We've reported before on China's ambitious focus on smart cities. Among other things, the Chinese government expects its population to grow to 1.4 billion in 15 years. Because of that enormous challenge, smart cities are a matter of national policy. (And while they're at it, the Chinese see no reason why they can't become the world leader in smart city technology.)
The news release below outlines a partnership between Council Associate Partner Silver Spring Networks and China's Rongwen, one of the country's largest LED street light suppliers and operators. Rongwen sees the value in a platform that can accommodate street lighting, road and traffic monitoring, energy efficiency programs and other smart city management services. And that’s the approach all cities should consider, in my view. Before you send a truck to put in new LED bulbs, consider installing communications and sensors as well. – Jesse Berst
Silver Spring Networks Expands to China for Smart Cities and Smart Lighting with RongwenAlliance Expands Reach of Silver Spring IPv6 Platform and Solutions into China, Asia and South America
March 23, 2016 08:30 AM Eastern Daylight Time
REDWOOD CITY, Calif.-- (BUSINESSWIRE)-- Silver Spring Networks, Inc. (NYSE:SSNI) today announced a new go-to-market partner, Rongwen, for its rapidly growing smart cities and smart street lighting business. Rongwen is one of the largest smart LED street light providers and operators in China, and has deployed more than 250,000 controllable LED street lights in its home country under the Energy Performance Contracting (EPC) business model. Rongwen is also active in emerging markets across Asia and South America. Rongwen will integrate the open standards-based Silver Spring IPv6 platform in order to deliver solutions including lighting, smart city management services such as environment sensing and road monitoring applications, and advanced energy saving applications. China has the largest street lighting market in Asia Pacific with over 35 million street lights and, according to Navigant Research, the country’s 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-2020) emphasizes ICT and sustainability initiatives through smart infrastructure.
“Rongwen aims to help drive the adoption of smart lighting and smart cities in China, as well as emerging markets throughout Asia and South America, as more cities opt for energy efficiency and public health and safety initiatives,” said Li Zhixiong, General Manager, Rongwen. “Silver Spring Networks’ world patented technology can allow us to integrate various sensors and controlling devices for city management, traffic control, environmental monitoring and efficient control and management of new energy infrastructure. We look forward to offering our customers Silver Spring Networks’ innovation to enable our cities to be smarter and more efficient, with its already established track record of delivering programs at-scale in iconic cities around the world. ”
“As more and more operators look to modernize their lighting infrastructure and accelerate their path to smart cities, they are turning to Silver Spring’s platform and solutions,” said Brandon Davito, Vice President of Smart Lighting and Smart Cities, Silver Spring Networks. “We are proud to be working with Rongwen to help cities in China and outdoor lighting operators in other regions more rapidly deploy smart lighting and smart cities programs, and who can leverage Silver Spring technology that has been proven to connect millions and millions of devices.”
Rongwen will deliver Silver Spring’s Gen5 IPv6 networking platform, Streetlight.Vision 6 (SLV6) device control and management software, and third-party partner control offerings through Silver Spring’s innovative network-as-service and software-as-a-service models. The bundled solutions allow cities and lighting operators to receive the benefits of a broad based smart city platform without having to build and manage the network themselves, thus reducing their capital outlay and IT knowledge requirements.
Silver Spring has delivered more than 22.9 million critical infrastructure devices across five continents including projects in major global cities such as Bristol, Chicago, Copenhagen, Glasgow, Melbourne, Mexico City, Paris, Sao Paulo, San Francisco, Singapore, and Washington DC. Silver Spring is also deploying the largest networked street light project in the world, nearly 500,000 connected street lights across Miami and South Florida.
To learn more, please visit https://www.itron.com/partners-landing-page.
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