Michael Halbherr Archives - Core Sector Communique

Michael Halbherr to step down as CEO of HERE and as a member of the Nokia Group Leadership Team

Chawm Ganguly — Thu, 21 Aug 2014 07:46:43 +0000

Espoo, Finland – Nokia today announced that Michael Halbherr has decided to step down as CEO of HERE and as a member of the Nokia Group Leadership Team, effective September 1, 2014, in order to pursue his own entrepreneurial interests outside of the company.

“I would like to thank Michael for his leadership, passion and achievements during his eight years with Nokia,” said Rajeev Suri, President and CEO of Nokia. “He has played a key role in making HERE one of the strongest players in its sector, with a depth and breadth that is unique. He leaves with my best wishes and the gratitude of all of Nokia.”

Cliff Fox, currently Senior Vice President, Core Map Group, at HERE, will assume the position of acting head of HERE, effective September 1, 2014. A search for a permanent leader of HERE will start immediately inside and outside the organization.

Michael Halbherr said: “It has been a pleasure and honor to work with remarkable and smart people during my time at Nokia and HERE. I am proud that we have been able to create a leading location cloud company widely recognized across industries, by customers and by opinion leaders. Now the time is right for me to focus once again on entrepreneurial activities. I wish the team the best of success for the future.”

About HERE and Nokia

HERE, a Nokia company, is a leader in navigation, mapping and location experiences. We combine highly accurate and fresh maps with cloud technology to enable rich, real-time location experiences in a broad range of connected devices – from smartphones and tablets to wearables and vehicles. To learn more about HERE, including our work in the areas of connected and autonomous driving, visit http://360.here.com

Nokia invests in technologies important in a world where billions of devices are connected. We are focused on three businesses: network infrastructure software, hardware and services, which we offer through Nokia Networks; location intelligence, which we provide through HERE; and advanced technology development and licensing, which we pursue through Nokia Technologies. Each of these businesses is a leader in its respective field. http://company.nokia.com

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HERE completes acquisition of Medio

Chawm Ganguly — Wed, 02 Jul 2014 13:45:46 +0000

Medio’s predictive analytics technology accelerates HERE vision to personalize mapmaking

Berlin, Germany and Seattle, USA – Today HERE, a leader in mapping and location intelligence, completed the acquisition of Medio Systems Inc., a Seattle-based company that is a pioneer in the emerging field of real-time predictive analytics.

Originally announced on June 12, 2014, the transaction is designed to enable HERE to rapidly innovate in the area of contextual mapmaking. We believe that with Medio, HERE will be able to more quickly deliver on its vision to create maps and location services across screens and operating systems that change according to the situation.

“With Medio’s predictive analytics capabilities we are strengthening our platform to deliver more personal experiences in cars, on mobile devices and to businesses,” said Michael Halbherr, CEO of HERE. “Medio’s technology will accelerate our vision to seamlessly bridge the real and virtual worlds. We believe that the focused investments we’re making today will enable us to take maps far beyond where they are today to become a valuable source of location intelligence.”

The terms of the transaction are confidential.

Medio’s skilled team of about 60 employees will immediately work on integrating the predictive analytics technology they have successfully developed for numerous clients across industries into the HERE platform, while continuing to serve their existing client base.

“HERE is executing rapidly towards its goal to provide the best-in-class location platform for customers across screens and operating systems,” said Neil Shah, Director of Devices and Ecosystems at Counterpoint Research. “With the Medio acquisition, HERE combines its decades’ long location expertise with Medio’s real-time predictive analytics expertise. This will build a contextually intelligent spatial analytics platform in this highly location-aware mobile world. This is a powerful industry-leading platform for any business, in any vertical, to take their business intelligence, customer engagement, and decision making to the next level.”

HERE intends to share Medio’s technology, as relevant, with the other two businesses of the Nokia Group, Nokia Networks and Nokia Technologies, to further capitalize on the acquisition.

About HERE and Nokia

HERE, a Nokia company, is a leader in mapping and location intelligence. We combine highly accurate and fresh maps with cloud technology to enable rich, real-time location experiences in a broad range of connected devices – from smartphones and tablets to wearables and vehicles. To learn more about HERE, including our work in the areas of connected and autonomous driving, visit http://360.here.com

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HERE plans to acquire Medio Systems Inc.

