inteliLIGHT cabinet controllers integrated in Bristol’s TALQ-based multi-vendor smart street lighting project
Bristol City Council is building a future-ready smart lighting infrastructure based on interoperability, open standards and long-term flexibility.
As part of a large-scale modernization program, the city replaced thousands of legacy streetlights with LED technology and implemented a Central Management System designed to support energy savings, real-time control and future smart city services.
Within this multi-vendor architecture, Flashnet’s inteliLIGHT® cabinet controllers played an important role by enabling centralized switching and monitoring for specific lighting applications. Fully integrated through the TALQ Smart City Protocol, the solution clearly demonstrated seamless interoperability with the Schréder solution.
The location and context
Bristol is one of the largest and fastest-growing cities in England and Wales, with a population of around 479,000. As part of its long-term urban development strategy, the city launched an ambitious program to modernize its street lighting infrastructure, reduce energy consumption, and create foundations for broader smart city services.
The original program targeted the replacement of old streetlights with LED technology and the deployment of a CMS. The goal was to deliver significant energy and maintenance savings while enabling more flexible lighting control across the city.
The challenge
Bristol’s requirements went beyond a straightforward LED replacement. The city needed a smart lighting architecture that could deliver immediate savings, support fast deployment and preserve long-term technology freedom, all at the same time.
Interoperability was a central requirement. Bristol wanted to avoid dependence on any single proprietary platform and instead build a system where hardware and software from different vendors could work together reliably. This was particularly important given the project’s technical complexity: the architecture spanned luminaire-level control, cabinet-level control, and integration with a third-party CMS.
The city also required low-latency control, strong cybersecurity, real-time operational visibility, and the capacity to support services beyond lighting as the program matured.
The solution
To meet these requirements, Bristol adopted a TALQ-based approach. This allowed different vendors and technologies to be integrated into one unified lighting management environment.
Flashnet’s inteliLIGHT® cabinet controllers were deployed for specific use cases where direct physical connections to individual luminaires were not feasible, including facilities such as park-and-ride sites. In these areas, cabinet-level control enabled centralized switching and remote schedule management, eliminating the need for manual cabinet visits whenever operating hours changed.
The inteliLIGHT controllers were integrated through TALQ into the broader system, alongside the Schréder demonstrating one of the most important strengths of inteliLIGHT: the ability to operate inside multi-vendor smart city architectures without forcing cities into a closed ecosystem.
The technical solution
The inteliLIGHT cabinet controllers provided reliable segment-level control for lighting circuits, supporting remote switching, monitoring and integration with the city's CMS.
Through TALQ-certified interoperability, Flashnet's hardware could be managed from a third-party platform, allowing Bristol to maintain a unified operational view across different types of assets and vendors.
This approach brought several advantages:
- Centralized cabinet-level switching for locations where individual luminaire control was not practical
- Remote schedule changes, reducing manual field interventions
- Integration with third-party CMS software through TALQ
- Support for multi-vendor architecture, preserving long-term flexibility
- A practical foundation for future smart city expansion
Connectivity across the wider project included NB-IoT and 4G, with mesh networking capabilities supporting responsive control and data exchange throughout the lighting system.
The deployment
Most installations used luminaires equipped with wireless control nodes, while Flashnet’s inteliLIGHT cabinet controllers were used for targeted cabinet-level applications. This hybrid approach allowed Bristol to apply the right control strategy depending on the local infrastructure and operational needs.
The project also showed the value of open standards in real-world deployments. Previously orphaned control nodes, installed years earlier but not functional under a previous system, were successfully integrated and began reporting independently through TALQ interoperability.
The results
The Bristol smart lighting program delivers strong operational and financial results.
By March 2025, the city achieved 59.5% energy savings compared to the reference year. In the financial year 2024–25, the project delivered a £1.4 million benefit, while maintaining a 0.1% failure rate across approximately 34,000 assets.
Plus:
- Faults can now be identified proactively, before residents report them
- Manual cabinet visits for schedule changes have been reduced
- Multi-vendor lighting assets can be managed through a unified system
- The city has created a scalable foundation for future smart city services
The project demonstrates how connected lighting can become both an efficiency upgrade, as well as a foundation for smarter, more flexible urban infrastructure.
"Bristol is a strong example of how interoperability works in practice. Our inteliLIGHT cabinet controllers were integrated into a wider multi-vendor architecture, proving that smart lighting systems do not need to be locked into a single technology stack. For cities, this means flexibility, scalability and the freedom to build smart infrastructure step by step."
— Alexandru Buzatu, CCO, Flashnet
About TALQ Consortium
Founded in 2012, the TALQ Consortium is establishing a globally accepted standard for management software interfaces to control and monitor heterogeneous smart city applications. The TALQ Smart City Protocol is a specification for information exchange, suitable for implementation in various products and systems. This way interoperability between Central Management Software (CMS) and Outdoor Device Networks (ODN) from different vendors will be enabled, such that a single CMS can control different ODNs in different parts of a city or region. For more information visit (www.talq-consortium.org).
About inteliLIGHT ®
inteliLIGHT® is a smart street lighting control solution that offers detailed lamp-level management capabilities (ON/OFF, dimming, real-time reporting) over multiple IoT communication technologies. In-depth grid awareness is obtained through accurate utility-grade readings of any changes occurring along the grid, reducing energy loss and offering advanced maintenance optimization tools. Furthermore, inteliLIGHT® is integrated with Smart City management platforms and offers support for further Smart City development. (www.inteliLIGHT.eu)
About FLASHNET
FLASHNET is a fast-paced tech company that integrates the latest IT, energy and telecommunications technologies into hardware and software solutions, creating and implementing intelligent systems for smarter cities and better infrastructure. Founded in 2005, FLASHNET is a leader in intelligent utility management systems, with worldwide operations. (www.flashnet.ro)
