Bright idea? UK firm pioneers data centres using lampposts

There have been many attempts to put data centres in unusual places over the years - Microsoft put a data centre under the sea, Elon Musk has suggested putting them in space.

Now a UK firm is betting on data centres using thousands of connected smart lampposts, and has signed a formal agreement with a Nigerian state to deploy 50,000 of them.

Warwickshire-based Conflow Power Group Limited (CPG) says networked together its solar-powered iLamp units "double as a revenue-generating distributed AI data centre".

However, some experts have told the BBC the tech isn't a substitute for the powerful data centres needed to run the toughest AI tasks, although they could be useful for less demanding work.

Each iLamp has batteries which are charged by a cylindrical solar panel. These supply the energy used by a low-powered computer suitable for AI tasks.

The firm's plan, according to Fitzpatrick, is that scaled across thousands of units, a network of iLamps would deliver the collective processing power of a data centre with the environmental benefit of not drawing energy from the grid.

Data centre industry veteran Prof Ian Bitterlin told the BBC the physical security of the streetlights would be a concern.

Fitzpatrick accepts this. "If people realise that there's a $2,000 unit inside there they might try and steal it", he said, but that the posts were designed so the chip would be "fried" if removed.

The lampposts can also operate as AI-powered surveillance cameras.

In Nigeria, each will be fitted with AI cameras capable of detecting parking violations, speeding vehicles, and seatbelt non-compliance, the company says.

iLamps with cameras are already in a car park at Warwick Hospital and are capable of providing "CCTV monitoring and number plate recognition," CPG says.

The streetlights might also be used to spot wanted or missing people using facial recognition, Fitzpatrick said.

No such deployment currently exists yet, although there are "final stage negotiations" with state schools and local authorities in Florida to use all of these features he added.

Those worried about the possibility of bias, misuse and the loss of privacy caused by facial recognition may take a dim view of this capability of the cameras.

CPG says it will only deploy this technology in partnership "with the relevant authority" and in full compliance with relevant laws and regulations.

Fitzpatrick even sees the lights as a way of interacting with the public: "you could walk past the streetlight, put your two fingers up like a victory sign and that could be voting for something. That could be a poll which you could put out onto social media".

The energy use of AI systems is, some estimates suggest, already approaching the same level as the entire UK and there are similar concerns about their water consumption.

But some experts suggest the solar-powered streetlights are best suited to supplementing large data centres, not replacing them: there will still be a need for their concentrated computing power and efficiencies of scale.

John Booth, Managing Director of consultancy Carbon3IT Ltd and a member of BCS the Chartered Institute for IT told the BBC that in his view the iLamps could have value as "a relatively low-cost solution that can be used for small AI applications in conjunction with other larger sites".

Bitterlin, however, thinks AI streetlighting couldn't replace the biggest data centres used to train leading large language models. Particularly because the distance, and therefore the speed of communication, between the posts would be too slow.

But apps and software using AI need thousands of systems closer to users. This could be provided by the lampposts acting as "access points, just like mobile phone masts" to more powerful data centres running big AI models, he adds.

Katsina, the Nigerian state taking the devices, will make money from the iLamps by leasing out their processing power to AI companies. After three years CPG will start taking a 20% cut revenue generated, the company says.

Fitzpatrick sees Africa as a key location to prove the technology and to grow the business: "Africa is our prime target because there's plenty of sunshine which is great, they've got more relaxed rules and regulations, they want us to put the street lights on the street."

The iLamps will be built in Morocco, Taiwan and Latvia, but an assembly factory is also being built in Katsina.

Welcoming the deal, Dr Hafiz Ibrahim Ahmad, Special Adviser on Power and Energy, Katsina State, said it was now "home to the only distributed AI data centre of its kind anywhere on the African continent".

He suggested the iLamps could mean "safer streets, real-time crime and terrorism prevention, free public internet and a revenue stream that flows back into the state."