Smart networking: Häfele acquires ThingOS

Another step toward holistic room solutions

Nagold – 4 March 2022. Häfele is expanding its expertise in smart networking of furniture and rooms, and is acquiring the innovative company ThingOS with retroactive effect from 01/01/2022. The international Häfele Group for hardware technology, electronic access control systems and lighting in furniture and rooms has already been working successfully and intensively with ThingOS, a Stuttgart-based start-up, since 2017. ThingOS stands for “Operating System = OS for networkable objects (Internet of Things = Thing)”. With the acquisition, Häfele is bringing technological competencies and know-how in-house to enable its customers from the joiner/cabinet maker, project business and industrial sectors to create holistic, networked room designs that are future-proof.

Digital networking becomes a core competency

Häfele Managing Director Sibylle Thierer sees this step as the logical continuation of the company's strategy to establish itself in the market for innovative lighting solutions as a driving force in the industry. “Häfele recognised the importance of networked solutions years ago and has evolved from its traditional area of furniture lighting into a holistic lighting supplier,” comments the managing director. Häfele placed the capstone on its competency in the lighting field by acquiring the Nimbus architectural brand in 2019. Room and furniture lighting can now be merged into a harmonious overall atmosphere that is centrally planned and controlled – including clever acoustic solutions and innovative concepts around the topic of smart networking. “Now we are going one step further and making digital connectivity a core competency by developing it further under the Häfele umbrella together with our new family member ThingOS,” says Sibylle Thierer.

The spirit of technology and innovation finds a new home

ThingOS is a young Stuttgart-based company which emerged as a start-up from the University of Stuttgart. With its team, the company has developed numerous business areas in just a few years, from smart homes and smart buildings (hotels, restaurants) to smart industry. “As part of the Häfele Group, we now have the opportunity to grow in completely new dimensions with our platform and services,” says CEO Thomas Kubitza, who together with his co-founders Matthias Mögerle, Patrick Bader, Dominique Rau and Albrecht Schmidt, will continue to write the success story as part of the Häfele Group.
Specifically, the Häfele business units Nimbus (lighting & acoustics), ThingOS (connectivity) and Sphinx (electronic access control systems) are to work together to offer holistic networking solutions. Third-party systems from different providers can also be integrated and controlled in new connectivity concepts via the “heart” of ThingOS, a technology-neutral layer.

ThingOS not only has the technological expertise, but also – with its headquarters in the ARENA2036 research campus in Stuttgart – a visionary attitude. Sibylle Thierer: “This visionary founding spirit, coupled with Häfele’s upcoming one hundred years of experience – that will have an inspiring effect in both directions and open up completely new business opportunities.”

Press contact
Sarah Grünler
Phone: +49 7452 95-510
E-Mail: sarah.gruenler@haefele.de

Das Managementteam von ThingOS und mit den Verantwortlichen bei Häfele nach der Unterzeichnung des Übernahmevertrags. The management team of ThingOS and the responsible persons at Häfele after signing the acquisition agreement.
From left to right: Prof. Dr. Albrecht Schmidt, Board Member ThingOS, Thomas Kubitza, CEO ThingOS, Häfele Managing Director Sibylle Thierer, Matthias Mögerle, COO ThingOS, Patrick Bader, CTO ThingOS, Dominique Rau, Head of Cloud & Mobile ThingOS, Jörg Schmid, Managing Director Nimbus Group

Ob Smartphone, Sideboardbeleuchtung oder Spiegel – in smarten Räumen muss jeder mit jedem kommunizieren können. Whether smartphone, sideboard lighting or mirror – in smart rooms everything must be able to communicate with everyone. To ensure that different devices, systems and network platforms speak a common language, ThingOS has developed an “interpreter”. The technology is used in the Häfele Connect Mesh System and enables smart control of complex networked systems in living spaces and hotel rooms.

Mit der App Häfele Connect Mesh wird die Vernetzung und Steuerung von smarten Häfele Produkten inklusive der Verbindung zu Drittsystemen Realität. The Häfele Connect Mesh app makes networking and controlling smart Häfele products a reality, including connecting to third-party systems.