Another promise of the IoT revolution is the insight that comes from streaming, storing, combining, and mining massive amounts of data from multiple sources. With integration on the software and database side, connected lighting systems can participate in another major technology trend: Big Data.

Big Data is a term that describes the exponential growth and availability of data from an avalanche of new sources – especially from connected devices, which exist in order to collect and transmit information. Big Data may prove to be as transformative a technology as the Internet, as the enormous amounts of data being collected now may support deeper insight, more accurate analysis, and better decision-making, in business and elsewhere.

Lighting always accounts for a significant percentage of the energy budget in a building or city, so deep insight into lighting operations can save money, streamline workflows, and make people safer and more secure. As a platform for gathering insight into occupancy patterns and activities in illuminated spaces, connected lighting systems offer a unique data set that can’t easily be acquired in any other way. The analysis of traffic patterns in a building or city can help organizations make better, more targeted decisions, especially when that data combines with data from other sources.