Cisco: The Industrial Internet of Things

Last week’s Semico IMPACT event was full of interesting speakers discussing the Internet of Things and how Smart Lighting is the “Trojan Horse” of connectivity and intelligence.  Our first guest keynote speaker of the day was Prasanna Venkatesan,  Vertical Business Solutions Leader, IoT Group,  Cisco. Hecame right out and said maybe we shouldn’t be focusing on the residential Internet of Things because there are too many shakeups in that market segment.  Instead, Cisco sees more initial opportunity in the Industrial Internet of Things. 

But first, some lighting statistics.  One fifth of the world’s global electricity usage is from lighting, which equals about 70% of the world’s passenger vehicle emissions.  That is why lighting is such an important market to focus on, especially LED lighting, which has the potential to reduce the US lighting energy consumption 50% by 2020. 

Cisco expects that LED lighting will have 52% of the market by 2021.  Now, couple that with the fact that most lighting today is analog, and the market is ripe for a “digital disruption.”

So where is Cisco in all of this?  Venkatesan believes the next generation of lighting will revolve around the ‘Digital Ceiling’ as the industry moves to Power over Ethernet (UPoE).  By powering lighting through Ethernet, the lighting system is not only capable of being measured and monitored, the path is now open to other applications via the network such as HVAC sensors, video surveillance, fire and safety, power management and building access . 

Because the power consumption is relatively low for all the lighting options the market is hungry for, and the use of Power over Ethernet eliminates the high voltage AC wiring needed for lighting systems, sensors, speakers, cameras or wifi access points are easy add-ons.  These added features help justify the switch to a ‘smart’ building system.   

Imagine all the systems in a building that could be put on an IP-Enabled Energy Management system. 

With IP-enabled power, a city could manage not just lighting but parking and even garbage collection.  These add-ons are crucial, because as we all know, retrofitting is hugely expensive, so there needs to be more than just “upgrade the lighting” to draw in the industrial markets. 

Semico would like to thank Cisco’s Prasanna Venkatesan for an excellent keynote presentation.  If you attended the event, we have the slides available, and Cisco’s presentation is filled with relevant data points outlining the future of this industry and the value lighting provides.