ask, is to be incorporated into HERE's location platform.
For more:
- see this Nokia release
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