Chawm Ganguly — Thu, 12 Jun 2014 14:32:07 +0000

Medio’s predictive analytics technology strengthens HERE location intelligence capabilities

Berlin, Germany and Seattle, USA – Today HERE, a leader in navigation, mapping and location experiences, announced plans to acquire Medio Systems Inc., a Seattle-based company that is a pioneer in the emerging field of real-time predictive analytics.

Building on Medio’s ‘smart data’ asset enables HERE to create contextual maps and location services that change according to the situation to provide highly personalized and predictive experiences for people and businesses. That could mean delivering individual restaurant recommendations to someone ready for lunch, giving drivers routes that match their driving style based on real-time conditions or helping businesses personalize their customer offerings.

“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 analyzes millions of connected devices and billions of interactions on the go to strengthen our ability to deliver highly personalized maps and location services for whatever people face throughout their day.”

Predictive analytics are an essential component of the HERE mission to provide the right map and services at the right moment across screens and operating systems. By acquiring Medio, HERE aims to achieve that mission by taking maps far beyond where they are today.

“We share the vision of HERE to deliver highly personalized and contextual maps and services,” said Medio founder and CTO, Brian Lent and CEO Robert Lilleness. “Since our start nearly 10 years ago, Medio has led innovation in the analytics business. Companies from across industries already trust Medio to analyze people on the go to help them deliver more personalized services to their customers. With HERE we are poised to deliver on an expanded vision that puts our team squarely at the intersection of predictive analytics and location intelligence, while also reaching more companies.”

In order to understand what a person might want and need in a given moment Medio, which has nearly 60 employees, mines vast amounts of real-time activity data now available from the proliferation of sensors and connected devices into actionable intelligence. Its cloud-based predictive analytics engine leads a fundamental shift in how big data is gathered and processed so that it becomes a valuable source of intelligence to help companies make better, automated business actions.

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 intends to share Medio’s technology, as relevant, with the other two businesses of the Nokia Group, Networks and Technologies, to further capitalize on the acquisition.

“We believe the 3rd Platform of computing, built on cloud, big data & analytics, mobile, and social is starting to move into its next phase”, said Crawford Del Prete, EVP Worldwide research, IDC. “This next era of computing will be highly dependent on the personalization of services and products. The combination of HERE’s at scale mapping platform and Medio’s predictive analytics is very powerful, and an important part of how technology will transform everyday experiences in the future.”

Nokia launches $100 million Connected Car Fund managed by Nokia Growth Partners (NGP)

Chawm Ganguly — Mon, 05 May 2014 12:14:48 +0000

The fund will invest in promising auto tech and local services companies in collaboration with HERE, a Nokia company, to grow the ecosystem around HERE’s mapping and location products and services.

Espoo, Finland – Nokia today announced the launch of a USD 100 million Connected Car fund to be managed by Nokia Growth Partners (NGP). The fund will identify and invest in companies whose innovations will be important for a world of connected and intelligent vehicles.

Nokia is already a major player in the automotive industry providing location intelligence for connected vehicles through HERE. The NGP fund, working closely with HERE, will seek to make investments that also support the growth of the ecosystem around HERE’s mapping and location products and services.

“NGP has been consistently performing well bringing in both new innovation and financial return to Nokia,” said Rajeev Suri, Nokia President and CEO. “Our new USD 100 million venture fund launched today further underlines our belief that the connected car is a significant growth opportunity where NGP is poised to make great investments.”

“For the last few years there has been a surge in innovation that has brought technological advances leading to safer, cleaner, increasingly connected, intelligent and more affordable vehicles. Vehicles are becoming a new platform for technology adoption very similar to phones or tablets,” said Paul Asel, Partner at Nokia Growth Partners. “We are excited to deepen our collaboration with HERE through the Connected Car fund to invest in companies that are driving the future of the auto ecosystem, local services and personal mobility.”

“NGP’s Connected Car fund underscores that connectivity is rapidly reshaping what is possible in the car environment,” said Michael Halbherr, CEO of HERE. “We believe that connected cars equipped with precise location awareness and sensor data can become powerful devices capable of helping drivers make sense of the world around them. With more than 25 years of experience in creating automotive grade maps for the automobile industry, we look forward to working with promising companies in NGP’s new fund to create a whole new class of services that keep drivers safe and connected.”

The Connected Car fund extends NGP’s global investment activities in the U.S., India, China and Europe where Nokia Growth Partners continue to invest in high potential businesses. The new fund brings Nokia’s commitments managed by NGP to USD 700 million. As an independent VC sponsored by Nokia, NGP has a strong track record of investing in technology companies that have made an impact in their respective industries globally, including Rocket Fuel, Heptagon and UCweb.

