Harman Connected Services
| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Software |
| Predecessor | Symphony Teleca |
| Founded | 1992 (as Teleca) |
| Founder | Group of software engineers in Manchester |
| Headquarters | Palo Alto, California , United States |
Area served | Americas, Europe, Asia |
Key people | Sanjay Dhawan (CEO, as of 2014) |
| Products | Software solutions for mobile communications and Harman products |
Number of employees | over 30,000 |
| Parent | Harman International Industries (subsidiary of Samsung Electronics) |
Overview
Harman Connected Services (commonly known as HCS) is a United States-based software firm operating as a subsidiary under Samsung Electronics via Harman International Industries. This division specializes in delivering software solutions tailored to the mobile communications sector. Harman employs over 30,000 professionals distributed throughout the Americas, Europe, and Asia.
On January 22, 2015, Harman completed the acquisition of Symphony Teleca from the Symphony Technology Group for approximately US$780 million. Following this transaction, Symphony Teleca was merged into Harman and rebranded as Harman Connected Services. Later, in March 2017, Harman officially became a fully owned subsidiary of Samsung Electronics.
Founding and Early Development
Teleca was established in 1992 by a group of software engineers located in Manchester. Over the years, its telecom software solutions were adopted by prominent companies such as Motorola, Racal, Digital, GEC, Hewlett-Packard, Psion, and Siemens. This market engagement facilitated significant collaborations with leading mobile device manufacturers, prompting Teleca to broaden its scope into the mobile phone sector. Key partners during this expansion included Nokia, Motorola, and SonyEricsson.
In the early months of 2000, the company became a subsidiary of Sigma AB, a Swedish engineering services leader. After this acquisition, Teleca grew its European workforce to approximately 2,500 employees and extended operations into countries like Łódź in Poland and Seoul in South Korea.
By 2006, Teleca had acquired Telma Soft, a software firm based in Russia. Subsequently, the company launched several new offices across India and China within the following two years.
In 2008, Symphony Technology Group purchased Teleca and removed it from the Stockholm stock exchange. Later that same year, Telma Soft was rebranded as Teleca’s Russian branch.
By 2013, Teleca employed over 9,000 professionals across 35 countries. The largest concentration of staff was in India, with multiple offices situated in Bangalore, Pune, Gurgaon, and Chennai.
Period under Symphony Technology Group
Founded in 2002 with seed funding from Romesh T. Wadhwani—Chairman, CEO, and founder of Symphony Technology Group—Symphony Services secured growth capital from TH Lee Putnam Ventures in 2003. The following year, Symphony Services acquired Stonehouse Technologies for $6.7 million to enhance its capabilities in managing indirect telecommunications expenses.
In 2010, Symphony Services expanded by acquiring Proteans Software Solutions, an Indian firm specializing in software engineering services for small and medium independent software vendors (ISVs). That same year saw the purchase of CoreObjects Software Inc., a Los Angeles-based company focusing on embedded product development for technology enterprises.
The acquisition strategy continued in 2011 with the purchase of JPC Software, an IT solutions provider headquartered in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
In 2012, Symphony Services Corporation merged with Teleca to form Symphony Teleca Corporation. This new entity aimed to assist clients in navigating the convergence of software development, cloud computing, and mobile technologies. Post-merger, Symphony Teleca operated as part of Symphony Services and concentrated on software product engineering outsourcing services. Its headquarters were established in Palo Alto, California, complemented by major global delivery centers across the United States, India, and China. The organization held a CMMI Level 3 maturity rating.
On April 10, 2014, Symphony Teleca announced the acquisition of Aditi Technologies for an undisclosed sum. Following this transaction, Sanjay Dhawan assumed the role of CEO while Pradeep Rathinam became president of Aditi Technologies. Aditi was integrated as an independent business unit within Symphony Teleca.
Harman Connected Services
In 2015, Harman International Industries revealed its intention to purchase Symphony Teleca.[1] An agreement was reached between Harman and Symphony Technology Group for a transaction valued at US$780 million.[2] Following the acquisition, Teleca was renamed Harman Connected Services, concentrating on developing software solutions for all products under the Harman brand.[3]
Alongside Symphony Teleca, Harman also acquired Red Bend Software. The total acquisition cost was $200 million, comprising $170 million in stock and an additional $30 million in cash contingent upon achieving specific milestones. Red Bend's technology enables cellular operators to remotely update both software and hardware components within mobile devices, with its software deployed on over 2 billion phones worldwide.[4] In 2016, HARMAN further expanded by acquiring TowerSec, an Israeli cybersecurity firm specializing in automotive security solutions.[5]
These entities were consolidated under the Harman Connected Services division. Subsequently, in 2016, Harman's parent company was purchased by Samsung Electronics in a deal valued at US$8 billion.[6]
Global locations
| Regions | Office Locations |
|---|---|
| Europe | Malmö (Sweden); Tampere, Oulu (Finland); Richmond, Reading (UK); Bochum, Nuremberg (Germany); Nizhny Novgorod (Russia); Łódź (Poland) |
| Americas | Buenos Aires (Argentina) |
| United States | Mountain View, San Diego, Farmington Hills, Nashville, Plano, Westford, Providence, Bellevue, Burlington |
| Asia | Seoul (South Korea); Beijing, Chengdu (China); Pune, Gurgaon, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore (India); Tokyo (Japan) |
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Teleca in Chengdu -
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Certifications
References
- ↑ "Harman acquires Romesh Wadhwani group's Symphony Teleca for $780mn". Business Standard. January 24, 2015.
- ↑ Mondalek, Alexandra (22 January 2015). "Harman Spending Almost $1 Billion on Software Acquisitions". Bloomberg.
- ↑ Lunden, Ingrid (January 22, 2015). "Harman Buys Symphony Teleca For At Least $780M And Red Bend For $170M". TechCrunch.
- ↑ Rabi, Idan (January 22, 2015). "Harman acquires Red Bend Software for $200m". Globes.
- ↑ "Harman acquires Israeli co TowerSec for $70m". Globes. January 6, 2016.
- ↑ "Samsung Joins Google, Apple in Auto Arena with $8 Billion Acquisition of HARMAN". AdAge. 14 November 2016.
Further reading
External links
- Symphony SMS – Telecom Expense Management Solutions
- EFYTimes.com, May 27, 2010 – Opening of Teleca India's new office location
- Silobreaker, February 15, 2010 – Collaboration between Teleca and Imagination Technologies to deliver optimized Adobe Flash and Flash Lite technologiesTemplate:Fix/category[permanent dead link]
- KLKN-TV, February 10, 2010 – Presentation by Teleca's partner SVOX at Mobile World CongressTemplate:Fix/category[permanent dead link]
- TMCnet.com, February 10, 2010 – Announcement of Teleca's partnership with Antix
- Dr. Dobb's, December 19, 2009 – Insight by Andrew Till from Teleca on avoiding common open source challenges
- Sydsvenskan, February 13, 2009 – Coverage of Teleca's collaboration with TAT in Swedish newspaperTemplate:Fix/category[permanent dead link]
- SOA World Magazine, February 10, 2009 – Article highlighting Teleca’s efforts to support Android in the CDMA handset market Archived July 16, 2011, at the Wayback Machine