HMD Secure demos off-grid messaging at CCW

HMD Secure is slowly becoming one of the more interesting parts of HMD’s business. While most people still know the company for phones, tablets and the Nokia legacy, HMD is also building something much more serious, secure and rugged communication tools for governments, emergency services and critical infrastructure. Something Nokia is also doing.

The live demo is taking place at Critical Communications World and is based on NR Sidelink technology. This allows two devices to connect directly to each other. If there are three or more devices, they can create a small mesh network and extend the communication range.

This could be very useful for firefighters, rescue teams, police, defence, energy companies and other critical services. In situations where mobile networks are down, overloaded or simply not available, teams could still use push-to-talk, send messages, share files and make calls.

The system combines Qualcomm technology, STREAMWIDE’s mission-critical communication apps and HMD Secure rugged devices, including the HMD Ivalo XE and future Fusion-based tactical modules.

This is not a feature made for regular smartphone users, at least not for now. However, it is important for HMD because it shows that the company is moving deeper into the professional and secure communications market.

For HMD, this collaboration brings more value to HMD Secure, gives the Fusion modular concept a clearer business use, and could help the company attract enterprise, government and emergency service customers.