Harman Buying Cybersecurity, Software Firms That Have Telecom, Web Clients

Harman announced purchase agreements designed to position the company as a leading software provider for the connected space. CEO Dinesh Paliwal said on a Thursday conference call that Harman’s planned buys of Symphony Teleca, which provides software engineering and integration services globally, and Red Bend Software, provider of over-the-air (OTA) and cybersecurity software, will transform Harman into a “comprehensive products, systems and engineering services company” for the automotive, telecom, media, CE and healthcare markets. Harman will be able to “enable and enhance the connected lifestyle people want,” Paliwal said. Both companies have been service providers to Harman “for some time,” he said. The Red Bend transaction is valued at $170 million -- about $99 million in stock and $71 million in cash. The agreement to buy Symphony Teleca calls for a base purchase price of $780 million, including $382 million in cash and $166 million in Harman stock. The acquisitions will add some 8,000 engineers -- most from Symphony Teleca -- to Harman’s current engineering staff of 3,500 in software and 3,000 in hardware and industrial design, Paliwal said. Symphony Teleca, based in Silicon Valley, has a customer base including Adobe, Comcast, Google, Intel, Jaguar, Land Rover, Microsoft, Verizon and SiriusXM, Harman said. Symphony Teleca, which brings a platform for integrated services geared to converged markets, along with software engineering and integrated services for the connected experience, offers Harman “immediate scale and engineering services to accelerate connected car innovations,” Paliwal said. Symphony’s software development capabilities will enable Harman to integrate and leverage high-margin segments including the cloud, mobile devices, design and analytics, said Paliwal. He said Symphony is the “largest Android ecosystem scaling partner worldwide” as well as a strategic partner of Microsoft. Harman will be able to provide a “complete set of software defined services” around predictive analytics, cloud enablement, the Internet of Things gateway, turnkey mobile development and commercialization “to enable everything from autonomous driving to intelligent cities,” he said. Israeli company Red Bend -- with a customer base including AT&T, China Mobile, Huawei, Lenovo, LG, Samsung, Sprint, Telit and Verizon -- provides over-the-air software and hypervisor-based virtualization technology for cybersecurity applications. The technology is positioned to meet the demands of the connected car and can be a “prerequisite to autonomous driving,” Paliwal said. That includes the ability to deliver “safe, secure OTA updates” for on-board and non-Harmon automotive systems, “either embedded or downloaded,” Paliwal said.