Telensa (www.telensa.com), the market-leading ‘smart’ wireless street lighting control company, has appointed Burt Wallace to head up its North American operation in Atlanta, Georgia.

As business development manager for North America, Wallace’s role will be to spearhead Telensa’s ongoing expansion into the United States and Canadian markets, where it already has several successful projects underway including one with the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission.

Burt brings to the Telensa team a comprehensive knowledge of the U.S. electric utility industry with over 25 years’ experience spanning utility operations, outdoor lighting, retail and wholesale marketing, and regulatory compliance. This includes serving a critical role in the successful start-up of Georgia Power’s unregulated lighting business.

Burt Wallace will head Telensa's North American operations. (LEDinside/Telensa)

Burt’s responsibilities will include providing full pre-sales technical and sales support capability to end-user customers, contractors, and luminaire suppliers, as well managing North American operations as Telensa increases its portfolio of global projects.

“I am excited at this opportunity as Telensa has a proven track record of large scale implementation of street light control systems the world over,” commented Wallace. “There are not many companies over here that have such experience or that already operate networks of one hundred thousand plus lights.”

Will Gibson, CEO, Telensa, commented: “Burt’s appointment marks a significant step for Telensa as we continue to expand our global operations to meet the increasing market demand for our field proven central management system in North America.

“With almost 10 years of market experience, we will continue to innovate to provide the features our North American customers need including resistance to lightning, high humidity and salt spray required for tropical weather conditions. And, as the trend towards LED street lighting continues, by adding a GPS module to our wireless control (telecell) and a 5-7 pin NEMA connector for LEDs.”

According to Telensa, its PLANet (Public Lighting Active Network) system uses far lower broadcast power than comparable U.S. CMS systems yet has far greater range due to its patented ultra narrow band wireless technology. This brings major benefits in terms of reduced infrastructure (fewer gateways and base-stations) and it makes deployment of the system far easier – a critical consideration in large systems like the 125,000 street light central management system, currently the world’s largest, that Telensa operates today in the county of Essex in the United Kingdom.

Telensa’s wireless CMS system accurately controls switching and dimming of street lights. It also measures energy and detects faulty street lights and helps municipalities and smart grid operators to deliver improved maintenance and significant savings on energy bills. It can also be applied to all types of lighting fixtures, retro or new build deployments and works with a wide range of lamp types including LEDs.