Anaheim,
CA, USA -- At the upcoming Strategies in Light conference to be
held at the Anaheim Convention Center, Russ Sharer, Vice President of
Global Marketing for Fulham Co., Inc., supplier of lighting and LED
components, will be speaking to lighting industry professionals and
influencers about the need for true interoperability standards as the
lighting market embraces smart lighting. Sharer's presentation
entitled "Standards are Meaningless (without Interoperability)"
is scheduled for Thursday, March 2.
As
Sharer notes, the smart lighting industry lags far behind other
industries when it comes to commonly accepted communications
standards to for on/off, dimming, color tuning, remote monitoring,
task tuning, remote and wireless controls, system alerts, and energy
usage reporting. In other industries, accepted, open standards have
had a dramatic positive effect on market growth. Consider, for
example, the impact of Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, both well-documented and
well-understood standards that assure product compatibility and
interoperability. Lighting control standards, such as ZigBee, DALI
(the Digital Addressable Lighting Interface), and Thread are becoming
more commonplace but don't guarantee end users can buy lighting
components from multiple vendors and operate them with a common
control system. As a result, interoperability is only assured if you
standardize on a single vendor.
"LED
systems can be controlled in any number of ways, but there is no
standardized means of mixing vendors," Sharer said. "End
users want to create multivendor lighting systems that use a common
language, but as yet there are no established standards that
guarantee compatibility for lighting control."
The
need for interoperable lighting control systems is becoming more
urgent with the growing adoption of related applications and
standards. For example, the Internet of Things (IoT) is enabling
IP-based control of networked devices and components. In turn, IoT is
driving demand for centralized network control of devices, including
lighting, for applications such as automated building management.
Wireless networking standards such as 802.11ac are being adopted for
in-home systems management, including home security, climate control,
and remote lighting control. Power over Ethernet (PoE) also is
becoming popular for new construction and applications such as retail
lighting, where lighting is frequently moved. All of these standards
are well defined so they can be incorporated into a central control
system.
"As
smart lighting continues to evolve, interoperability of controls has
become more important," said Sharer. "The lighting industry
is going to see more demand for lighting standards-compliance,
interoperability testing, and certification procedures for both new
and retrofit products. And customers are going to shop for
standards-certified products that are guaranteed to be compatible
with new smart lighting platforms. Those lighting vendors that will
prosper in the future are the ones that embrace standards and promote
product interoperability."
About
Fulham
Fulham
Co., Inc. is a leading global provider of intelligent,
socially-conscious sustainable commercial lighting components and
electronics for use in commercial general lighting, parking
structure, signage, horticultural, UV and other applications. The
company develops and manufactures a variety of award-winning LED and
emergency products, as well as legacy products across multiple
lighting platforms. Fulham sells its lighting solutions worldwide
through original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and electrical
equipment distribution channels. Headquartered in Hawthorne, Calif.,
the company has sales and/or manufacturing facilities in the
Netherlands, China, India and the UAE. For more information, visit
http://www.fulham.com.
Media
Contact:
Andy
Firchau
Marketing
Manager
Fulham
Co., Inc.
Phone:
+1 (323) 779-2980, ext. 1252
