FEATURE: SMART CITIES
TO ENSURE MAXIMUM
SECURITY, DATA
ENCRYPTION SHOULD
EXTEND TO ALL
LINKS BETWEEN
DEVICES, WITH
AUTHENTICATION
CODES SOLELY LINKED
TO CORRESPONDING
HARDWARE, SECURING
THE LOGINS OF PEOPLE
AND SYSTEMS.
idea increasingly viable. But, it is the ability
to embed increasingly powerful software
into the sensors, networks and systems
that collect, collate, analyse and share the
data being generated that is key to the
success of IoT deployments. In short, IoT
is an unprecedented, new software-driven
market opportunity.
If software is at the heart of making the
promise of IoT a reality, then a new set
of rules for licensing and entitlement is
indeed essential. The IoT exponentially
increases the number of endpoints for
software distribution. It also dramatically
accelerates the rate of deployment.
Managing these software-licensing
challenges will be the biggest test for
organisations in today’s IoT and cloud
environment - especially, with the multiple
devices, objects and apps that will be
joining the supply chain.
However, it will also be the biggest
opportunity and this is where software
vendors have a real chance to further
monetise their offering. By truly
understanding how customers are using
the software in these connected devices,
vendors can effectively build and adapt
their software to ensure they’re offering
the ideal customer experience and
maximising the bottom line.
Companies that fail to recognise these
fundamental changes to their business
models are at risk of being disrupted
by a new generation of players that
are not committed to the old principles
of the marketplace. The multitude of
interconnected devices and services
indicate a fundamental shift in the way
objects can be controlled and intelligence
gathered about them. It’s an opportunity
not to be missed.
INDUSTRY SNAPSHOT
In 2015 and beyond, the number
and value of smart city initiatives
will expand substantially, according
to Monitor Deloitte’s new report
Smart cities, not just the sum of
its parts. The majority of new smart
city projects globally will continue to
be led by European cities and much
of the expansion will occur in North
American and advanced East Asian
cities, followed by cities in the Gulf
Cooperation Council (GCC) countries.
An example of a smart city is Smart
Dubai, which was launched in March
2014 with the mission of making Dubai
the smartest city in the world by 2017.
As “smart” technology proliferates
around the globe, the movement
within cities to apply these innovations
to the most pressing problems has
given rise to the concept of a “smart
city” - a city which uses information
and communication technology (ICT)
to improve the sustainability and
efficiency of the cities and its services.
Despite this common theme, there
is no widely accepted, authoritative
definition of what constitutes a “smart
www.intelligentcio.com
city,” and the rules governing its use
are ambiguous at best.
Although industry estimates as to the
market value of smart cities vary greatly,
the report from Monitor Deloitte which
is Deloitte’s strategy consulting practice,
predicts that the smart cities market will
increase significantly over the next five
years anywhere from over $400 billion to
over $1.5 trillion by 2020.
“One of the most salient challenges
for the development of smart
cities is not the creation of new
technologies, but changing the way
that governments and organisations
operate through technological
innovation to make better, more
efficient cities,” said Michael Romkey,
Director at Monitor Deloitte in the
Middle East. “The real benefit of
smart cities is not the individual
solutions, but the government-led
creation of a holistic system where
all solutions work together. Thus,
smart cities need to make sure they
build the right ‘soft’ infrastructure to
underpin their smart solutions.”
In the Middle East, stakeholders
are paying significant attention to
the growing smart city industry and
it is expected that new city subdevelopments will incorporate elements
of “smart” infrastructure. There have also
been numerous smart city conferences
in the last year, sponsored by both the
public and private sectors. The region’s
smart city growth will largely be driven
by developments in the government
planning, administration, and
operations area, backed by significant
GCC government investments in
e-government and mobile services.
“Developers in the GCC are becoming
increasingly interested in adopting
the information and communication
technology (ICT) infrastructure and master
planning that will aid the development
of modern smart cities. This presents
key opportunities in both the private
and public sector to leverage this trend
and increase investment in new smart
technology,” explains Romkey. “However,
a greater emphasis must be placed on
how to leverage these developments to
ignite a shif BF