Today’s smart cities need more than smart street lighting: information, control and reduced energy consumption are just steps towards the greater goal. Things are moving fast, and planning has become harder than ever. Decisions that should last a lifetime are only valid for a decade, and decade-long investments can become obsolete in less than a year. The entire global context changes fast, and the only chance to keep up is represented by open, future-proof solutions and a flexible approach to integration.

Started as a smart street lighting integration protocol, TALQ has become a global standard that provides a common language for smart city applications, enabling command and monitor of different types of connected devices through an easy-to-integrate protocol.

For city managers, TALQ provides the freedom to select among an entire array of lighting management solutions (hardware and software) when choosing to go smart. Moreover, it promises a smooth transition towards unrelated smart city applications.

In accordance to its open architecture philosophy, inteliLIGHT’s Connected Lighting solution embeds outstanding integrations and can natively adapt to multi-vendor hardware and software, as it comes with north-bound (software) and south-bound (hardware) API connectivity. Moreover, Flashnet’s engineers are continuously working to integrate more standards, for out-of-the-box connectivity.

In this context, the TALQ2 certification represents for inteliLIGHT another step towards keeping the promise of building easy-to-integrate smart systems. It guarantees that inteliLIGHT can connect to any other TALQ2 certified device/application. Furthermore, TALQ2 and inteliLIGHT’s Streetlight Control Software leap beyond street lighting control. It’s a step towards multipurpose, interoperable smart city deployments and management synergies.

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).

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)

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)

A global energy and services group, focused on three core activities: low-carbon power generation, mainly based on natural gas and renewable energy, global networks and customer solutions. In 2018, ENGIE announced the acquisition of 60% of Flashnet, a Romanian Internet of Things (IoT) company. Thanks to its solutions, many cities, both large and small, already enjoy all the benefits of smart public lighting networks. Learn more on www.engie.com.