An excellent engineering team with visionary ideas have made Haltian,
a 3-year old startup, a promising Internet of Things supplier.
In June 2012, the employees at the Emerging Products Unit within Nokia in Oulu heard that their unit was to be shut down. Later that day, they got together to consider their options.
“We realized we had an excellent team, visionary ideas for smart products of our own, and the quality of our engineering was exceptionally good. Having purchased design services previously, I knew the market and saw we would be able to provide high-class premium design services,” recalls Pasi Leipälä, CEO of Haltian.Photo: Haltian
It took them a couple of months to set up Haltian, spread the word about it to their global networks and get their first customer projects. Today, Haltian has 80 employees, several patents and a sales office in Silicon Valley.
From product idea to sales package
“We are able to deliver finalized devices in sales packages based on any new idea for a wireless product. Among the items we have designed and productized are the Ôura wellness ring and the Asmo charger,” Leipälä says.
Trust is a crucial asset in the service business, according to Leipälä. Thus, new customers have come through existing global networks; half of Haltian’s customers are located in the US and Central Europe, the other half in Finland.
Launching the Thingsee One
“Currently we focus on design services for the Internet of Things. Volume production and shipments of our Thingsee One IoT developer device started in August 2015.”
The Thingsee One is a device equipped with many programmable sensors that can measure air pressure, humidity, temperature, direction, speed, distance, light and acceleration. It wirelessly transfers the measured data to a cloud service via a telephone network or WLAN. Then, using a mobile application, the user can remotely adjust the measurement patterns and reporting interval and see the data in visualized form.
“The device is aimed at three user groups: professional business developers who develop IoT services and applications, private firms and user communities developing their own web applications, and individuals who use it in their homes or hobbies to measure and monitor ambient conditions,” Leipälä explains.
The Thingsee One is not a mass consumer product, but an innovation platform that liberates its users from having to design an entire customized device. It is a patented product that comes complete with service and connectivity.
By Leena Koskenlaakso, September 2016
