Nokia's Here Announces Acquisition of Predictive Analytics Firm Medio

On Thursday Nokia-owned Here mapping firm announced plans to acquire Medio Systems, a Seattle-based company that Here says is 'a pioneer in the emerging field of real-time predictive analytics.'

Nokia's Here says that building on Medio's 'smart data' asset will enable it to create contextual maps and location services that change according to the situation to provide highly personalized and predictive experiences for people and businesses.

This, according to Here, 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.

The Nokia-owned mapping firm said predictive analytics are an essential component of its 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.'

Explaining how Medio's cloud-based predictive analytics engine works, Here says that in order to understand what a person might want and need in a given moment Medio mines vast amounts of real-time activity data now available from the proliferation of sensors and connected devices into 'actionable intelligence'.

Here says the transaction, which is subject to customary closing conditions, is expected to close by the end of July 2014, and that 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 capitalise on the acquisition. Medio currently employs nearly 60 people.

Michael Halbherr, CEO of Here, spoke of the acquisition, saying, "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. 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."

Medio Founder and CTO, Brian Lent, and CEO Robert Lilleness, said, "We share the vision of Here to deliver highly personalized and contextual maps and services," said "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."

Crawford Del Prete, EVP Worldwide research, IDC, added, "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. "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."