Edge Computing Empowers Smart City Solutions in Disparate Locations

“It’s a matter of staying ahead of the curve with bandwidth and latency so you can get the data from where it’s being collected to where it needs to go,” he says.

Making a city smarter has become key for communities that compete for residents and business, Wallace says.

“Today, everything is digital and on demand,” he says. “You’re not going to attract the right businesses to your city or draw the workers they need to enable their digital transformations unless you’re ready for it yourself.”

MORE FROM STATETECH: Find out what makes Montgomery, Ala., a smart city leader. 

Cities Use Data and Tech to Improve Services 

Using data intelligently is key, says Michael Rodriguez, CIO for Memphis, Tenn. The city of 650,000 people is working on a wide range of data-driven initiatives — among them, apps that make trash pickup more efficient by sharing information across city fleets, cameras mounted on buses to identify the location of potholes, and AI-based video systems that identify unusual activity and alert security personnel.

The city is also working with the University of Memphis to develop virtual reality walk-throughs of buildings that will enable first responders to become familiar with their interiors.

“We want to eventually create a heads-up display that will allow them to see through the smoke,” Rodriguez says. “We’re creating better situational awareness for our first responders, which has the potential to save lives.”

The city has partnered with Extreme Networks to create a software-defined network fabric that can support the expansion of its IoT devices and help it achieve its goals.

“The further you go into smart city technology, the more your infrastructure needs to grow,” he says. “We recently created a task force to start planning where we need to go with our infrastructure. Fortunately, we already have a lot of fiber in the ground, so we’re starting to turn that on as well.”

VIDEO: Find out how San Diego is undertaking digital transformation.

Smart Cities Require Strong, Low-Latency Networks

Before deploying smart city solutions on a large scale, cities need a strong foundation of connectivity, notes Keshav Gupta, IoT lead for San Jose, Calif.

“As we build an ecosystem for everything from IoT solutions with edge analytics capabilities to autonomous vehicles, we need a connectivity platform that enables these low-latency networks,” he says.

That’s one reason why the metro area in the heart of Silicon Valley aspires to have one of the most advanced 5G networks in the country.

At publication time, about 800 small cells were either permitted or installed on city-owned utility poles, says J. Guevara, broadband manager for the city. All told, San Jose has engaged in public-private partnerships for 4,200 small cell installations from AT&T, Verizon and others.

Some of the revenue from those leasing arrangements will be used to provide access to the nearly 100,000 residents who lack a reliable internet connection or the skills to use one, Guevara says.

“Our big, audacious goal is to not only have one of the largest small cell deployments in the country, but also to take that revenue and reinvest it in the community,” he says. “We want to close the digital divide and ensure all San Jose residents can take part in the 21st- century city we’re creating.”