Siemens acquires Finnish Sarokal, Butterfly Ventures and Inventure make the exit.

Sarokal Test Systems Oy, an Oulu, Finland-based company, provider of innovative test solutions for fronthaul networks, announced being acquired by Siemens.

The transaction, which was made with Siemens PLM Software, a business unit of the Siemens Digital Factory Division, is expected to close during the first quarter of calendar 2018 and the terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Sarokal Test Systems, founded in 2008 and led by CEO Harri Valasma, is a provider of innovative test solutions for fronthaul networks that are comprised of links between the centralized radio controllers and the radio heads (or masts) at the "edge" of a cellular network. Sarokal products are used by chipset vendors, fronthaul equipment manufacturers, and telecom operators to develop, test and verify their 4G and 5G network devices from the early design stages through implementation and field-testing.

In 2016, Sarokal accounted for EUR 2.3M ($2.9M) in sales. The company was backed by Butterfly Ventures and Inventure, which now exit the company.