Set to sell security business to private investor
Nokia is to scale down direct sales of its software and appliances to the enterprise and business market, and is selling its security appliances business, in a bid to focus more on consumer markets.
The company has said that it intends to stop selling "behind the firewall business mobility software and solutions", and instead will focus on working in partnership with industry software vendors such as Cisco and Microsoft, as well as with reseller channels and mobile operators. Microsoft's ActiveSync is licensed on 40 Series60 phones, and Nokia already partners with Cisco to deliver converged voice and data solutions across fixed and mobie devices and access.
Nokia's business software and technology will be refocussed purely on the consumer push email market, the company said.
The company has also announced that it is in the advanced stages of discussions for the potential sale of its security appliances business to a financial investor.
Niklas Savander, EVP, Services & Software, Nokia, said that the sale of the appliances division would be beneficial to that division, giving it needed investment and scale. He also intimated that Nokia itself will benefit from being able to focus its development on consumer software and applications.
The decision is a final admission from Nokia that it has been unable to make headway into the enterprise market as a standalone business mobility solutions provider. Over the years, Nokia has tried to enter this market in different ways, but in recognising its core skill as being in control of devices and device software, rather than as a provider of business solutions, it is bowing to the market domination of the major enterprise software and hardware providers. Nokia always suffered in this market, as wel, by not having the installed base in the PBX market that Alcatel and Ericsson, among others, could leverage.
The decision actually clears the water for operators as well, who will no longer be faced with Nokia as both a key supplier and direct competitor in the enterprise space.
"We have been working closely with Nokia to deliver voice and data mobile business solutions that combine Nokia's best-in-class mobile devices with Cisco's complete range of unified communications and wireless networking offerings," said Brett Galloway, Senior Vice President of the Wireless and Security Technology Group at Cisco. "We look forward to expanding our collaboration with Nokia to provide solutions to business customers across the globe."