Plextek spins out Telensa street lighting venture

Plextek's electronics design services include:FPGA design, ESCAN Radar, MMIC design, GPRS design, Communications product design, Microwave design Defence electronics, Electronic product design, RF design, DSP design, Telemetry system, System Integration,Communications system design, Due diligence

Press Release

Plextek spins out Telensa street lighting venture

Issued 20/01/2010

Incubating wireless technology concept capable of significant energy efficiency improvements

Plextek, the Cambridge-based electronics and communications design consultancy today announced a new spin out venture - Telensa Ltd. - focused on the commercialisation of a new cost effective wireless system for actively controlling, monitoring and metering large populations of outdoor street lights, so they can be managed with maximum energy and operational efficiency.

Led by Tim Jackson and Will Gibson, Telensa develops and markets its economical PLANet system, actively targeting local authorities and electrical/construction sub contractors who manage street lighting for councils. Colin Smithers, Managing Director, Plextek comments: "Plextek has a proven track record of incubating entrepreneurial ideas into successful businesses. For the last few years the Telensa team has benefited from our financial backing, advice and resources, and is now in a position to move forward as an independent company. The increasing focus on energy efficiency means that the market for Telensa's PLANet system is growing rapidly. As a result of its great technology I firmly believe Telensa is well placed to achieve major success, both in the UK and internationally."

Telensa's PLANet system is the first of its kind, providing flexible control, monitoring and full energy measurement, suitable for a wide range of existing and new street lighting. Telensa's system makes innovative use of Plextek's proven Ultra Narrow Band (UNB) wireless telemetry technology, which has been very successfully deployed, in applications such as stolen vehicle recovery and smart metering, with several million UNB based units in operation around the world.

"Telensa is addressing the needs of the street lighting industry in terms of functionality, reliability and cost-effectiveness," said Will Gibson, co-founder of Telensa. "The PLANet system offers local authorities a cost effective solution helping to protect against the rising and increasingly uncertain costs in street lighting provision. It enables the effective management of operations, maintenance and energy consumption across a whole street lighting population."

Website: www.telensa.com

About Telensa

Telensa was established in 2005 as part of Plextek Ltd, to develop the PLANet system based on Plextek's technology.

Telensa's emphasis has been on addressing the needs of the street lighting industry, particularly in terms of functionality, reliability and cost-effectiveness. The company supplies a complete system for remote control and monitoring of outdoor lighting, or telemanagement, called PLANet - Public Lighting Active Network.

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.