European lighting manufacturer Zumtobel, Dornbirn, Austria, has formed a partnership in trials with pureLiFi to use Zumtobel’s LED lights to send large amounts of data using light fidelity (LiFi) technologies while appearing to provide normal lighting to the human eye. The LiFi trial reflects a series of moves by Zumtobel to evolve lighting beyond its core function of pure illumination and solve challenges for high-speed secure wireless connectivity, the company said in a release.
Zumtobel has installed pureLiFi’s system alongside its LED lights to make a system capable of high-speed data transmission using small adjustments in the LED’s brightness. The result is a high-speed Internet connection that is more secure, reliable, and able to deliver bandwidth far beyond the capabilities of conventional wireless communications like Wi-Fi, Zumtobel said.
Zumtobel aims to evaluate the market demand for this technology over the coming months with its eye on early adopters in medical, defense, industrial and manufacturing markets.
“LiFi enabled by Zumtobel allows to step into the next era of wireless communications. Compared to standard radio technology or cellular such as Wi-Fi, LiFi can transmit at multiple gigabits, is more reliable, virtually interference free and uniquely more secure,” says Zumtobel Group CEO Alfred Felder. “We believe that in an increasingly interconnected digital world LiFi will play a decisive role in moving our industry into the era of digital light.”