Standard Will Enable Lighting Control Market to Reach True Potential
Kirkland, Washington – September 19, 2023 – Today, the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG), the organization that oversees Bluetooth® technology, announced the completion of Bluetooth® Networked Lighting Control (NLC), the first full-stack standard for wireless lighting control. By offering standardization from the radio through the device layer, Bluetooth® NLC enables true multi-vendor interoperability and mass adoption of wireless lighting control.
Over a decade ago, the lighting industry began a journey towards standardization of wireless lighting control using Bluetooth® technology, first by leveraging Bluetooth® Low Energy (LE) at the radio layer and then adopting Bluetooth® Mesh to standardize the communication layer. Today’s release of new Bluetooth® NLC Profile Specifications adds standardization at the device layer, completing the full stack Bluetooth® NLC standard.
With the introduction of Bluetooth® NLC, lighting suppliers will benefit from lower cost and faster innovation, increased market opportunity, and additional revenue models.
“The establishment of globally available wireless standards has always been a key landmark in enabling connected device ecosystems to achieve their full promise. Wireless lighting control is no different,” said Andrew Zignani, Senior Research Director at ABI Research. “Bluetooth® NLC expands the supplier opportunity by instilling buyer confidence and peace of mind, increasing the likelihood of adoption, and unleashing the lighting control market’s total potential.”
Bluetooth® NLC will also bring benefits to lighting buyers, including true, multi-vendor interoperability, ease of deployment, and greater scalability.
“The impact of the Bluetooth® Mesh standard on the wireless lighting control landscape has been truly transformative. Bluetooth® NLC is the last missing link required to achieve global interoperability in wireless lighting control,” said Rafał Han, CEO of Silvair. “We’re excited about how it will benefit the market and shape the future of the lighting industry, allowing components from different vendors to work seamlessly with each other. At Silvair, we believe in staying at the forefront of innovation with a strong emphasis on security and scalability, and interoperability is the way towards mass adoption.”
“Without a full-stack wireless lighting control standard that includes device profiles, adoption of wireless lighting control was limited and fear of vendor lock-in was high. Bluetooth® NLC solves this challenge, ensuring open, standardized interoperability,” said Edward Lees, Head of Technical Product Development – Digital Solutions and Services at Feilo Sylvania International. “We are excited to see a standard that meets the scale, reliability, true interoperability, and security demands required in modern, digital, commercial applications. Bluetooth® NLC will help the wireless lighting control market breakdown barriers to adoption and realize its full potential.”
To learn more about the benefits of networked lighting control and the role of Bluetooth® NLC, visit bluetooth.com/nlc. For more information about recent enhancements to Bluetooth® Mesh, visit bluetooth.com/mesh. To access the new Bluetooth® NLC Profile Specifications, visit bluetooth.com/nlc-specs.
About Bluetooth® Technology
With over 5 billion products shipping each year, Bluetooth technology is the global standard for simple, secure wireless device communications and positioning. Since its formation in 1998, the Bluetooth SIG community has continued to expand the capabilities of Bluetooth technology — powering innovation, creating new markets, and redefining communication worldwide. Today, Bluetooth is the wireless technology of choice for developers in many solution areas, including audio streaming, data transfer, location services, and large-scale device networks.
About the Bluetooth SIG
Formed in 1998, the Bluetooth SIG is the not-for-profit trade association that oversees Bluetooth® technology. In support of more than 40,000 member companies, the Bluetooth SIG facilitates the collaboration of its members to create new and enhanced specifications that expand the technology, drives global interoperability via a world-class product qualification program, and grows the brand by increasing the awareness, understanding, and adoption of Bluetooth technology.