The Connected Car fund will be the fourth fund that NGP has managed on behalf of Nokia over the past decade.

About Nokia Growth Partners

NGP invests in companies that are changing the face of mobility, communications and the internet. NGP offers industry expertise, capital and an extensive network, enabling entrepreneurs to build disruptive, industry-changing companies and take them to the global market. With offices in the US, Europe, India and China, NGP extends the reach of companies making their products and services local everywhere. Visit http://www.nokiagrowthpartners.com for more information.

About Nokia

Nokia invests in technologies important in a world where billions of devices are connected. We are focused on three businesses: network infrastructure software, hardware and services, which we offer through Networks; location intelligence, which we provide through HERE; and advanced technology development and licensing, which we pursue through Technologies. Each of these businesses is a leader in its respective field. http://company.nokia.com

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HERE Looks to Next Generation of Cartographers: Communities

Chawm Ganguly — Thu, 03 Oct 2013 16:08:44 +0000

Espoo, Finland – HERE, a Nokia business, today announced that it is launching a community mapping pilot program in India, the first major country where HERE will combine its industrial data collection methods with a crowd mapping initiative. By balancing both its highly advanced industrial capture methods and contributions from residents of local communities, HERE takes a best-of-both-worlds approach to ensuring that its maps consistently provide the freshest, most precise and locally relevant information.

With a team of more than 1,000 people in India, the regional HERE will work directly with handpicked local experts from more than a dozen universities around the country, such as Mount Carmel College in Bangalore and the SAL Institute of Technology in Ahmedabad. Using Map Creator, a HERE tool that allows people to add missing streets, bridges, points of interests (POIs) and other information to the map, these local experts can share insider knowledge of the areas they know like the back of their hand and, in turn, put their communities on the map.

To maintain accuracy and ensure map quality, HERE has built a community map moderation system that allows both our HERE team as well as the community at large to verify edits before integrating them into the base map. Once integrated, these changes will become available within days to all users across the wide range of HERE customers, including automakers, personal navigation device manufactures, mobile device makers and web and enterprise clients.

Given India’s diverse urbanization patterns, HERE will work with a variety of communities across the country. In smaller towns and cities, locals will help HERE build out road networks, while in densely populated areas contributors will provide information about points of interest and capture changes. HERE has already rolled out industrial capture methods in some of these areas, but local communities can further improve and humanize HERE Maps.

“HERE, the world’s leading mapping platform, aims to comprehensively and accurately map one of the most geographically diverse countries: India,” said Neil Shah, Research Director, Counterpoint Research. “HERE will employ its global crowdsourcing pilot program to tap the expert ‘know-where’ of a billion Indian consumers. This initiative will help HERE gain a sizeable competitive edge with broader and denser mapping coverage in one of the most multi-faceted geographies globally.”

The project in India is part of an ongoing series of pilot programs that HERE is using to enhance its community mapping capabilities and tap the knowledge of local experts.

“Sophisticated mapmaking is already a human- and capital-intensive business. Add to this the fact that the world around us is constantly evolving with the addition of new roads, new infrastructure and even new names, and cartographers simply can’t keep up,” said Michael Halbherr, EVP of HERE. “In vibrant, fast-growing countries like India a community mapping approach, paired with input from the right experts, means HERE can keep pace with the ever-evolving landscape so that our maps are never obsolete. Equally important, however, is not just the pure number of people contributing to our map-making community, but that we work with the right experts.”

About HERE and Nokia
HERE, a Nokia business, offers the world’s best maps and location experiences across multiple screens and operating systems. HERE inspires a new generation of location services and devices helping more people to navigate their lives with ease and confidence. Built on more than 25 years of experience in cartography and drawing on more than 80,000 sources of data, HERE offers “Maps for Life” for more than 190 countries, voice guided navigation in 95 countries in more than 50 languages and live traffic information for 34 countries. To learn more about HERE, visit http://blog.here.com/.

Nokia is a global leader in mobile communications whose products have become an integral part of the lives of people around the world. Every day, more than 1.3 billion people use their Nokia to capture and share experiences, access information, find their way or simply to speak to one another. Nokia’s technological and design innovations have made its brand one of the most recognized in the world. For more information, visit http://www.nokia.com/about-nokia.

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