The Internet of Things is only one part of the increasingly connected world, with human and machine interactions creating new ways to experience life, work, and artistic expression.
The intersection of four businesses which today make up HARMAN’s technology leadership is fascinating in its diversity (Connected Car, Lifestyle Audio, Professional Solutions and Connected Services), and visionary in its focus on advancing immersive digital living.
The acquisition last year of Symphony Teleca further strengthened the company’s size and scope, building upon its heritage - delivering the finest quality audio technology to audiophiles, musicians, automobiles, and entertainment venues – and expanded the idea of how people and machines connect to create enhanced human experiences.
Here are a few data points:
- HARMAN has a workforce of approximately 29,000 people across the Americas, Europe, and Asia
- The company reported sales of $6.7 billion during the 12 months ended March 31, 2016
- More than 25 million automobiles on the road today are equipped with the company’s audio and connected car systems
Products range from consumer electronics to automotive telematics, from Internet of Things innovations to enterprise scale systems including the creation of intelligent commercial real estate solutions that blend machine and human collaboration that improve business outcomes, including the bottom line.
HARMAN’s software runs over multiple platforms, is embedded in millions of mobile devices, includes equipment and appliances made smarter with sensors, and is making innovations across healthcare, education, retail, transportation, real estate, entertainment and multitude other industries seemingly limitless.
The acquisition of Symphony Teleca brought more than intellectual property and talented people to the company. It brought Symphony Teleca’s spirit of innovation and track record for converting imagination into commercially successful services for their Fortune 500 clients as well as the “challengers” – the technology start-ups that have provided the fuel for the Internet of Things – and people.
Since the acquisition was completed last year, HARMAN has welcomes more than 9,000 employees from the formerly privately held company – employees in 35 countries into HARMAN’s family. Symphony Teleca was established over thirty years ago by a team of software specialists based in Manchester, UK, working with clients including Motorola, Racal, Digital, HP and Siemens. There is mobile running through their DNA, with contributions to the development of devices for vendors including Nokia, Motorola and Sony Ericsson. At the turn of the century, the original Teleca was acquired and became the UK subsidiary of Sigma AB, a Swedish engineering services business, and over the years continued to acquire businesses and open offices in Poland, South Korea, Russia, India and China.
Teleca was acquired in 2008 by Symphony Technology Group, bringing the company private again in combination with Symphony Services Corporation (a software product engineering outsourcing services company, funded by Romesh T. Wadhwani, Chairman, CEO and founder of Symphony Technology Group with growth capital from TH Lee Putnam Ventures. Additional acquisitions were made over the next several years, including CoreObjects Software, a company that specialized in embedded product development for technology companies, just as the Internet of Things began trending.
In 2012, Symphony Services Corporation merged with Teleca, creating Symphony Teleca Corporation, the company HARMAN ultimately acquired last year, accelerating their ability to compete in the fast growing software, cloud, mobility and IoT worlds.
The alchemy of these combinations continues to pay off – as the orchestration of HARMAN’s strategy continues its crescendo. HfS Research added to its prestigious "Winner's Circle" in the firm's Blueprint Report: 2015 Software Product Engineering (SPE) Services, ranking HARMAN significantly higher than its peers for “its ability to deliver design and cloud-driven product modernization services through its newly formed Connected Services division.” (HfS Research focuses on global business services, digital transformation, autonomics and outsourcing).
HARMAN has a presence at the IoT Evolution Conference this week in Las Vegas, speaking on a number of topics including connected cars, Fog and edge computing, analytics and more, while also being given an award for Business Impact for their innovation and implementation of sustainable real estate workplace solutions, including IoT aspects.
Edited by
Ken Briodagh
