The DIA was thrilled to be included in a recent O'Reilly report on IoT and Smart Cities, sneak peek below, check it out (and download full report for free) at http://oreil.ly/21l44Yu
The smart city movement has emerged as the unofficial test bed for IoT development on a grand scale. Since smart city projects are often combinations of new and old technologies, they offer unique opportunities for exploring the potential of IoT ecosystems. The Dallas Innovation Alliance is a public-private partnership driving smart city initiatives for the City of Dallas. Alliance cofounders Jennifer Sanders and Trey Bowles emphasized the foundational value of creating strong network infrastructures.
“Our vision is to execute a multi-phased strategy, with its pilot phase focused in a downtown district called the West End,” Bowles says. The West End is already equipped with optical fiber, making it an ideal area for beginning smart cities initiatives and “eliminating project delays based on the need for initial infrastructure develop‐ ment of the backbone of the network.” The city also plans to con‐ tinue improving networks across Dallas and will roll out best practices, developed in the West End, to other parts of the city, he says.
“Most cities are at varying points of ‘network readiness’ across a spectrum,” says Bowles. Handling the massive amounts of data pro‐ duced by citizens on a daily basis—independent of a robust smart cities initiative—requires solid partnerships with experienced ser‐ vice providers. Conducting a thorough audit of existing network capabilities and comparing them with projected needs are necessary steps in the evolution of smart cities.
“We believe most cities will need to take a close look at (their) existing network infrastructure and capacity,” says Bowles. “We have learned from the experts that without a smart infrastructure as a foundation, a smart city initiative will not be successful. It is enormously important to learn from those who have walked this path before ... there are clear best practices and lessons learned to be utilized as a foundation for new efforts.”