Accenture completes Nokia professional services buy

Symbian unit will boost Accenture's testing capabilities

The acquisition will help Accenture deliver stronger Symbian support

Accenture has completed its acquisition of Nokia's Symbian Professional Services unit, a move which is set to extend the firm's expertise in embedded software services for mobile devices.

The consultancy firm announced its intention to acquire the unit around three months ago. Symbian Professional Services provides engineering and support of the Symbian operating system to device manufacturers and service providers.

"The new team members from Nokia have the skills that will enable Accenture to offer even stronger support of the Symbian operating system," said Jean Laurent Poitou, managing director of Accenture's Electronics & High Tech industry group.

"We also intend to use their skills to help players in the mobile solutions ecosystem address evermore demanding time-to-market and quality requirements in other mobile device environments such as Android and other Linux variants, Apple iPhone, RIM and Windows Mobile."

Accenture said that the move would complement and enhance its existing services, and help it reduce development costs and time to market while improving the quality and functionality of products.

The services Accenture will be able to offer include advanced engineering and technical support, error diagnosis and fixing, device performance optimisation solutions, and programme management services.

Accenture said that it will also be able to deliver an "end-to-end testing framework consisting of remote, simulator-based and automated testing".