New Navigant Research White Paper Demystifies Smart Lighting Technologies for Cities and Campuses

SANTA CLARA, Calif., May 31, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- In a newly released study, Navigant Research analyzed a dozen connectivity technologies and their suitability for supporting applications that run on top of "smart" street lighting city/campus platforms. Smart applications can help cities and campuses deliver better outcomes in areas such as accident and crime prevention, emergency response, health and comfort, parking, pollution control, waste management, communication via digital signage, school safety, and gunshot detection. Medium-bandwidth control systems deployed at the time of LED installation or retrofit were identified as providing the best overall platform for the largest number of smart city and campus applications. The white paper presents real-world case studies and best practices for cities.

LED street lights can reduce city or campus street lighting energy and maintenance costs by 50 percent while adding an intelligent network control system can save another 30+ percent. Higher education and municipal officials deciding on an outdoor LED lighting retrofit that also wish to ensure that their campus and city be "smart-ready" are confronted with a confusing array of wireless technical solutions. They can choose from lower cost but limited capability ultra-narrowband solutions, to moderately priced medium bandwidth solutions able to meet most current and future smart requirements, to more expensive high bandwidth solutions such as Wi-Fi or cellular.

Navigant Research analyzed potential technical solutions, and provides a best practices guide based on the user's current and likely future needs. The study identified medium bandwidth wireless solutions as providing the most flexibility and functionality at the lowest cost given the likely application requirements of most cities and campuses over the next 10-20 years.

"The challenge for municipalities and universities is to balance current and future requirements against the costs and benefits of different network options. Control solutions that utilize medium bandwidth technologies lie at the sweet spot for many cities and campuses," according to Navigant Research Associate Director, Richelle Elberg.

The study also noted that the simultaneous installation of networked controls and LED deployment would significantly reduce overall costs, whatever the application.

The white paper can be accessed here - http://www.echelon.com/lp/whitepaper-smart-city-street-lighting-best-practices

About Navigant Research

Navigant Research, the dedicated research arm of Navigant, provides market research and benchmarking services for rapidly changing and often highly regulated industries. In the energy sector, Navigant Research focuses on in-depth analysis and reporting about global clean technology markets. The team's research methodology combines supply-side industry analysis, end-user primary research and demand assessment, and deep examination of technology trends to provide a comprehensive view of the Energy Technologies, Utility Transformations, Transportation Efficiencies, and Buildings Innovations sectors. Additional information about Navigant Research can be found at www.navigantresearch.com.

About Echelon Corporation

For 25 years Echelon (NASDAQ: ELON) has pioneered the development of open-standard networking platforms for connecting, monitoring and controlling devices in commercial and industrial applications. With more than 110 million devices installed worldwide, Echelon's proven, scalable solutions host a range of applications enabling customers to reduce energy and operational costs, improve safety and comfort, and create efficiencies through optimizing physical systems. Echelon is focusing today on two IoT (Internet of Things) market areas: Creating smart cities and smart enterprises through connected outdoor lighting systems, and enabling device makers to bring connected products to market faster via a range of IoT-optimized embedded systems. More information about Echelon can be found at www.echelon.com.

Contact:
Lucie Mann
781-254-9231
[email protected]

SOURCE Echelon Corporation

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