How can we make our cities smarter

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People studying urban development and city dwellers realize that optimized operations or new applications based on infrastructure and public services make a big difference in their daily lives.

It is easy to imagine a paradigm shift between advances in digital technology for personal use, with modern requirements for city infrastructure, turning our cities into smart ones. Although the concept of smart cities was included in the agenda of policy makers some years ago, it has been recent technological advances that can have a significant impact in making it a reality. In 2020 we already have the first examples completed, or close to completion, in these directions.

The main applications being discussed are the modernisation of city resource management how to get usa whatsapp number and the impact on mobility and transport.

For example, autonomous mass transit can transform our everyday lives, especially when considering applications at specific points in the city. Consider a theme park or a university campus. Smart grids and the use of renewable energy alongside electric vehicles are other popular examples. The recent pandemic made very clear the importance of surveillance systems with functions such as temperature monitoring, while respecting personal data in high-traffic areas.

All of the above is important, but the most important thing is that this is not science fiction, but that it can be done with existing technologies.

The first real-world applications
At Dell Technologies, our global presence allows us to be involved in these types of projects in different countries. You may have heard how Dubai authorities monitor electricity and water services.

Dell Technologies is the founding partner of Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) in its initiative to make Dubai the smartest city in the world. The project requires IoT technologies that enable smart grid and renewable energy monitoring, as well as predictive analytics that allow authorities to extract insights into energy usage.

You may be interested in this article about it: How DEWA is creating a sustainable and smart city.

In Columbus, Ohio, a smart transportation app allows pregnant women to easily schedule transportation to healthcare facilities and doctors, providing alerts about emergency issues. The reason for this app is the high infant mortality rate in poorer neighborhoods.

In this article, we debate with Ane Miller whether Columbus, Ohio was the country's first truly smart city.

Related to mobility and traffic optimization is a smart city project in Pittsburgh concerning the expansion of the Surtac system. Surtac is the city's smart traffic light system, which adapts the operation of traffic lights to changes in traffic, to shorten the time spent at them and therefore reduce the time spent inside a car. The system effectively uses traffic theory based on artificial intelligence with data provided by a network of sensors that monitor major routes and adjust traffic control in real time. This intelligent approach allows for a 40% reduction in downtime at traffic lights and a 25% reduction in transportation time.

It is not a single technology, but an innovation platform
While technology allows us to imagine the kind of new, smarter services mentioned above, planning at the metropolitan level requires a different perspective on the underlying infrastructure. In smart cities, technology enables continuous innovation based on the following key concepts:

Instrumentation that allows monitoring parameters around the city and its inhabitants in a safe and non-invasive manner.
Interconnected systems characterized by interoperability and data availability, enabling real-time or near-real-time operations and response to life events.
Intelligence that drives data-driven insights.
Cloud, mobile, analytics, edge computing and IoT can be considered accelerators, while other technologies, such as real-time messaging, social media platforms and blockchain , are essential parts of the solutions.
Our approach at Dell Technologies
At Dell Technologies, we can provide the essential infrastructure needed to support digital city services.

We can provide platforms that enable agility, expansion and continuous innovation, drawing on our expertise from edge systems to core data center solutions and cloud services. Our approach includes a layered architecture.

– In our first layer, we consider connectivity features that enable data acquisition, connections to existing databases, and messaging, such as social media sharing.

– Above the connectivity layer is the data center layer, which provides infrastructure as a service. As this infrastructure is software-defined, a management and orchestration layer ensures support for the workload demands of a digital city.

– The analytics layer comes next, providing the data platform to store and analyze the data. Big data processing and machine learning operations can be used to provide insights.

– The upper application layer enables the delivery of applications to the end user.

This approach is based on open standards, enables continuous delivery of applications, supports agility, and avoids siloed operations and lock-ins.

The expertise of all members of the Dell Technologies family of companies , including VMware, RSA and SecureWorks , as well as the contributions of our global strategic partners, are of great importance to these solutions.

The importance of the network of local partners in the implementation of smart city projects goes without saying. By developing their own solution and with solid experience in system integration, partners can benefit from the scalability of these projects to other cities or from the monetization of the “as a service” model.