Smart cities are getting smarter, as the future of IoT communications and synergistic integrations is being written under our very eyes. Street lighting is a critical city service, and FLASHNET’s unique approach has been lighting the way during the mobile industry’s most hyper-tech, future-defining event of the year.

Brasov, ROMANIA, March 19, 2018

Smart city services have been around for quite some time now, but most developers and integrators are focused on their own technology and market segment. Smart street lighting, smart waste management, smart traffic management, smart parking, smart sensing – are just a few of countless smart services that a city can deploy today. Each one with its own communication infrastructure, with its own software application and variables.

In this context, there are a few things to point out regarding the last MWC. Firstly, the growing interest for integration, as many cities have already implemented one or more smart services, but came to understand that individual management can be quite unpractical and not so ‘smart’, actually. Most systems are using proprietary technologies to communicate, plus they have low to no interest to integrate with other services. This means different infrastructures, different software applications, several specialized and trained personnel to keep everything in place and, not to forget, the lack of communication and synergy between these services.

There is no wonder that global technology companies like Cisco or Ericsson are looking to create integration platforms to bring together individual smart services into true, synergistic Smart City platforms. Meanwhile, IoT communication technologies like NB-IoT or LTE-M are already adopted by major telecom operators and promise to bring omnipresent carrier-grade connectivity, combined with excellent penetration and reliability.

But what does this mean for the average city? It means that we are just unlocking the true smart city potential. Having countless city services being managed over a secure and reliable communication infrastructure, without infrastructure investments or delays and having everything connected into one synergistic software platform. We do not think we are wrong to say this is what smart cities really are about…

Secondly, why would companies like Nokia, Cisco and Ericsson choose inteliLIGHT®’s street lighting control for demonstrating their vision for the future? Well, it’s lighting because it’s a critical and visible city system. But it’s Flashnet’s smart lighting because there is no one else. Flashnet has been driving innovation in this direction for years. Using open communications, developing the first LoRaWAN and NB-IoT compatible controllers, offering unprecedented API and integration flexibility.

“We are proud to see that inteliLIGHT was the solution of choice for every major Smart City integrator in Barcelona. It proves that our vision, of compatibility and integration besides control and reliability, is starting to become the norm in this fast-paced, world-changing industry” said Mr. Lorand Mozes, CEO of Flashnet.