Making brighter cities

Street lighting company Telensa appoints Karen Balbi as product manager

Karen to steer wireless smart controls product development – including the roll-out of new products in 2015 – and to ensure that Telensa continues to meet the needs of its growing international customer base and established user group

Great Chesterford, Essex, England, February 17, 2015 – Telensa, the award-winning wireless street lighting control company, has appointed Karen Balbi as product manager to steer the development of its patented PLANet (Public Lighting Active Network) wireless smart grid control system. The system enables councils and municipalities across the world to realise energy savings of up to 25% when used to manage both legacy street lighting and the latest LED technology.

Karen’s role will be to focus on meeting the needs of current and prospective street lighting customers and ensure that they achieve the targeted cost savings and efficiency improvements that the Telensa system offers. She will also work closely with the established UK user group.

Following the launch of new lighting products in the autumn, including the new low profile Telecell with its onboard GPS and NEMA 7-pin connector, an enhanced user interface and traffic flow adaptive lighting, Karen will also oversee the roll-out of new hardware and software into the market during 2015.

Karen graduated with a BSc in product design from Brunel University. Prior to joining Telensa, she was technical manager for Radleys and oversaw the market research, product specification, development and market introduction of control software and hardware used for automating laboratory chemical processes.

Will Gibson, Telensa’s CEO, said: “Karen’s technical background in both electronics and software, and her experience of forging close relationships with customers, is an excellent fit for Telensa. As product manager, Karen will spend time with existing and prospective lighting customers to ensure that we understand and meet their requirements. In effect, Karen will be the voice of the customer inside the business.

These are exciting times for Telensa as we expand internationally and across the Internet of Things (IoT) landscape into other smart city applications. However, it’s vital that we stay close to our lighting customers and respond to their needs. Continuing our success and maintaining our market leading position in UK street lighting, as demonstrated by the major contract with Hertfordshire County Council announced in 2014, remains core to our overall strategy,” added Will Gibson.

Telensa’s patented PLANet wireless smart grid system accurately controls switching and dimming of conventional and LED street lights, measures energy and detects faults in both the light and electrical supply. The system is used by scores of municipalities and lighting contractors to manage energy consumption and to deliver improved maintenance and significant savings on energy bills of between 15-25 percent.

Telensa’s low power ultra-narrow band (UNB) wireless control system is applicable across a range of applications. The system includes control and monitoring nodes (telecells) fitted to street lights which then connect wirelessly to a base station and onto a central system server.