Philips develops ‘Light as a Service’ business model
Available first in the US, it targets the 15 billion square feet market for existing offices in North America and will then address the global office lighting systems market worth more than $5 billion. The Philips InterAct Office, with lamps and luminaires equipped with sensors, is installed and operated by Philips Lighting as a managed service, dispensing with the need for customers to make upfront capital investments.
The network of sensors triggers the system to switch or dim the lights and gathers granular data, such as energy use and room occupancy. This information is displayed on a user-friendly dashboard.
The wireless Philips InterAct Office complements the company’s existing Power over Ethernet (PoE) connected lighting system aimed at new build facilities and offices undergoing deep renovation. It is designed for retrofitting existing offices which form the vast majority of office lighting projects worldwide.
“Our new system delivers instant energy savings and requires no upfront investment from customers who pay an easy monthly payment funded by the savings,” claims Emmanuel Sabonnadiere, CEO of Philips Lighting’s Professional business.
“However, energy savings are just the tip of the iceberg. Our ‘Light as a Service’ model frees customers to focus on their business, while information from sensors in the luminaires gives them unique insights into the use of energy and office space to enhance operational efficiencies.”
The company explains that with its new “Light as a Service” solution, real estate owners don’t have to rip and replace existing cabling. The system uses wireless gateways that connect the lamps and luminaires. Information acquired by sensors in the luminaires (such as light level, occupancy and energy consumed) is encrypted, then processed and stored securely in the cloud before being presented to customers. Being cloud-based and modular, the system is highly scalable and can serve multiple locations worldwide. This gives access to granular data on energy and space usage across global operations and from a single point. The system comes with a wide choice of lamps and luminaires including Philips LED tubes, Philips EvoKit and Philips FluxGrid recessed troffers.
Philips Lighting – www.philips.com/smartretrofit
