On an average, today’s cities are growing at the rate of 10,000 people per hour, according to one estimate. So city administrations may have no choice but to turn “smart”, to serve this burgeoning population. This is also the market that Cisco and others are looking at.
Keeping that in mind, this IT giant and the Switzerland-based AGT International, a global leader in city solutions, have formed a ‘Smart City Global Strategic Alliance’ that promises the Internet of Everything (IoE) through “edge analytics” and Cloud technologies that claim to dramatically change the way cities are managed and safeguarded.
The combination of intelligent networking, virtualized computing and video management software from Cisco and AGT’s smart city software platform, sensor gateway and analytics will provide cost-effective and efficient delivery of services that will enhance the daily lives of citizens and improve urban services – from transportation and healthcare to utilities infrastructure and disaster preparedness and personal safety.
Wim Elfrink, Executive Vice-president, Industry Solutions and Chief Globalisation Officer, Cisco, said, “Today, 99 percent of the physical world is not connected to the Internet. However, cities are the epicenter of the Internet of Everything, where people, things, data and processes can be connected to deliver new and amazing value. Think about the possibilities. It is a vision we can realize today through the unique combination of Cisco’s unparalleled networking and computing technology and AGT’s cutting-edge smart cities platform. With its recognized leadership in software and analytical solutions that improve everyday life, AGT is an ideal partner to transform city management.”
Mati Kochavi, CEO, AGT, said: “The Cisco and AGT alliance brings a holistic view of urban ecosystems, which are being challenged by dramatic growth and limited resources. The opportunity stems from integrating information from the Internet of Everything and leveraging data in new ways.
According to Ruthbea Yesner Clarke, global Research Director, IDC’s Smart Cities Strategies program, smart cities are a future reality for municipalities around the world. These will use the power of ubiquitous communication networks, highly distributed wireless sensor technology and intelligent management systems to solve current and future challenges and create exciting new services.”
Built around AGT’s state-of-the-art urban management platform, the Cisco-AGT solution applies multiple sensing and analytical technologies such as video and acoustic analytics, social media engagement, license plate recognition, facial recognition, mobile crowd sourcing, mobile applications for city civil workers, smart waste and other sources. AGT’s city fusion platform, powered by Cisco Unified Computing System technology, will use big data analysis to reduce false alerts while increasing incident detection rates. Sharing a common platform, infrastructure and management allows agencies to be more efficient and cost-effective, especially when coping with decreasing budgets. These benefits can all be achieved in a decentralized city administration model, where agencies’ autonomy is maintained while sharing and reuse is maximized.
The first solutions will be available mid-2014 and will initially focus on two key areas:
A traffic management solution that will identify, respond to and resolve traffic incidents by providing real-time traffic situational awareness will support incident detection using live video feeds from incident zones, with video analytics, in-pavement wireless magnetic sensors, license plate readers, social media and advanced traffic modeling prediction and alternative strategy formulation. The system supports video feed sharing across different agencies and provides analytics of incident trends over time.
An urban safety solution that will enable cities to predict, prepare for, respond to and mitigate operational and safety incidents by identifying suspicious activities more quickly. Incidents will be managed through software that utilizes a variety of sensors, city data, and visual and social media feeds. The solution will apply analytics to automate and visualize the situation and recommend the appropriate response.
Future solutions to be developed and launched will address city and country critical infrastructure, such as airports, railway stations and stadiums, Cisco said in a press statement.
The Cisco and AGT offering will initially be provided on-premise and will evolve to a cloud-based “Software as a Service” model. These models are customizable and flexible to support a variety of customer needs and budgets. As part of this agreement, AGT has selected Cisco as its cloud provider for its city Cloud solutions.
Image Credit: AGT International + Cisco
Advertising Message