The Civil Engineering Contractor May 2018 | Page 37

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP
Key elements of smart-city
success?
The underlying ICT infrastructure is a
key element of smart-city success. Open
access networks will be essential in the
long term. Rather than tight network
control by individual infrastructure
owners, or the complexity that results
when many providers attempt to manage
their own physical networks and service
delivery, an open access network is
open to any ISP or service provider.
Centrally managed, open access
networks facilitate ease of connection
to the network, improved controls, and
high-quality services. And a big plus:
open access networks maximise use of
the network, maximising revenues and
minimising expenditure.
Fully managed data centres will be
important. From the infrastructure layer
upward, smart-city services are usually
provided independently. These services
include utilities, security, Internet of
things (IoT) or machine-to-machine
services, and analytics. In bigger and
more developed countries, multiple
data centres will facilitate interconnects
between providers at local and
international levels. However, at every
level, because everything is powered by
technology and connectivity, data centre
control must be provided. How these
technologies are deployed and aligned
to customer needs will determine their
success, however.
For example, utilities are already
under pressure to deliver. However,
with no smart meters rolled out,
they are finding it hard to manage
demand, integrate and manage clean
energy sources (for example PV and
wind energy), and deliver services. As
they move towards upgrading their
systems, utilities need to identify high-
usage clients and align their services
to meet these customers’ needs first.
This will assist them to deliver lean,
optimal, and efficient services, which
can be integrated with other services
as intelligent smart-city capabilities
expand.
The ICT provider will play a broader
role, implementing ICT infrastructure
but also co-ordinating between service
providers. By ensuring services run on
an integrated platform and providing
suitable analytics or user apps, or access
to these apps on hosted platforms,
smart services become available. For
example, by integrating electricity,
water, sewage, and waste collection on
a single hosted platform, city dwellers
can gain a smart view of service use and
rates and taxes. Similarly, with traffic
and security data (and possibly IoT and
big data) on a single platform, users can
identify congestion and optimise their
travel schedules.
Implement, manage,
orchestrate
As infrastructure is rolled out,
citizens connect, and services go
live, cities will become smarter. To
put the fundamentals in place, smart
governments and developers will choose
partners that have strong technical and
technology expertise but also broader
integration, orchestration, strategic,
and management capabilities.
have international connectivity are
important, as is the ability to facilitate
open access models, providing network
control, management, and maintenance.
They also need to offer smart-city
stakeholders integrated, shared, and
hosted platforms on which to flight
their services, as well as have the data
and analytics capabilities to enable
multiparty services.
And last, but not least, that can
facilitate service provision and revenue
collection.
Jasco delivers end-to-end best-of-breed solutions
across the entire ICT value chain. The Jasco Group
has a national footprint with offices in Gauteng,
Western Cape, Free State, Eastern Cape, and
KwaZulu-Natal. Other than South Africa, the
organisation features an office in Kenya to service
the East Africa region and an office in Dubai to
service the Middle East Northern Africa (MENA)
region. It also trades in many sub-Saharan African
countries, with a special focus on the Southern
African Development Community (SADC). nn
“As they move towards
upgrading their systems,
utilities need to identify
high usage clients and align
their services to meet these
customers’ needs first.”
Last word
Look for partners that have broad
industry experience, with an
understanding of the operations and
priorities of different sectors and
stakeholders. You need people that can
create strong collaborative relationships
across and between sectors.
The ability for strategic planning
and service roll-outs are vital, based
on customer needs and stakeholder
readiness. Partners that can offer a
data centre, interconnect, and
ground alongside civil infrastructure
(water, sewerage pipes, and so on.). This
is also optimal in terms of determining
the distribution of infrastructure for
mobile and Wi-Fi providers. Cost can
nonetheless stymie progress, which is
where PPPs are useful.
Developers are more commercially
minded than governments and are
able to target high-income customers,
combining infrastructure development
with security to secure revenues.
This often results in exclusive gated
communities. However, in PPP
arrangements, developers are extending
these benefits in a phased manner with
support from government to other
segments of the community.
Eckart Zollner is head of group
business development at Jasco.
CEC May 2018 - 35