Aker

Regulatory Filings • May 2, 2022

Aker, Cognite and Telenor establish software security company

Aker, Cognite and Telenor establish software security company

(Fornebu, 2 May 2022) Aker, via Aker Capital ("Aker"), Cognite and Telenor, are

establishing a software security company to serve industry and operational

technology. The company called Omny will fill a gap in the cybersecurity market

where there is a great unmet need for software that prevents cyber attacks and

secures businesses' operations. The aim is to build a Norwegian software company

that will be a global player in operational industrial security.

'Telenor has the security expertise and the go to market capabilities,' says

Øyvind Eriksen, President and CEO of Aker. 'Aker offers industrial know-how,

while Cognite brings expertise in software and innovation to the table,' says

Sigve Brekke, President and CEO of Telenor. The pair believe that as part of the

same team they complement each other and will be in a unique position to solve

the security challenges that businesses and public sector actors face.

Approximately 90 per cent of data available today did not exist just two years

ago. The need to secure data and information held in cloud-based services is

growing rapidly. Digitalisation and the Internet of Things are both making

businesses more efficient, but they are also making them more vulnerable to

those who seek to threaten them. From this there has grown a significant market

for solutions that prevent digital sabotage of companies and production

processes that are connected to the internet and control systems.

International ambitions

Omny will develop software that helps to secure industrial operators and

critical infrastructure, such as oil and gas producers, energy suppliers, public

sector actors and hospitals. This product will be developed in close partnership

with pilot customers in the industrial sector, and will be based on the Cognite

Data Fusion platform. Cognite Data Fusion helps industrial companies to collect

and connect large volumes of data to enable them to monitor trends and improve

their businesses. In the world of cybersecurity, this affords opportunities for

the prevention of attacks and allows for data-driven decisions to be made that

limit damage and maintain critical functions.

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 during 2024.

A leading software security company

'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. Over the last 5-6 years, Aker has played an active role in the

establishment and development of industrial software companies. By joining

forces with such capable partners, we will be able to deliver security services

the like of which are currently not available in the market,' says Brekke.

Final ownership in Omny will be 50 per cent Telenor, Aker 44.2 per cent, and

Cognite, who has developed the software until now, will own 5.8 per cent.

'Omny represents the natural continuation of Aker's investment in industrial

software companies which very much constitutes a growth area. We are known for

refining our companies. Cognite and Aize focus on their core businesses.

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 Øyvind Eriksen.

A unique product

Network monitoring is a traditional security solution that raises the alarm in

the event of a cyberattack, but alerts say nothing about which industrial

systems are under attack and provide no detail about how serious the attack is

for production and uptime.

'The uniqueness of our product is its ability to put the alert in context in

both digital and physical terms. In the event that an unauthorised individual

attempts to engage in digital sabotage against a company, the software will use

its monitoring and consequence understanding capabilities to detail precisely

which systems will be affected and how critical these are to the customer. In

order to protect themselves from intruders, businesses must have an overview of

all potential vulnerabilities in their own systems and operations. We create a

virtual twin of the physical operation in advance which allows us to identify

risk factors, actions and consequences,' says the company's new Chairman, John

Markus Lervik, who co-founded Cognite together with Aker.

Sigve Brekke and Øyvind Eriksen will join the Board of Directors, and the

recruitment process for a CEO has been initiated. Omny will launch with 15

employees, but it plans to expand significantly during its first year of life.

The transaction is subject to approval by the Norwegian Competition Authority

and the Danish Competition and Consumer Authority, which is expected to be

confirmed during Q2 2022.

-ENDS-

For more information, please contact:

Investors: Joachim Bjørni, Head of Investor Relations, Aker ASA

Tel: +47 924 22 106

E-mail: joachim.bjorni@akerasa.com

Media: Atle Kigen, Head of Media Relations and Public Affairs, Aker ASA

Tel: +47 907 84 878

E-mail: atle.kigen@akerasa.com