Under the agreement, the two companies will enable city authorities to implement connected street lighting systems which will be connected wirelessly, saving energy and making maintenance easier and more efficient.
Erik Brenneis, M2M director at Vodafone, said: “Our agreement with Philips will see this technology transforming cities across the world backed by Vodafone's world-leading innovation, technologies and networks.”
The Philips CityTouch street lighting management system will use Vodafone’s network to connect individual lights. Every connected street lamp will contain a Vodafone M2M SIM.
City authorities will be able to monitor and manage lighting and 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.
Bill Bien, SVP and 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.”
