NETWORKED LIGHTING
Optimisation of
business operations
PaE systems and digital lighting
creates business value beyond
pure lighting by utilising built-in
sensors and harnessing big data
analytics to drive better business
outcomes. Companies can
improve building use with in-depth
analytics gaining visibility into
use of spaces to better manage,
plan and optimise. There are
also improved physical security
advantages as lighting powered
by the network can use sensor-
activated closed-circuit television
(CCTV) and access controls to
secure sensitive areas, or in a
retail environment to reduce theft.
With the current ability of
standard Ethernet solutions,
PaE systems allow scalable
lighting systems to many tens
of thousands of devices, making
them uniquely positioned
compared to RF based solutions,
which are limited to hundreds of
devices at most.
The overall capital
expenditure, installation and
commissioning costs for a variety
of LED technology solutions
and installation methods are
shown in Figure 2 (below), which
compares five solutions, including
centralised Power over Ethernet
(PoE); decentralised zonal PoE;
centralised PaE with intelligent
control platform; PaE system
controlled by an existing in-
house BMS, plus a traditional high
voltage LED solution.
As expected, PoE solutions are
twice as expensive as traditional
high voltage LED solutions, even
when the reduction in cabling
costs is taken into consideration.
In comparison, the PaE solution
including the intelligent control
system offers a significant
benefit over traditional high
voltage LED solutions and reduces
costs by 65% compared to PoE
based solutions.
Making the switch
Through Integrated System
Technologies’ iDrive Power and
Ethernet (PaE) lighting solution,
the structured cabling industry
has a significant opportunity
to deploy large scale intelligent
lighting solutions using category
6A cabling and LED light fixtures at
20 | September 2017
iDrive Intelligent
Lighting Platform
Architecture.
Figure 2.
a project pricing level substantially
less than traditional high voltage
electrical works.
The iDrive PaE solution utilises
exactly the same infrastructure
as traditional PoE solutions, but
improves maintenance aspects
whilst offering clients a future-
proofed building infrastructure
fit for the next 25 years. It
is anticipated the amount of
additional cabling points required
for lighting and related sensors will
create a renaissance over the next
decade for the cabling industry.
Eddie Brady, business
development executive at Cray
Valley, suppliers for IST, explains,
‘The opportunities that are
presented by smart Intelligent LED
lighting and the ‘Intelligent Building’
concepts are huge for the network
cabling contractors who engage
these ideals at an early stage.
Whilst the ‘Intelligent Building’
concept is not exactly new, the fact
that we now live in an IP world and
the advances in smart devices and
the apps used on these devices
has changed the way we engage
with technology. This will have a
direct impact on how we design
buildings in the future and these
concepts will become the norm.’
Eddie adds, ‘The early adopters
of these concepts will get the
maximum benefit from these
opportunities in terms of customer
retention by becoming valued
advisers to their customers.
Installation companies that have
strong relationships with their
end-user clients will benefit most
from these new ideas.
‘These changes are likely to
be the biggest that we’ve seen in
the structured cabling industry
since telephone systems started to
become IP based, and will have an
enormous impact upon the industry.
It is important to be aware of the
challenges, and also best practices
in terms of design and installation
to be able to offer the very best
solutions to your customers.’
Eddie concludes, ‘The
emergence of low voltage
applications will transform the
way we design buildings in the
future. A good example is PoE
enabled digital signage and PCs
which offer huge flexibility and no
longer need 13a power sockets.
Cray Valley has hosted a number
of technology forums with IST this
year discussing opportunities that
these technologies present and
will continue to do so in 2018, get
in touch if you want to know more.’
More Information: Cray Valley
Components 01959 588 700
www.crayvalley.tech