Osram’s LIGHTIFY now works with Google’s Nest in smart home IoT move

Osram’s LIGHTIFY is ‘no less than a mobile revolution in the lighting sector’. Now it can ‘talk’ to Nest as well. OSRAM

It was bound to happen – first Philips got in on the Internet of Things (IoT) bandwagon by connecting its Hue LED lighting system to Google’s Nest products; now Osram is in on the act too, because its advanced LIGHTIFY connected lighting also works with Nest. By James Hunt:

Connected lighting is an essential part of today’s smart home technology solutions. Osram’s LIGHTIFY system has joined with Nest programme, one of the leading drivers in the smart home business. The Nest Learning Thermostat offers, says Osram, “simple and thoughtful solutions for every home”.

Because of the current fast growth in the home technology automation sector, it’s increasingly essential to find ways to expand the connectivity of lighting within other areas of the home. As a result, of this move therefore, LIGHTIFY smart connected lighting products are now compatible with Nest Learning Thermostats in the UK and Ireland.

Today, there are various interesting possibilities for lighting evolution. These include it being developed as part of the fast expanding IoT, where just about everything can be IP or otherwise wirelessly connected.

This has been happening already, with Philips’ Hue LED-powered colour changing lighting system that features personalised control via a smartphone or tablet app. This has been able to ‘talk’ for some time now with a variety of other connected IoT devices, such as Google’s Nest Labs smart thermostats and security devices, Apple’s new Watch and even a bed! This says a lot about one path that lighting technological development is going.

Osram too has been involved with its LIGHTIFY system as these connected lighting kits provide a portfolio of cost-effective indoor and outdoor lighting products that can be controlled and automated via an app on a smart phone or tablet to help users save energy, enhance comfort and personalise the environment.

Digital lighting systems – such as the LIGHTIFY range – are LED based. Therefore lighting is a flexible solution, giving coloured or tuneable white lighting to users on timers or at the touch of a button on a smart phone or tablet device, and it ticks the box for energy efficiency. The company then introduced complementary wireless switching for LIGHTIFY. Now, this has evolved to the latest Nest development.

“This is”, says the company, “no less than a mobile revolution in the lighting sector”. Beginning with the LIGHTIFY Gateway and App, Nest users can use any product within the LIGHTIFY family to create scenes and integrate them with the Home and Away scenes of Nest. When using the Home and Away functions, users can choose from any of their existing LIGHTIFY scenes.

Fast growth predicted – and opportunities too

Importantly, since it is predicted that many billions of smart devices will be connected within the IoT by 2020, electrical contractors and installers should be able to find many ways to benefit from this new lighting revolution.

Smart, connected lighting, combined with Internet and wireless technologies, is one area is already growing very fast in line with the IoT, and it should provide lighting manufacturers with a much needed and diversified source of income.

Indeed, wireless networking technologies are bringing intelligence to a new generation of smart lighting. It is partly for this reason that key industry figures predict that IT companies may take a significant share of the wireless lighting controls market in the future, as part of the IoT.

For more information on the Osram LIGHTIFY range, please visit: led.osram.co.uk/lightify and for the Nest UK website, go to: https://nest.com/uk/