Resilient Systems, Better Cities: Schréder EXEDRA, a FutureProof Solution

Jonathan Budai - Smart Cities Expert
Jonathan Budai
Benelux Smart City Expert

Cities are complex objects, where people, buildings and ideas meet to build the future. Smart Lighting creates pavements and roads that feel safer, offers visibility for first responders, and infrastructure for sensors that can enhance services.   

Over time, it has become best practice to connect these lights through a Central Management System (CMS). Software controls enable better lighting schedules, energy savings, and lighting that adapts to the environment. The success of these platforms relies on their ability to withstand challenges and evolve with technology. The most livable modern cities require lighting controlled by a robust and reliable web platform, such as Schréder EXEDRA.  

By adopting comprehensive and future-ready solutions, organisations, governments, and individuals can ensure that their strategies, processes, plans, and systems are not only effective in addressing current challenges but also adaptable and well-prepared for future changes and developments.  

At Schréder, we designed Schréder EXEDRA to be Simple, Modular, Automation-driven, Resilient and Trustable - as every option on the market should be. In this blog, we look at what Resilient means when investing in a smart public lighting system.   
 

Connected By Lighting

A truly resilient system is open, interoperable, holistic, thorough, scalable and futureproof. Schréder EXEDRA works seamlessly with other software and hardware; fully interoperable, it can bring a wide variety of luminaires, networks and systems on board, including legacy assets.   

Schréder is a member of uCIFI, TalQ and Zhaga, where multiple players in the smart cities space have a joint commitment to provide solutions for vertical and horizontal Internet of Things (IoT) integration. From the basics (hardware) to the language (data model) and the intelligence (algorithms), the most resilient systems are based on shared and open technologies.  

The smart city is an open ecosystem that needs to be approached holistically. Schréder EXEDRA avoids vendor lock-in by facilitating links with other manufacturers and suppliers. In this sense, openness is futureproof, as it enables the integration of other related IoT applications. Schréder’s CMS teams also have extensive experience of working with other suppliers to create bespoke solutions for each city.

Schréder EXEDRA is powered by Microsoft Azure, which delivers exceptional resilience and fault tolerance


Recover Fast, Go Again: Everyday Resilience

Street lighting is an essential service and is classed as critical infrastructure in many countries, and residents are quick to complain when the lights go out. Schréder EXEDRA offers daily backup policies for critical data and telemetry. It also has automatic retry mechanisms, which intelligently handle errors and transient failures, automatically retrying failed operations to provide a smooth user experience. 

Schréder EXEDRA is powered by Microsoft Azure, which delivers exceptional resilience and fault tolerance. Azure includes zonal and regional redundancy, ensuring that even in the face of infrastructure failures, our platform remains operational and highly available.  

Maintaining a resilient web platform requires thorough testing and preparedness for worst-case scenarios. Schréder holds regular audit-driven disaster recovery exercises, allowing us to identify and address potential vulnerabilities. And in the event of any unexpected issues, an automated rollback mechanism allows Schréder EXEDRA to revert to a stable version seamlessly.
 

Resilient, Adaptive, Efficient: A Star Lighting Solution for Star-watchers

Resilience is a keyword for mountain survival, and that applies to lighting, as well. The French ski resort of La Mongie is also home to the Pic du Midi observatory, nearly 3,000 metres above sea level. The council wanted to save energy, while meeting the needs of both skiers and astronomers.  

Schréder’s engineers co-created a solution that reduced energy use by 40%, with a higher light output. Thanks to the Schréder EXEDRA, everyone can enjoy bright streets for the après-ski and starry nights from the observatory. The project was awarded the prize of the Exemplary Lighting Trophy for public lighting in 2018 by the French Lighting Association (AFE). And its resilient nature means that downtime is for holidaymakers, not the lighting system.

Schréder EXEDRA provides a resilient smart lighting system for La Mongie


A Question of Scale

No two cities are the same, and no two days are, either. Schréder EXEDRA reacts instantly to events such as sudden spikes in user traffic, increased load on specific functions, or any other events the customer wants included. The response scales automatically based on incoming events or triggers, meaning the CMS platform dynamically provisions additional resources.  

In addition to event-driven auto-scaling, we also utilise resource-driven auto-scaling to handle anticipated increases in traffic or workload. By continuously monitoring the usage of CPU, memory, and network bandwidth, Schréder EXEDRA adjusts resource allocation to maintain optimal performance. During periods of lower demand, the system scales down resources to optimise cost efficiency without compromising performance. 

Many luminaires are now sold connected-ready, which means cities can add them to whichever CMS they choose as spaces grow, change and modernise. Being future-ready means anticipating and preparing for emerging trends, challenges, and opportunities. It involves considering the long-term implications and impacts of decisions and strategies, rather than focusing solely on immediate needs. 

A future-ready solution is flexible and adaptable to changing circumstances, technologies, and requirements. It can evolve and scale up or down to accommodate growth, new demands, or unforeseen challenges. It can grow with new innovations in the smart city and IoT space and use them to optimise processes, improve outcomes, and address future challenges.
 

Resilient, Robust, Ready 

A future-ready solution that considers the bigger picture, Schréder EXEDRA can be adjusted for the potential impacts of climate change, resource constraints, and other environmental factors. Open, interoperable, plug-and-play and scalable lighting networks play a key role in building a smart city, and resilience equates to social, environmental and economic benefits to communities and strong operational and financial benefits for urban authorities. 

Schréder EXEDRA offers a resilient, futureproof web platform with robust daily backup policies, strong retry mechanisms, a secure cloud thanks to Microsoft, disaster recovery audits, fully automated deployments, and automated product lifecycles. A robust and reliable web platform that adapts to emerging technologies and ensures uninterrupted business operations, it enables cities, towns and villages to change the lights without changing the lighting.

For a closer look at why resilience matters, read our white paper

For more details on what Schréder EXEDRA can offer, contact your local sales representative.
 

About the writer
A true technology geek, Jonathan is passionate about the world of machine learning and AI technologies. He works with our customers in the Benelux region, using his experience of the latest technological advances, to advise and develop solutions that unlock the huge potential of smart city applications. He has managed and worked on a wide variety of projects, ranging in scale from small pilot projects to large infrastructure schemes.

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