Qualcomm on Monday unveiled blueprints to help manufacturers make LED light bulbs that use the chipmaker's wifi technology to connect to the Internet. The company's subsidiary, Qualcomm Atheros and smart lighting maker LIFX have collaborated to deliver a turnkey Wi-Fi based smart lighting platform that can accelerate the development of connected lighting. In addition to working with lighting manufacturers such as Havells Sylvania and home networking players such as D-Link, Qualcomm Atheros and LIFX are also working with Arrow Electronics on global distribution to enable manufacturers of any size to quickly develop smart lighting solutions.

The platform consists of a Lighting Connectivity Module (LCM) and complete LED bulb design. Both use Qualcomm Atheros' low-power Wi-Fi solution (the QCA4002) to connect lighting systems directly to a home's Wi-Fi network, without the need for a hub or translator. The solutions are compatible with the Allseen Alliance's open-source Lighting Service Framework (LSF), which is designed to ensure interoperability with AllJoyn enabled smart devices in the home.

Established lighting manufacturers can turn their products into smart lights by integrating the LCM, while manufacturers entering the segment for the first time can leverage the complete LED bulb design. Both use the open source solution provided by the LSF. In addition to being controllable by a smartphone, lights using the LCM could communicate with other AllJoyn enabled devices in the home.

The Lighting Connectivity Module and complete LED bulb design are available now.

Philips and other companies have launched smart light bulbs using a low-power wireless standard called Zigbee, which requires a hub device to connect to the Internet.