Vodafone, on Monday March 14 announced a new agreement to become a global Internet of Things (IoT) managed connectivity partner for Philips Lighting, a Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHIA) company and the global leader in lighting.
Under the agreement, the two companies will enable city authorities worldwide to implement smart street lighting systems, which will be connected wirelessly, saving energy and making maintenance easier and more efficient, Vodafone said in a statement.
The Philips CityTouch street lighting management system will use Vodafone’s world-leading machine-to-machine (M2M) network to connect individual light points. Every connected street lamp will contain a Vodafone M2M SIM. City authorities can then monitor and manage lighting through a user-friendly and highly flexible system while engineers will be able to check performance, identify faults and control the lighting remotely.
The joint offering allows city authorities to create an infrastructure that is easily scalable, and will be able to support other smart city applications in future.
Vodafone M2M Director, Erik Brenneis, said: “Lighting plays a key role in the smart city. Our agreement with Philips will see this technology transforming cities across the world backed by Vodafone’s world-leading innovation, technologies and networks.”
Bill Bien, SVP, Head of Strategy and Marketing, at Philips Lighting added: ”Just less than 12% of the world’s street lights are LED and less than 2% are connected. We are at the start of a new era which will see highly energy efficient connected street lighting become the backbone of most smart cities. Robust, reliable wireless connectivity will help make this happen, linking streetlights with sensors, devices and management systems. By partnering with Vodafone we can work together to take light beyond illumination, helping to make cities more energy efficient, safer and ultimately more liveable.”
About Philips CityTouch
CityTouch is an end-to-end street lighting management system that integrates connected devices and specialised services to transform cities’ lighting operations. Increasingly, stand-alone LED street lights are being connected and made intelligent using Philips CityTouch Ready street luminaires or by adding a Philips CityTouch connector node to existing street luminaires. Such connectivity offers a number of benefits:
• Typically additional 30-40% energy savings above the savings made by using LED lighting, as the connected lights can be dimmed or turned up as required – the right light level, at the right time, in the right place.
• Reduced maintenance cost and time from days to hours as real-time information on the status of each light point is relayed to the operator who can schedule crews to a precise location. No more driving around looking for faults.
• Network setup and commissioning happens automatically and when the CityTouch Ready luminaire or a connector node is installed it starts transmitting location data and operational information securely over the Vodafone network.
About Vodafone Group
Vodafone is one of the world’s largest telecommunications companies and provides a range of services including voice, messaging, data and fixed communications. Vodafone has mobile operations in 26 countries, partners with mobile networks in 57 more, and fixed broadband operations in 17 markets. As of 31 December 2015, Vodafone had 461 million mobile customers and 13 million fixed broadband customers.
About Philips Lighting
Philips Lighting, the global leader in lighting and a Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHIA) company, is the global leader in lighting products, systems, and services. It combines digital innovations with a deep understanding of how lighting positively affects people to provide rich experiences, new value and improve lives.
It sells more energy efficient LED lighting than any other company and lead the industry in connected lighting systems and services. Its quality lighting transforms homes, buildings, and urban spaces. Its innovations help to promote comfort, security, well-being and productivity. In 2015 it had sales of EUR 7.4 billion and employed 33,000 people worldwide.
