Amey chooses 
Telensa for the Birmingham Highways PFI project
Cambridge, UK, 13th December 2010: Telensa Ltd., the leader in the remote control and monitoring of street lighting, has announced that Amey has chosen its PLANet system to support the 25 year, £2.7bn Birmingham Highways maintenance and management service. Telensa’s initial five-year contract is worth £4m.
The Highways partnership between Amey and Birmingham City Council is responsible for nearly 100,000 streetlights as well as roads, bridges and tunnels. PLANet will be used on all new and existing streetlights to control their switching and dimming; it will also monitor the performance of each light on a daily basis. From Amey’s operations centre, Telensa’s PLANet system communicates with all the lights using advanced wireless technology.
“The centrally managed control and monitoring of all the Birmingham street lights presents an enormous opportunity to improve their operating efficiency and deliver better street lighting to the people of Birmingham,” said Mike Notman, Amey Project Director for the Birmingham management and maintenance service. “The new LED street lights, in conjunction with Telensa’s PLANet system will be central in delivering the UK’s most advanced and efficient street lighting network, saving about 40% energy compared to conventional street lighting.”
Cllr Timothy Huxtable, Cabinet Member for Transportation and Regeneration, said: “As well as the significant environmental advantages of this work I have no doubt that the management of the LED street lights will also help to greatly improve the safety, security and the general environment of streets in the city.”
“Amey’s selection of the PLANet system is an important milestone in Telensa’s emergence as leader in street lighting management”, said Will Gibson, Telensa’s Managing Director. “Amey have supported us over several years in the testing of the system and we are delighted to see it now being deployed at significant scale across Birmingham.”
Following a period of initial development, Plextek Ltd. spun out Telensa Ltd. early in 2010.
Telensa's emphasis has been on addressing the needs of the street lighting industry, particularly in terms of functionality, reliability and cost-effectiveness. PLANet is the first solution of its kind that provides a full range of control, monitoring and energy measurement suitable for a wide range of existing and new street lighting, at a price that makes adoption on all lights economically viable.
Telensa's system was conceived, implemented and introduced to the market by founding directors Tim Jackson and Will Gibson, both experienced in the development of new wireless systems and bringing them to market. It is supported by a Carbon Trust Applied Research grant to develop commercially viable low carbon technology with the potential to cut UK carbon emissions.
Telensa’s PLANet (“Public Lighting Active Network”) system comprises telecell units installed on individual street lights, which connect into the system’s advanced, wide area wireless infrastructure. PLANet provides comprehensive features for accurately controlling lights’ switching and dimming, together with full energy measurement and fault detection capabilities.
Website: www.telensa.com
Based near Cambridge, UK, Plextek was established in 1989 and has grown to be one of the largest independent electronics and communications design facilities in Europe. It provides innovative design of complex communication systems and devices for a wide range of companies from technology start-ups to multi-national engineering conglomerates, and also undertakes supply of the finished products.
Website: www.plextek.co.uk
Amey is a leading UK public services provider with more than 11,000 staff. The company works across three main markets - Inter Urban, Local Government and Built Environment, which are supported by our award-winning consultancy. Amey delivers services in the highways, roads, schools, waste, rail, fleet solutions, workspace, street lighting, housing and aviation sectors. By offering a complete life-cycle solution for services, we maximise efficiencies for our customers.
Website: www.amey.co.uk
Source: Telensa
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