NICE, FRANCE -- (Marketwired) -- 06/17/13 -- The city of Nice and Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO), working with Think Global, showcased today the first Internet of Everything proof-of-concept (PoC) for a smart city. The project, called "Connected Boulevard," builds on the phenomenon of Internet of Things (IoT).
International city dignitaries and a local press delegation were treated to a walkabout tour at Boulevard Victor Hugo in the center of Nice, host of the PoC zone, and almost 200 different sensors and detecting devices. In addition to these, the Connected Boulevard also plays host to "guest" devices such as mobile phones and tablets used in the streets that get connected onto its wireless mesh network.
Data captured through these "things" is being processed and analyzed to offer the city and its residents invaluable context-aware information on parking, traffic, street lighting, waste disposal, as well as environmental quality as experienced in real time. Early projections from pilot tests of smart parking services have shown a potential for up to 30 percent decrease in traffic congestion, significant air pollution reductions, combined with an increase in parking revenues.
Further benefits are also being realized from estimates in synchronizing street lighting on a need-basis. For example, by calibrating street light intensity with pedestrian and traffic peaks, real-time environmental conditions such as fog and rain, the city could potentially save 20 to 80 percent in electricity bills. On the environmental aspect, more accurate data of humidity and temperature levels, in addition to air particles are being processed for understanding context-critical patterns.
This is possible because Connected Boulevard is made up of more than just sensors and devices. The Connected Boulevard equips the city with the capacity to capture data from daily life through the hybrid network infrastructure of the city that includes Cisco Wi-Fi network. The data is processed into real-time information and converted into intelligence with the help of context-aware location analytics, before being disseminated to serve multiple services in city operations and for city dwellers. It is an Internet-centric "always-on" platform designed to be resilient, extensible, highly secure and agile, through four interoperable layers:
- Layer 1: Sensors and networked devices with mesh technologies, which promote seamless integration of emerging context-aware sensors and devices as the need for new city services arise.
- Layer 2: Data capture, processing, storage and analytics at distributed points across the city, which reduces architectural complexity and ensures extensibility, increasing responsiveness to real-time and context-critical data while boosting scalability.
- Layer 3: Central data collection, including computing, storage, and analytics, combined with integrated and open standard application programming interfaces (APIs) for building Open Data readiness and exploitation by the city.
- Layer 4: New and innovative applications and services that are developed and integrated for both city managers, businesses and residents.
Connected Boulevard also brings to bear the multi-stakeholder collaboration and workings of a highly complex and heterogeneous ecosystem made up of countless technological components and applications, required for localized urban applications. It utilizes and integrates various solutions from different international and local companies, namely Cisco, Semiacs, Siradel, and the Think Global alliance: Citelum, Egis, Sude, Urbiotica; as well as Meteosim, Mappy, NextiraOne and GeekGaps.
Mayor of Nice, Christian Estrosi, said, "For Nice to continue welcoming millions more visitors and companies while ensuring a high quality of life, using Internet intelligence is key. Many more things are going to get connected between people, with and between objects, creating valuable interactions and processes including that of public administration. Our ability as a city to harness this data is crucial to understanding what's going on in real-time and to enhance a multitude of services for city-dwellers."
Continuing, he said, "In this regard, I am particularly grateful to Cisco and the Think Global alliance for having conceived the Nice Connected Boulevard. It gives me great pleasure to know it is one of the pioneering Internet of Things living-lab projects for smart cities. I hope other cities will also be able to learn from it."
Connected Boulevard lead and director of public sector innovation, Cisco Consulting Services, Anne Lange, said, "Cisco would like to thank Nice for this unprecedented opportunity to deploy a real-life Internet of Everything-ready proof of concept at the city level. We are able, for the first time, to validate a multi-service, extensible IoE-ready network architecture in an urban context. Mayor Estrosi and his team have shared true vision and determination in their engagement and collaboration to become the European model of a Mediterranean smart eco-city with this PoC. They continue to put Nice at the forefront of smart city innovation, technologically and ecologically."
Founder of Think Global and inventor of the concept, Jean Louis Fiorucci, said, "Deploying an information intelligence platform for a city is a complex undertaking. No one party can provide end-to-end solutions since no two cities are exactly the same. Hence, it was important for Think Global members to learn from such an experience, fine-tuning to make its piece of the solution work seamlessly together to meet real customer needs. Working with Cisco and the city of Nice made this possible. It also helped validate our collaborative multi-stakeholder alliance and business model, strengthening further our value-add for other smart cities."
About Nice Côte d'Azur Métropole:
On 1st January, 2012, 46 municipalities regrouped to create the Nice Côte d'Azur Metropolis. The metropolis, located at the heart of the Euro-Mediterranean arc covers a territory of 1,400 km2 and is home to over 550,000 inhabitants.
The Nice Côte d'Azur Metropolis has high ambitions for a sustainable development vision that combines innovation with "la dolce vita"; relying on emerging and clean technologies as well as new developments in healthcare and for the environment. This unique and interconnected territory, situated between the sea and the mountains, with access to 16 ski resorts benefits not only from a naturally stunning landscape but also in offering an unparalleled quality of life. Its 120 km coastline and 40 km of beach enjoys 300 days of sun. In order to strengthen its natural assets and protect its more fragile segments, the metropolis has put in place major projects to enhance its performance. It aims to exemplify a new way of urban management that leverages eco-technology. Citizen well-being and quality of life, as well as sustainable development represent the major axis of the metropolis' growth agenda.
About Cisco:
Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) is the worldwide leader in IT that helps companies seize the opportunities of tomorrow by proving that amazing things can happen when you connect the previously unconnected. For ongoing news, please go to http://thenetwork.cisco.com.
About Think Global:
Think Global is a multi-stakeholder alliance formed to include various urban solution providers such as Citelum, Egis, Sude and Urbiotica who make up the value chain of its core City Operating System® solution. The alliance is founded on agile collaboration between global innovative start-ups and large enterprises, structured to offer adjustable, timely and scalable end-to-end solutions that meet local urban realities. It unites best-in-class technology components, proven consulting and engineering expertise, and niche industry know-how in the domain of urban space management and mobility. Think Global solutions are based on IP open standards and protocols to facilitate seamless integration and interoperability.
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