Nokia and the City of Hamilton:
smart city innovations
Nokia Canada’s Shawn
Sparling, VP Enterprise
and Public Sector,
discusses the company’s
smart city work with
the City of Hamilton
“Our ambition as a company is to create an
inclusive, digital world,” says Shawn Sparling,
VP Enterprise and Public Sector at Nokia Canada.
Achieving that requires network connectivity,
something in which the company is a specialist.
“We look at networks as foundational to bringing
that inclusiveness to the world, whether we’re
talking about smart cities or rural areas. That’s
especially true in today’s world, where our
technology is helping communities secure
access to healthcare and education.”
In recent times, Sparling has seen the industry
shift towards more efficient and greener solutions,
alongside a move towards virtualization. “This
creates complexity but also enables a quicker
turnaround to new solutions. With technology
changing so fast we’re focused on creating cities
that are connected and smart, while simultaneously
being safer and more efficient.”
It is precisely this impetus that has driven Nokia
to partner with the City of Hamilton. “We’re
outcome-based, so the question really was:
what do they need? What are the issues that
they’re facing as the city? Whether it’s air quality,
traffic, or responsiveness to health emergencies.”
Sparling anticipates that next generation to be
driven by sensors which can be repurposed fordifferent applications. “It was a very siloed world
before. Now what we’re doing is really looking at
leveraging data into an integrated operations
command and control centre. Leveraging those
open assets while of course remaining secure.”
Automation is another area growing in importance.
“With that complexity, we need to start to automate
so we can react more quickly. We can take
information from four or five devices and have
the system make a decision or notify an operator
as to what might be happening.”
Another trend is the move towards operational
simplification. “One of the things we’ve done is
make it simple enough that with very easy training,
you can take a piece of equipment, plug it in,
turn it on, bring it up and operate that network
within 10 minutes. Something that previously
took weeks is now a 10-minute exercise to have
a 4G or 5G wireless network fully up and running.
Going forward, the uptake in smart city solutions
is only set to accelerate. “It’s an exciting time
to be in the industry, and we’ve enjoyed working
with the City of Hamilton to bring innovative
technology that will serve to make the community
a safer and more efficient place.”Nokia Future X cities
http://www.nokia.com/networks/future-x-cities
We’re ready to help you take a new and more cohesive approach
to realize the full benefits of your smart city initiatives. We put
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