Approximately 90 per cent of data available today did not exist just two years ago. The need to safeguard people’s and industries’ data and information held in cloud-based services is growing rapidly as the cybercrime threat is growing alongside the digitalisation of society.

“With one of Norway’s biggest IT security operations, several of our business customers have requested our support in securing their own operational technologies. The services that Omny is developing will further strengthen our ability to deliver comprehensive security services across IT and operational technology,” says Sigve Brekke, CEO and President of Telenor Group.

Together with industrial investment company Aker and industrial software company Cognite, Telenor aims to make Omny a global leading software company in operational industrial security. Omny will develop software that helps secure industrial operators and critical infrastructure, such as oil and gas producers, energy suppliers, public sector actors, and hospitals. The company will launch a commercial product into the Norwegian market in 2023 via Telenor’s sales organisation. The aim is to launch the product internationally in 2024.

Building partnerships is key

“Aker offers industrial know-how, while Cognite brings expertise in software and innovation to the table. For Telenor, it makes perfect sense to team up with such capacities to create new offerings as digitalisation of society accelerates. Telenor believes we can bring value to our customers by building on our connectivity offering together with partners to offer services and products beyond connectivity,” says Brekke.

Aker supports Telenor’s vision and believes this initiative will build on each company’s strength and bring value to customers by offering security challenges that business and public sector actors face.

“Telenor has the security expertise and marketing apparatus necessary,” says Øyvind Eriksen, President and CEO of Aker.

“Together with Telenor, Aker has global ambitions and wants to build Omny into a leading industrial software security company. It is reassuring to have Telenor on board in light of their unique grasp of advanced threats and their extensive experience in protecting critical infrastructure,” says Eriksen.

On top of connectivity

Brekke says that the Telenor people know today will not be the exact same Telenor tomorrow.

“The last 20 years have been fantastic for Telenor, where we’ve experienced tremendous growth. But what has worked for us until now might not work in the future. The way we have modernised, digitalised, and developed our business puts us in a good position to continue the journey we have ahead of us.”

According to Brekke, that journey includes further exploration of new growth areas such as IoT, private networks, cloud services, 5G, and security to bring offerings on top of connectivity.

“We aim to develop and deliver digital platforms that our customers need to automate business critical operation and production. In short, we want to become the partner they can trust when it comes to utilising the new possibilities digitalisation brings.”