Smart lights to become largest IoT devices in next 5-10 years: Philips

With cheaper and smarter lights fast replacing incandescent bulbs and compact fluorescent lamps (CFL), smart connected lights will become one of the largest internet of things (IoT) devices in the next five to 10 years, Harshvardhan Chitale, Vice Chairman and Managing Director, Philips Lighting India, has predicted.

"The next generation of changes (in lighting) that people will adopt will be intelligent, smart lights, which are IoT devices. Lights in the next 5-10 years will become one of the largest IoT-driven devices," Chitale said in an interview.

According to Chitale, intelligent lights, which is at a nascent stage now with nearly five per cent presence in the country's lighting industry, is expected to be "the default" over the next 5-10 years.

Smart, connected lighting is the next-generation energy-efficient LED products with additional sensors to sense things such as occupancy and temperature.

According to a recent TechSci Research report titled "India LED Lighting Market Forecast & Opportunities, 2020", the country's LED lighting market is projected to grow at a compounded annual growth rate of over 32 per cent during 2015-20.

"Today, when we think of buying a phone, we don't think of a landline phone. By default, we think of a mobile or a smartphone. We anticipate that over the next 5-10 years -- closer to five years -- potentially, when people think of upgrading their existing lights or installing new ones, they would install lights or lighting systems which are smart," Chitale emphasised. (READ MORE)