As the lines blur between design, operation and protection of critical assets, the next chapter in industrial software demands a new kind of company. Octave is positioning itself as a digital-native force for orchestrating intelligence across the entire asset lifecycle.
For an industry defined by continuity, transformation is rarely dramatic. The evolution of asset lifecycle software has been gradual, evolving over decades through the accumulation of domain knowledge, acquisitions, and incremental innovation. But with the announcement of Octave, Hexagon is attempting something far more fundamental: a strategic demerger that signals not just structural change, but a rethinking of how industrial software should be built, delivered and scaled.
Born from Hexagon’s Asset Lifecycle Intelligence (ALI) and Safety, Infrastructure & Geospatial (SIG) divisions, alongside ETQ and Bricsys, Octave will become a standalone software and SaaS company. If approved, its listing is expected in the first half of 2026. While spin-offs are common, this one is notable for its scale, intent and the sectors it touches – energy, manufacturing, grid infrastructure, public safety, and mission-critical data centres. This is not a startup carving out a niche. It is, by design, a company created to operate where failure is not an option.
Focus as a function of scale
At the core of Octave’s strategy is a word more often associated with lean startups than multinational software firms: focus. For Mattias Stenberg, the newly appointed CEO of Octave, this is not just a tactical decision. It is the central rationale behind the move. “If you have to dumb it down to one thing, I would say it is the focus,” Stenberg explains. “To sharpen a strategic focus, accelerate growth and ultimately unlock greater value for both companies, Hexagon as well as Octave. That is the goal.”
What ‘focus’ means in practice is the ability to prioritise investment, integration, and innovation without the competing priorities of a broader industrial portfolio. It allows Octave to act with the speed and agility of a digital-native platform, unencumbered by legacy silos.
Orchestrating live data across the lifecycle
The concept of lifecycle intelligence is not new, but the ability to activate it at scale has long eluded most enterprises. What Octave proposes is an architectural rethink: cloud-native, SaaS-first, always-on platforms that not only collect data but also orchestrate it, live and continuously, across the asset lifecycle.
“The advantage we have in this company is that it will be truly born digital,” says Stenberg. “We will orchestrate your data live across the entire lifecycle of an asset. The intelligence is built in, not an afterthought. It is cloud-native, built for scale.” By embedding intelligence across every phase, from design and construction to operation and incident response, Octave hopes to become the backbone of decision-making for critical infrastructure.
The sum of many parts
The businesses forming Octave are already known entities. ALI brings strength in design, construction, operations and asset management. SIG has a leading position in public safety, physical security and geospatial intelligence. ETQ is a recognised force in quality management, while Bricsys adds an edge in CAD disruption. Together, these form a broad but coherent platform.
“I think by combining these capabilities, we are raising the bar, taking the company to the highest level, or, if you want to be clever, we are taking it up an octave,” Stenberg adds. While the pun lands lightly, the strategy is deliberate. These are not unrelated assets stitched together for market appeal. Each contributes a layer of insight, control or precision required to manage complex, high-stakes environments.
No longer just software for industry
What sets Octave apart is not just the breadth of its software but the specificity of its ambition. It is not seeking to serve every business. It wants to serve those managing the world’s most mission-critical assets. That includes power grids, oil and gas facilities, smart cities, transport infrastructure and digital control centres.
“We are in the business of designing, building, operating and protecting the world’s most mission-critical assets,” Stenberg explains. “Our solutions are targeted for those assets that ultimately must not fail.” That framing is more than marketing. It points to the kind of software architectures, redundant, resilient, and interoperable, that such sectors demand. It also explains why SaaS delivery, recurring revenue and real-time insight are not just nice-to-haves but preconditions for success.
A platform built to grow
Octave will launch with 7,500 employees, €1.5 billion in annual revenue, and a healthy operating margin of approximately 31 per cent. But Stenberg is quick to frame these not as endpoints but as foundations.
“I also tell people internally a lot that those numbers, they are all good, but that is the smallest we will ever be. We will continue to grow. The company will be built to scale, not only organically but also through mergers and acquisitions (M&A). As an independent entity, Octave will have the flexibility to focus on its own operating strategies, accelerate innovation, and, frankly, establish a powerful platform for future M&A. We are not done.”
From Hexagon to harmonic convergence
The significance of the move is not lost on Stenberg, who has spent 17 years inside Hexagon in roles spanning investor relations, strategy, and executive leadership. But his vision for Octave is not simply to recreate what has come before with a new name.
“While our name is new, our commitment to our customers is unwavering,” he says. “I promise you that we will not miss a beat.” If Octave succeeds, it will not be by being a smaller version of Hexagon. It will be by becoming something categorically different, a software-first, insight-led platform company built not for generalised digital transformation but for the industrial systems that keep the modern world running.
Whether Octave can orchestrate intelligence at scale remains to be seen. But if the plan holds, it will begin not with a pitch but with a listing and a promise to play in a higher key.
