Omniflow

The Opportunity: Digitization Meets Civic Empowerment

Cities around the world face mounting pressure to modernize infrastructure and deliver higher-quality public services while managing resources responsibly. The global IoT in Smart Cities market is projected to more than double to $260B, fueled by government initiatives to adopt intelligent, connected technologies.

Since 2015, Omniflow, based in Porto, Portugal, has led the way in reimagining public infrastructure with aesthetically pleasing, carbon-neutral technology. Their flagship innovation, a vertical-axis wind turbine combined with solar energy, reduces the visual impact of windmills while enabling urban and rural renewable power generation.

Building on that foundation, Omniflow now offers smart lampposts that integrate multiple services: public Wi-Fi, USB charging stations, small-cell base stations, smart parking, license plate recognition, fire detection, crowd monitoring, and more.

“Smart cities are our main driver as we can retrofit existing lighting systems into smart IoT lampposts, so in the end, the general population is the beneficiary for our solution,” says Pedro Ruão, Omniflow Founder and CEO. “We see average power savings of more than 90% on every installation.”

The Solution: Beautiful, Functional, and Carbon Neutral

Omniflow’s patented hybrid system enables cities to replace basic streetlights with multi-service, renewable-powered infrastructure that pays dividends in sustainability and functionality.

“Our mission is to have a positive impact in the world, avoiding CO2 emissions and expanding digitalization,” says Ruão.

Each lamppost doubles as an IoT hub, enabling motion sensing, air quality monitoring, security functions, and data-driven insights via customer dashboards. These dashboards, supported by Soracom’s software-defined infrastructure, provide transparency, diagnostics, and reporting critical to city operations.

Reliable connectivity is non-negotiable. From lighting and communications to surveillance, Omniflow’s devices must deliver 99.99% uptime to maintain essential city services.

“We use cellular connectivity in two ways: first, as IoT communication with our dashboard to monitor and control devices, and second, as a service we provide to customers,” Ruão explains.

Why Soracom: Global Connectivity, Local Reliability

To ensure seamless performance across continents, Omniflow relies on Soracom for secure, scalable IoT connectivity.

“Assuring the connectivity to our devices is crucial as communication is part of their operating mode. With Soracom we get access to management tools and collect essential data all over the globe,” says Ruão. “Soracom makes a robust, thoughtful, and high-integrity product possible.”

Before Soracom, Omniflow worked with a patchwork of providers, creating unnecessary complexity and downtime risk. Soracom’s uniform global network and management console eliminated those obstacles while reducing costs.

The Outcome: A Better, Brighter World

Today, Omniflow has deployed thousands of smart lampposts across 30+ countries, from Europe and the US to Asia and Latin America. Cities and enterprises alike are using Omniflow to combine energy efficiency with new layers of public services.

Examples include:

• COVID-19 Response: Cities using Omniflow lampposts to monitor public spaces and support safe reopening.
• Retail Partnerships: Major retailers powering parking structures and loading zones with Omniflow solutions.
• International Growth: Expanding in Southeast Asia and South America with a scalable “glocal” model.

“Before Soracom, we were lacking a uniform and global connectivity service,” says Ruão. “The global network and price are only the beginning of Soracom’s value add. Their support lets us scale globally while adapting to local needs.”

With Soracom’s connectivity powering its solutions, Omniflow is helping cities everywhere step into the future, delivering energy efficiency, public safety, and digital services, all while reducing carbon emissions.