The Q4 2018 Signify Earnings Call delved into the company’s ventures for 2019.  The CEO of Signify, Eric Rondolat, stated that a large investment for the company is in horticulture, solar, and LiFi technology.  These areas of lighting must efficiently and seamlessly integrate with technology to be competitive in the lighting industry. LiFi specifically provides a faster and more efficient form of connection than WiFi, and Signify desires to be the forefront of this movement in the network connectivity.

Signify’s reason for venturing into LiFi is the security and speed that it provides to network users.  Signify did not mention the acquisition of Firefly during the call.  The statement below from Eric Rondolat addresses Signify’s venture into the LiFi market.

“In 2018, we were the first major lighting company to LiFi enable some of our existing luminaires. As you know, LiFi provide an extra layer of security versus solution that are based on radio waves as it is based on line of sight. The bandwidth is more than 1000x the size of the radio spectrum used by Wi-Fi. So it can connect many small devices and multiple users. Usage of LiFi is ideal in radio frequency sensitive areas like hospitals, clinics, factories and schools or area with poor or no Wi-Fi connection at all, like for instance, [multi-currency] building. We see a very healthy appetite for LiFi, which is reflected in the fact that since our first pilot with ECAD in France, in the first half of 2018, we now have more than 50 pilots in all corners of the world.”

The reason many companies such as Signify are delving into LiFi technology is the potential it has for the lighting industry.  The possibility of disrupting telecom and enabling a faster and more secure network technology is a venture Signify, and many others, are willing to invest. It will be interesting to see what drives the hunger for LiFi in 2019 and who will be the driving force behind the technology.

Read the full earnings call here.