Bluetooth NLC: 100% CAGR

ABI research has recently released a comprehensive study covering Bluetooth® technology in industrial applications. The report is titled "How Can Bluetooth Technology Enable Digital Transformation Across The Industrial IoT?" and can be downloaded here: https://go.abiresearch.com/lp-how-can-bluetooth-technology-enable-digital-transformation-across-the-industrial-iot.

It is important for a number of reasons.

In the past Bluetooth had been associated with simple short range connections between consumer products and accessories. In other words - small scale topologies in not very demanding applications. The ABI paper is one of the first exploring the large scale deployments in demanding industrial applications. The applicability of Bluetooth technologies to industrial applications is not a surprise to those deeply familiar with the technical aspects of Bluetooth - after all this is the most potent low power wireless technology available. Plus it has super long term and ambitious roadmap (see https://www.bluetooth.com/specifications/specifications-in-development/). But it may be quite eye opening for those not deeply familiar with Bluetooth and its progress.

Secondly this is the first report which clearly explains Bluetooth NLC and acknowledges the standard's potential to capture the commercial lighting controls market:

Bluetooth® LE has continually improved performance and added new features to better target new markets. The standardization of Bluetooth® mesh in 2017 enabled the technology to increasingly target commercial lighting applications. Building on this, in 2023, the Bluetooth® SIG announced its first full stack standard for Bluetooth® lighting control, known as Bluetooth® NLC.

This standardizes the radio layer, communication layer, and device layer, bringing standardized profiles for ambient light sensors, occupancy sensors, basic lightness, scene selection, dimming control, and energy monitoring. This has the potential to enable multi-vendor interoperability and will encourage much wider adoption of Bluetooth® mesh lighting in a wide range of commercial and industrial settings. In addition to sensor functionality, which can optimize lighting and energy savings based on occupancy and ambient lighting conditions, Bluetooth® lighting infrastructure can also act as a backbone network for location services via embedded beacons.

And finally it predicts over 100% CAGR during the next 5 years:

The second largest market will be the commercial building automation market, which is expected grow from just 8.5 million units in 2022 to reach over 135 million annual unit shipments by 2028. This will represent the fastest growth market, achieving a 55% CAGR between 2023 and 2028. Driven by the continued adoption of Bluetooth® mesh, thanks to the arrival of the NLC standard, Bluetooth® light switches and lighting fixtures will be the fastest growing areas, achieving a CAGR of over 100% during the next 5 years.

I could say "I told you", but honestly, I'm super happy to see the major analysts now fully appreciating the traction Bluetooth has had in commercial networked lighting control systems and the role Bluetooth NLC plays in reinforcing the trend.