by Mellisa Tolentino | Jul 30, 2015

This week’s Smart City roundup features a new partnership expected to spur enterprise adoption of The Internet of Things (IoT), new options for smart buildings seeking lighting control, and a strategic team up to make Pakistan’s first smart city.

relayr advances enterprise IoT adoption

IoT provider relayr, Inc. announced that its partnership with business consulting firm BearingPoint (BearingPoint Europe Holdings B.V.) that will help the enterprise develop new IoT solutions and products.

The collaboration will integrate the relayr Cloud to business processes primarily managed by SAP systems and allow sensor data to be shared for beneficial new use cases in areas such as customer service and new business offerings. This integration will also provide smart services, such as remote control and monitoring, as well as predictive maintenance.

The collaboration is part of relayr’s Innovation Acceleration program that aims to help businesses develop IoT solutions quickly, easily and cost effectively. With the Innovation Acceleration program, IoT products can be developed in just a few hours and complete solutions implemented in as little as one business quarter. An Innovation Acceleration workshop will also be provided to businesses where can companies can learn how to easily develop IoT solutions to increase efficiency and build better first proof-of-concept solutions with the help of relayr’s technical and Cloud expertise and BearingPoint’s decades-long experience in process design and IT integration.

Hubbel’s intelligent building lighting controls

Hubbel Building Automation, Inc. launched an intelligent lighting control system that features auto-configuration, which makes installation easy. Called the NX Room Controller, the device provides energy-code compliance right out of the box. It integrates automatic and manual lighting control with an auto-configuration feature to provide and easy and affordable way to meet energy codes, including California’s Title 24 and ASHRAE 90.1.

The NX Room Controller is described as a plug-and-play solution, as it does not need network or software to set it up. Digital wall switches, vacancy/occupancy sensors and daylight sensors plug into the NX Room Controller and are auto-configured to default operations.

An optional Bluetooth module can be integrated to the NX Room Controller to allow it to be controlled using an Android or iOS device. Advanced dimming and daylight configurations can be accomplished using the mobile app.

Building Pakistan’s first smart city

Lighting Science Group Corp. (LSG) has been chosen as the founding partner in the $200 million plan to turn the seaport city of Karachi, once known as the “City of Lights,” into Pakistan’s first “Smart City.” Karachi is home to almost 24 million residents and the second-largest population of any city in the world.

AmeriGroup, one of the largest sustainable infrastructure developments and manufacturing companies in the UAE, will be leading the project and has recently signed a memorandum of understanding with the Sindh for the project, which will feature LSG’s FreeLED integrated solar LED lighting system along bridges, roads and other public venues. The $20 million lighting phase also includes adding wireless Internet and CCTV cameras.

Others involved in the project are LSG’s largest shareholder, Pegasus Capital Advisors L.P., which will assist in raising funds for security monitoring, LED street lighting, smart pole construction and system integration provided by the international telecom firm Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. and the smart pole solutions provider and integrator Streetscape.