Signify exploring new industry verticals in 2020

By Zufazlin Baharuddin

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 25 -- Signify, a world leader in lighting, is focusing on sustainable lighting solutions and exploring new industry verticals specifically in horticulture and LiFi (Light Fidelity) technology this year.

Alok Ghose, Signify chief executive officer for ASEAN, told Bernama the company is keen to create smarter and greener technology with endless innovation to optimise light-emitting diode (LED) applications in many areas.

He said Signify had used Philips Lighting fixtures for horticulture in the Netherlands as a pilot project in 2017 for vegetable plants.

The fixtures were found to be 1.46 times more efficient than traditional high-intensity discharge lighting, making vegetables such as tomatoes, lettuce and cucumber grow faster and resulting in bigger harvests and higher quality plants.

Meanwhile, Signify is introducing Trulifi -- a LiFi technology which offers fast Internet connection using light.

Ghose explained that Trulifi combines energy-efficient LED lighting with a reliable, secure and high-speed wireless connection at speeds far above most conventional workplace wireless technologies. 

He said Trulifi can benefit a community as it is suitable for use by banks, schools, government and industry, including the healthcare and hospitality sectors.

On another note, he said for the past few years the company has been making a foray into business-to-business (B2B) sectors for its products and solutions in the country.

Signify has introduced ‘Interact’, a software application specifically designed to bring together connected lighting systems using the Internet-of-Things (IoT).

He said Melaka is the first ‘Interact City’ in Malaysia to successfully deploy a cloud-based, intelligent street lighting management system over the IoT in 2018.

Melaka now has an end-to-end street lighting management system where each light point is connected and performance data is transmitted over the cloud to the city’s lighting servers, he noted.

“Around 1,138 LED lights have been installed and the new system significantly reduces maintenance costs, resulting in average monthly energy savings of 62 per cent,” he said.

Ghose added that Signify, formerly known as Philips Lighting, is also looking to expand its business-to-customer (B2C) sectors by pushing for smart home lighting fixtures such as the Philips Hue Wireless Lighting, which enables consumers to control lighting using an app as well as set light schedules and timers.

“We will continue to scale up adoption of smart lighting by introducing more affordable choices for consumers in the near future,” he said.

-- BERNAMA