Italian mobile operator TIM has signed an “industrial partnership”, via its IoT development business Olivetti, with Italian engineering company SECO to design and produce around €50 million of IoT hardware and software solutions over the next three years to drive digital change among TIM’s enterprise customers, including large and small-and-medium (SME) enterprises, as well as in the public administration and ‘smart cities’ space.
Olivetti, the one-time giant of Italian computer and printer manufacturing, now the in-house IoT development business of Italian operator TIM, said the arrangement, signed last month, is expected to bring around €50 million in new revenues to SECO in the period to the end of 2024. SECO makes Industrial IoT processors and edge systems, and automation and control technologies.
The deal, which gives Olivetti a 9.6 percent stake in SECO’s share capital, will also establish Olivetti, and consequently TIM, as a key player in the industrial IoT space. Olivetti wants a five percent share (around €225 million) of the global IoT services market, pegged to reach €4.5 billion in 2024, growing at about 10 percent per annum. There was no citation in the press statement for the growth forecasts.
Arezzo-based SECO becomes Olivetti’s preferred IoT supplier; Olivetti has assumed a role as SECO’s “key industrial partner”, it said. TIM will provide the exclusive sales channel for the pair to go after the SME market in Italy. The deal covers existing supply of IoT solutions in SECO’s current product catalogue, and also joint-development of new solutions, to be distributed under the ‘Olivetti powered by SECO’ brand. Olivetti works in the smart cities, urban services, industrial automation, and smart agriculture markets.
Massimo Mauri, chief executive at SECO, said: “The partnership with Olivetti and TIM officially leads us confidently into the next two years with an important mission: to digitalize the country starting from small and medium enterprises. SECO has the skills and technology to do this and, thanks to a player as important as Olivetti, this goal becomes possible. We look forward to working together to become leaders in a market with enormous potential.”
Roberto Tundo, chief executive at Olivetti, said: “IoT requires effective and scalable solutions that demand specific skills able to create ecosystems of solutions through partnership tools, joint ventures, or acquisitions. The partnership with SECO allows Olivetti to play a primary role in the future for the digital evolution and competitiveness of Italian companies and public administration by offering efficient, rapid adoption and value generation solutions.”
