Off to a ‘smart’ start

Visitors take a look at a robot at the RTA pavilion at the Gitex Technology Week on Wednesday.

Smart cities today are inevitable, and as the Internet of Things (IoT) technology advances, cities across the world will see more innovative projects for automating all kinds of civic activity.
By starting the education process now and thinking about the right infrastructure to support new projects, nations can take the first step connecting their cities for the future, experts at the 38th Gitex Technology Week exhibition said.
"Dubai has been listed as one of the top smartest cities in the world, and is aiming to build the world's most advanced Artificial Intelligence (AI) ecosystem. AI, blockchain and cloud will only grow in prevalence and is a reminder that network operators will be faced with an unlimited appetite for capacity and data," said Ehab Kanary, vice-president of Enterprise for MEA at CommScope.
Kanary noted that the communications network is the foundation of every smart city, so cities should ensure that they have a pervasive, high-bandwidth network that can support any application. "As cities educate themselves about smart city applications and plan for the future, they can begin by ensuring that there is a communications infrastructure that will support all projects."
He further explained that many governments might fall into the temptation to plan and budget for a single smart city application, without taking the long view. As an example, he highlighted the city of Stockholm, which formed a private entity 10 years ago that installed a fibre backbone all around the city. Now, it can plug in cameras, sensors, Wi-Fi hotspots and future IoT devices as needed.
Nick Watson, VP of the EMEA region at Ruckus Networks, highlighted the role that 5G would play in a smart city.
"5G brings together what we traditionally think of as mobile technology (4G) with typical Wi-Fi technology," he said. "That amalgam of using a backbone Wi-Fi network or a backbone single radio network to connect to multiple radio networks (IoT type devices) is critically important. Different devices use different power and require different types of connectivity. Whilst 5G is the ultimate goal, there are many things that companies and governments can do in the interim which connect to IoT devices using a single radio network."
"The problem we are setting out to solve is high density Wi-Fi, where you would have a large number of people all trying to connect to a limited number of access points," he said. "This would be in an environment like at a metro, train station, or stadium. Interference is the most important element to consider when designing a Wi-Fi network. For example, Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) technologies use a large amount of data as they operate."
Tanvir Osama, VP for the EMEA region at Prysm, spoke about how will experiential technology will change the way we work, create, and collaborate.
"Experiential technology will continue to help us breakdown the barriers of the traditional workplace," he said. "Engaging participants across any location, with any type of data - all in one place, at the same time will become the norm. Providing access to all participants quickly and easily while using as many senses as possible, will allow companies to derive more meaningful insights faster, helping companies to become more competitive."
Dubai set to become leader in data-driven economy
Dubai's vision to become the happiest city in the world, will hinge heavily on how well various entities in both the public and private sectors are able to utilise data, said Younus Al Nasser, assistant director general at the Smart Dubai Government.
Speaking in a session at the 38th Gitex Technology Week exhibition, Al Nasser highlighted how various smart city initiatives were paving the way for Dubai to become a truly data-driven economy.
"A lot of data is being generated every second from our mobile devices, from our homes, and from where we work," he said. "But it is those people that will be able to extract value from this data that will drive the economies of the future. Just take a look at what data can and has helped us achieve. Today, we can manage traffic on the roads; we can easily find the best and most economical place to live in; we can safely manage crowds in cities and at large events; and we can even find the best schools for our children to enroll in. All of this is possible thanks to the data that we are collecting."
Al Nasser also spoke about Dubai Pulse, the city's digital backbone, which has been instrumental in many of the success stories across Dubai.
"We have empowered data champions across various departments and sectors," he said. "Today, more than 200 datasets have been published on Dubai Pulse. One of our greatest achievements has been in convincing people that they can benefit from the open data that we provide. Today, it is possible for us to predict the flow of the city from the data that we have collected. Our focus now is on engaging the private sector on smart city initiatives that revolve around data. In addition, we have to look at the commercialisation of data."
- rohma@khaleejtiimes.com