Smart Cities IoT

Smart city technology is rapidly transforming municipalities throughout the world, enabling local governments to manage city resources more effectively to improve quality of life for residents and businesses. Powered by Internet of Things (IoT) technology, smart city initiatives use data to monitor everything from traffic, parking and streetlights to utilities, energy consumption, public safety, common areas and climate conditions.

The infrastructure for these projects centers on IoT networks – a vast collection of sensors that stream real-time data about conditions throughout the city. Smart cities IoT sensors on powerplants and bridges alert city managers to potential dangers with critical infrastructure, while smart city IOT devices embedded in traffic lights help cities move cars, pedestrians and bicyclists through intersections more safely and effectively. Smart city street lights sensors enable lights to be dimmed when illumination is not necessary, and smart IoT technology on trash and recycling bins alerts city sanitation crews when bins are nearly full.

The benefits of smart cities IoT networks are undeniable. When smart technology is deployed effectively, cities can reduce the cost of energy, maintenance and utilities. They can improve public safety and reduce crime. Cities can make it easier for drivers to find parking and pedestrians to stay safe, and they can allow residents and businesses to engage city services through digital platforms.

Infrastructure that powers smart city IoT technology

To deploy smart cities IoT sensors, municipalities must put in place a unified technology stack that includes:

• A high-performing network that can reliably transmit the flood of data produced by smart cities IoT devices, using diverse technologies such as fiber connections, low-power wireless and mobile broadband to connect sensors with analytics platforms in the most cost-efficient way.
• Powerful data analytics software that can aggregate data collected from smart cities IoT technology and transform it into actionable intelligence that can be used by city managers, planners and employees.
• Interfaces that present valuable information in ways that users can easily digest and benefit from it.

When building out a smart cities IoT framework, local governments will need technology partners that can design, deploy, maintain and upgrade smart infrastructure. While no one vendor can deliver the entire technology stack required for a smart city project, Spectrum Enterprise has forged relationships with a variety of solutions providers to offer smart cities a single vendor ecosystem that can significantly reduce the cost and complexity of deploying smart cities IoT devices and infrastructure.

Spectrum Enterprise: a partner for smart cities IoT infrastructure

With more than 840,000 miles of a wholly-owned fiber network, Spectrum Enterprise delivers connectivity solutions to governments and enterprises throughout the U.S. Spectrum is currently a partner to many smart cities and will invest more than $25 million by 2021 to increase capacity and network capabilities to meet the growing needs of smart city initiatives.

To support the data requirements of smart cities IoT infrastructure, Spectrum provides:

• Symmetrical speeds of up to 100 Gbps over a two-way, fully interactive digital network.
• Over 350,000 WiFi hotspots nationwide that will soon include 5G and 802.11ax technology capable of connecting devices at 1 Gbps wirelessly.
• One of the largest LTE cellular networks in the nation.
• Gigabit connections for homes and businesses throughout the entire Spectrum service area.

Learn more about Spectrum Smart Cities at www.spectrumsmartcities.com.