Philips and Vodafone Join Forces for Connected Lighting and Smart City Services

April 12 2016

Vodafone has agreed to become a global Internet of Things (IoT) managed connectivity partner with Philips Lighting. Under the agreement, the two companies will enable city authorities worldwide to implement connected street lighting systems that will be connected wirelessly, saving energy and making maintenance easier and more efficient.

The Philips CityTouch street lighting management system will use Vodafone’s 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 the user-friendly and flexible Philips CityTouch system while engineers will be able to check performance, identify faults and control the lighting remotely. Philips CityTouch is an end-to-end street lighting management system that integrates connected devices and specialized services to transform cities’ lighting operations

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.

“Lighting plays a key role in the smart city,” says Vodafone M2M Director Erik Brenneis. “Our agreement with Philips will see this technology transforming cities across the world.”

Bill Bien, SVP, Head of Strategy and Marketing, at Philips Lighting adds that “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.”