Wipro Lighting’s revolutionary Internet of Lighting* (IoL) aims to offer customers best-in-class solutions. It is Wipro Lighting’s platform on which lighting and technology converge. The company will be providing its lighting applications and solutions, from smart homes and smart buildings to smart cities—all under the Internet of Lighting brand, which stands for human-centric lighting solutions. Anuj Dhir, vice president and business head, Wipro Commercial Lighting Business in conversation with Shruti Mishra, business journalist at Electronics Bazaar, discusses the company’s plans and strategies to make IoL a success in the country.
EB: How did Wipro Lighting come up with the idea of IoL?
Two factors led to the inception of IoL at Wipro. The first is the Internet of Things (IoT), based on which lots of innovations are happening in almost all industries across the globe. Since the LED lighting industry uses a digital light source, merging IoT with LEDs has not only provided flexibility in design but also in terms of technology. With IoL, lights can now be a source of illumination as well as a carrier of data.
The second factor is the introduction of the smart city concept, which is based on power-saving smart and connected lighting. As we know, in smart city infrastructure, streetlights, CCTV surveillance, Wi-Fi controllers and air pollution controllers are a must. So keeping in mind the space and power constraints, we thought of designing a platform that not only eliminated the need for individual power supply structures for each one of the devices but also acted as a confluence of technology and lighting. And thus, we got the idea of the IoL, whereby we integrated LED lighting with Wi-Fi and RF connectivity, digital ads, motion sensors, CCTVs, as well as weather and CO2 sensors, to provide an enhanced user experience.
EB: Considering the challenges on the infrastructure side, do you think this will become a barrier in implementing the IoL in India?
IoL has two main parts—one is linked to the buildings and the other to the urban landscape or the city areas. We are not going to face any infrastructural issues with respect to individual buildings. But yes, when it comes to the city, the infrastructure seems to be a challenge as of now.
The government is investing in modifying the infrastructure with its Smart City initiative, and we hope most of the hurdles will soon be removed.
EB: Talking about smart cities, are you engaged in any government projects?
We are in the initial stages of disussions for a few government development projects. For smart cities in particular, Wipro’s range of outdoor luminaires along with IoL will contribute to smart outdoor lighting solutions. These include individual luminaire-level controls that are based on the ambient light, the time of the day, and the location (longitude and latitude).
EB: What kind of marketing strategy are you adopting to promote IoL in the country?
We are focusing on organising customer engagement programmes and have allotted a dedicated team for that. The team talks about the trends, and suggests suitable solutions depending upon the customer’s requirement. We held our first programme in Pune and are now planning to extend this across all cities like Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Delhi and Mumbai. As part of the social media strategy, we have decided to promote the IoL on LinkedIn and other platforms as well.
In addition, we are running a promotional campaign covering eight cities. We are targeting Tier I cities in the first phase, since the larger base of our customers is from these cities.
EB: Who are the technology partners for this solution?
We have collaborated with Cisco for PoE based lighting solutions for smart buildings, which enable improvements in workplace productivity and enhanced employee well-being. We are also partnering with pureLiFi from Scotland, which is considered to have invented the technology called Li-fi, using which we can safely transfer data over lightwaves. This collaboration will help in delivering secure and high speed data transmission through LED luminaires, across Indian markets.
EB: By when are you aiming to complete the pan-India implementation of IoL?
As per our current plans, we are targeting to cover all the Tier I cities by the end of April, and by the end of this year, we are targeting to touch Tier II cities.
EB: There are several players in smart lighting. What makes IoL different from the solutions they are providing?
Wipro’s uniqueness lies in the fact that we are the only company offering smart lighting solutions across various segments – smart homes, smart buildings, smart industries, smart outdoors and smart facades, all under the IoL platform.
EB: What factors do you think will increase the demand for IoL in the coming years?
Currently, there is a tremendous focus on energy saving across the world. Facility managers and city administrators are all ready to adopt new technologies that will help them take smart decisions, provide a better user experience, as well as reduce their electricity bills. In India, as well, the government is driving initiatives to improve city infrastructure and boost the economy. All such initiatives have been contributing to the penetration of technology based lighting solutions like IoL.
EB: Are you engaging with any new reseller base to generate sales of the IoL solution?
We already have a good reseller base across the country, so we have decided to work with this, as of now. This will help in building up not just the required skillsets locally, but also develop local relationships and local infrastructure to ensure that high-end customer service is provided.
EB: What recommendations would you want to put forth to the government?
For efficient implementation of IoL solutions in India, the government should push the Smart City agenda much more strongly. In addition, I also think that the government should incentivise users who adopt new technologies. This will help the industry in transferring more benefits to the users.
