By Oystein Bergmann, Bureau Chief, Scandinavia

Nokia  announced an agreement under which Lumine Group Inc. will buy Nokia’s Device Management (DM) and Service Management Platform (SMP) businesses. The deal will enable Nokia DM and SMP customers to benefit from Lumine’s telecom industry expertise, financial resources, and strategy to invest in a long-term product roadmap.

The agreement reflects CNS’s investment focus on technology leadership areas, and the active portfolio management of others. CNS has executed a clear strategy over the past two years to grow faster than the market by establishing technology leadership and reorienting investment toward strategic areas of 5G Core, secure autonomous operations, private wireless and edge, network as code, and SaaS. The deal follows Nokia announcements earlier this year to divest its VitalQIP products to Cygna Labs Corp and to make Red Hat the primary infrastructure platform for Nokia Core Network applications.

Lumine Group acquires, manages, and builds industry-specific software, focused in the telecom and media space. With its strong balance sheet and market capitalization, Lumine Group intends to operate DM and SMP as a standalone business, which will be called Motive.

Approximately 500 Nokia Device Management and Service Management Platform employees are expected to transfer to Lumine Group as part of the deal. Both companies will work closely together to ensure a smooth transition and business continuity.

The deal is valued at EUR 185 million(US$203.5million), which includes a contingent consideration of up to EUR 35 million based on the performance of the business during the first year following close. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2024, subject to certain terms, conditions, and consultations with works council or other employee representative bodies where required by law.

Nokia Device Management software capabilities help communication service providers remotely manage home broadband access devices, as well as IoT sensors and devices from a variety of different vendors; while the company’s Service Management Platform improves customer care service, with coverage spanning more than 150 deployments worldwide and more than 1 billion devices under management.

President of Cloud and Network Services, at Nokia Raghav Sahgal said: “Nokia is pleased to enter this agreement with Lumine as another sign of progress in our strategy to focus investment in those areas most important to our business. Lumine Group has the telecom industry expertise as well as the strategic focus and resourcing to drive the Device Management and Service Management Platform businesses forward to a stronger future.”

Group President at Lumine Group David Sharpley said: “We are absolutely thrilled to welcome Device Management and Service Management Platform customers and employees to Lumine. Consistent with our autonomous operating model, we will be reviving the heritage Motive brand for this new stand-alone Lumine company and we look forward to partnering with Nokia to ensure operational continuity with all customers.”