Engineering News — December 08, 2017

I

nternet of Things (IoT) technologies

are one of the main drivers of change in

sectors such as manufacturing, transport,

utilities and smart cities, among others, and a

key aspect of evolving smart cities in Africa,

says information technology and data special­

ist multinational Hitachi Vantara CTO Hubert

Yo s h i d a.

The many relationships between different

organisations, agencies, companies and people

in IoT systems, as well as the many different

interrelated and supporting elements of those

systems, mean that increasingly open and

accessible systems are required.

“Some companies will be focused on

sen sors, some on analytics [and] others on

visualisa tion as part of an IoT platform and

eco system. The start is data acquisition, clean­

sing it, asso cia ting it with other data and then

protecting and securing it for further use. As

we get more users and data, we will be able

to do more on the platform.”

IoT platforms enable the development and

deployment of products and services much

more quickly and efficiently than other wise

possible. Organisations can work with part­

ners, suppliers, vendors and users as direct

participants to improve innovation, and

cocreation enables demands to be met and

pro ducts deployed in a more efficient and

agile manner.

Flexibility

Open platforms facilitate the changes in the

scope and speed at which services on IoT

platforms are delivered and adopted, and

provide the flexibilitythat make it possible

for many different best­of ­breed services and

systems suitable for specific uses or industry

contexts to be part of large­scale, and even

society­spanning, IoT systems, he says.

“The key approach, as always, is to look at

the data being produced by all the different

stake holders and how it can be better con­

nected to provide more value. Specifically, the

sharing of data between silos, whether internal

silos or silos between various government

departments or between different companies

in supply chains, is crucial to enable the new

systems to provide value for users and, conse­

quently, the return on investment expected by

participants,” Yoshida adds.

“Cities do not have to start with big projects

and do not need to own the infrastructure.

They should start by more effectively lever­

aging, linking and analysing the data that

they have.

“Connecting the data, and also making it

available for use by other stakeholders, is a key

way of facilitating value creation significantly

beyond the costs of the systems, and thereby

improving return on investment.”

However, specific objectives and business

out comes are crucial for the effective deploy­

ment and subsequent use of IoT platforms.

Con certed efforts are required, as well as sus­

tained demand for smart services and systems,

to facilitate the broad transition of cities and

societies to IoT and smart systems.

“Effective communication with a broad

range of stakeholders will enable input on

the archi tecture of the platforms. Also, users,

whether cities or companies, should ensure that

they use scalable systems and technologies,”

concludes Yoshida.

44 ENGINEERING NEWS | December 8–14, 2017 RA

NEWS&INSIGHT

SMART CITIES

Intelligent Platforms

IoT and data set to be at the heart of African smart cities

SCHALK BURGER | CREAMER MEDIA SENIOR CONTRIBUTING EDITOR

ENGINEERING NEWS COUPON ON PAGE 42 E471788