Brave new world of 'smart' cities on show
Cisco Systems is extending a hand to various mainland cities to build prototypes of 'smart, connected' metropolises that enhance residents' quality of life, stimulate economic development and ensure environmental sustainability.
The world's largest networking equipment supplier has featured this new approach to planned urban development at the World Expo in Shanghai, where it is the only global information technology firm with a corporate pavilion.
'This is the future,' Cisco chairman and chief executive John Chambers, said yesterday. Rapid urbanisation on the mainland and in developing countries required greater adoption of technology along with other new tools and strategies.
According to Cisco, about 350 million people will move to the mainland's large urban centres over the next 15 years. As a result, 221 cities will have a population of one million or more. In Europe today, only 35 cities are that big.
Against this background, high-speed internet infrastructure has proliferated worldwide, increasingly becoming the platform for all communications and information technology services.
'All of a sudden, the network will be the fabric of what you see, both in terms of a better city and a better life,' Chambers said.
Cisco says it will help local governments across the mainland implement a better network and attract major partners to improve architectures from conception to delivery.
At its 'Smart+Connected Life' pavilion, it demonstrates how services such as transport, utilities, construction, education, recreation and health care are streamlined and become more energy-efficient when they are interconnected over an intelligent broadband network.
Its vision for Shanghai in 2020 includes real-time transit information so motorists can identify the least traffic-ridden routes; health-care systems that instantaneously share data so patients can receive the best possible care anywhere; and schools that enable pupils to collaborate in real time with others worldwide.
'Government leaders have embraced the concept,' said Cisco chief globalisation officer Wim Elfrink, who noted that the mainland is in a position to be a leader in developing smart, connected communities.
Elfrink said Cisco's strong ties with the mainland's three nationwide telecommunication service providers and other big technology providers are encouraging more cities to start a dialogue with the firm.
At the 11th National People's Congress, which closed on March 14 this year, the central government raised the need to develop a so-called 'smart grid'.
Earlier the same month, the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference formally proposed a 'low-carbon economy' to support the country's continued growth.
In Sichuan province, Cisco has already partnered with the local government of Chengdu to build the Tianfu High-Tech Zone, which promises to deliver smart city administration and smart public and social services when it is completed.
Elfrink said building smart, connected communities, as 'a new industry', follows the steady expansion of internet infrastructure worldwide.
'In the next decade three billion people will be connected to the internet,' he said.
With global rivals such as International Business Machines and Hewlett-Packard also promoting smart cities, it is an industry that Elfrink described could be 'one of the biggest over the next 10 to 15 years'.
A recent study by CIBC World Markets found the increasing number of government economic stimulus programmes worldwide and a deterioration in existing infrastructure could yield as much as US$35 trillion in public works spending over the next 20 years.
