22 09 2023

Bluetooth SIG introduces Networked Lighting Control (NLC) Profiles

Silvair welcomes Bluetooth® NLC as an important milestone in the development of a global and interoperable standard for wireless lighting control. Interoperability has always been our goal, and we have always emphasized that it’s the only way towards mass adoption. Bluetooth NLC is the last missing link required to achieve that goal. Believing it will unlock the full potential of Bluetooth Mesh in lighting applications, we are committed to supporting the new standard in our products.

The release of Bluetooth NLC Profile Specifications comes 6 years after the adoption of the Bluetooth Mesh standard. Its impact on the wireless lighting control landscape has been truly transformative. With a wide range of solutions designed specifically to address the challenges of wireless lighting control in commercial spaces, Bluetooth Mesh set the bar at an entirely new level, providing reliability and scalability not seen previously in wireless systems. At the same time, it redefined the commissioning experience, allowing multiple processes and actions to be automated and simplified. By standardizing the communication architecture, the Bluetooth Mesh standard provided a rock-solid technology foundation for a new wave of enterprise-scale wireless control solutions.

NLC Profiles are device profiles that sit on top of Bluetooth Mesh, each with its own set of performance parameters and supported models. By adding standardization at the device layer, Bluetooth NLC enables multi-vendor interoperability and positions itself as the global wireless standard for commercial and industrial lighting markets. This clarifies standard compliance issues that have caused so much confusion over the recent years. In that sense, Bluetooth NLC is the last missing link required to unlock true interoperability and faster mass adoption. It becomes an ultimate distinguisher between standard-compliant solutions and proprietary systems that use Bluetooth only to a narrow extent. It also facilitates project specification, since the requirement to support NLC Profiles will be sufficient to ensure compliance with the standard.

Understanding the opportunities that Bluetooth NLC opens up for all market participants, Silvair fully supports the Bluetooth SIG’s efforts aimed at delivering a full-stack standard for wireless lighting control that ensures standardization from the radio through the device layer. We are also committed to developing our products in line with the Bluetooth SIG’s vision of the Bluetooth Mesh standard development. Therefore, we will make sure that our firmware is compliant with Bluetooth NLC Profile Specifications, and that our commissioning tools can work with any Bluetooth NLC-compliant devices.

By solving the challenge of interoperability at the device layer, Bluetooth NLC opens a new chapter in the history of standardized wireless lighting controls. We are excited to be part of that history, and we are looking forward to all the opportunities this will create for us and our Partners.