HMD Global today announced that it is acquiring assets of Valona Labs and launching a brand-new Center of Excellence in Tampere, Finland. Valona Labs excels in mobile, enterprise and cybersecurity software.
The new Center of Excellence in Tampere will specialize in software, security and services, propelling HMD Global’s transition from a purely hardware business, to a combined hardware and services company, diversifying its intellectual property and differentiating its unique go-to-market offering.
Earlier this year, HMD Global entered a new service category with the launch of its global data roaming service, HMD Connect, which enables people around the world to benefit from a hassle-free data SIM. Over the coming months, the center in Tampere will concentrate on developing this service further and begin work on other services such as remote device locking, enterprise mobility management, mobile device software security, secure network communication and black box testing. There are also ambitions to expand the scope of the center to include imaging and audio technologies in the future. The center will create an immediate need to hire new technical talent in the region and will be led by the former award-winning Head of Unit for Valona Labs, Ari Heikkinen.