The Worlds First Intelligent Evacuation System - Introducing Lightstep

The Lightstep stop - complete with train, track and a vending machine - is tucked away in the offices of the company of the same name, one which is making waves in the increasingly important sector of life safety. Lightstep Technologies has attracted interest from some of world’s largest organisations and could, its directors believe, become one of the biggest firms to come out of Northern Ireland.

Before rushing out to Dunmurry to catch the next train to Covent Garden, it’s worth mentioning at this stage that the Lightstep station is a mock up of the real thing and part of a demonstration suite which offers an insight into the company’s products.

In an underground station, a high rise building, an airport or any one of the hundreds of other situations where the product is quickly finding a use, its intelligent evacuation system does exactly what its name suggests: it uses a built-in “intelligent directional lighting system” to evacuate people from a building, plane, tunnel etc quickly and safely in the event of an emergency.

It’s probably best explained from the user’s point of view. During the evacuation process, green LED lights form arrows on the floor, steps and lower walls and point to the quickest and most efficient way out of the facility. Red lights, formed into Xs, stop evacuees from going in the wrong direction. At its most basic, a simple system which is easy to understand even in the most pressurised emergency environment and, crucially, language non specific.

That’s not to say the system’s technology is basic; far from it. The clever part is Lightstep’s software which feeds information from sensors throughout the building or as the emergency situation develops and changes the LEDs to direct people away from dangers such as fire or crowded areas. And that’s one of the reasons Lightstep’s products have grabbed such immense interest across the globe, but particularly in the US.

The principle sounds simple - direct people out of an emergency situation safely - and is something you’d have thought would have already been developed but in reality there is little or no direct competition.

The closest are standard emergency signs but these are generally placed above head height and quickly become obscured by smoke in a fire situation and, not being connected to an intelligent software system, could just as easily direct evacuees to a dangerous area.

“Ours is the only system in the world which will help you get out of the building rather than merely alerting you to the existence of an emergency,” Andrea Morrissey, the company’s public relations and marketing consultant, said.

Understandably, those responsible for protecting lives in situations where a high density of people are present have not only sat up and listened to Lightstep’s offering but are signing up to the system.

Couple all this with the personal support of the US’s NASDAQ Stock Market International President John T Wall – who had been in Lightstep’s Dunmurry office the previous week – and it’s fair to say there is serious potential for this relatively young company.

The brainchild of Kieran, the company has come a long way from humble beginnings in 2003. “I scribbled the idea down on the side of a newspaper on a Sunday afternoon, went off and bought colouring pens, looked at my drawings and thought this ‘thing has legs’”, Kieran said.

An initial trade mission with Invest NI to Boston was the first contact with the US and since then the country has become the biggest potential market for Lightstep’s products. But as word has spread, interest in the technology has emerged throughout the world and throughout many different industries.

For instance, it’s currently in discussion with one of the largest coal producers in India  which, with 3,000 kilometres of underground tunnels, is another huge potential customer.

“It’s not just a product for buildings,” said Andrea. “We’re looking at mines, aircraft, airports, trains, and ships.”

While initially publicity shy, Lightstep has now embraced all forms of marketing, in particular e-marketing through the likes of Twitter and Facebook.

“We had an international launch on October 1 2009 and since then the coverage has been astounding,” said Andrea. “It's been a really effective way to get the Lightstep name out to a global audience plus it’s a great way for shareholders to hear what’s going on with the company. We can see increased traffic to our website and general enquiries through this medium”

Kieran starts most of his enthusiastic stories with "We the team here at Lightstep..." And it's easy to see the levels of enthusiasm in all of the team and why this has become such a huge success in a relatively short period of time. The culture and the spirit that has grown is best described as 'the best available...plus one!'

While there is no direct competition, industry leaders in the field of emergency alert systems are obviously cottoning on to the huge gap in the market Lightstep is filling. To protect their copyright, Lightstep has nine patents against the technology and Kieran reckons they have a 24-month development advantage.

Keiran says “This company has gotten so big so quickly. It’s amazing how quickly a simple idea became potentially Northern Ireland’s biggest company.” 

See more at www.lighsteptechnologies.com