Cisco recently unveiled the 'Cisco Smart City' for India, a 2.6 million square feet, campus-as-a-city concept for Cisco employees to work, play and learn. The Cisco Smart City which aligns to the vision of Digital India, is located in the city of Banglore, one of India's leading Information and Communications Technology (ICT) cities. Showcased at the event are various Internet-of-Things (IoT) concepts and technologies including smart parking, smart buildings, connected learing, remote expert (delivery of services via on-demand video collaboration) and smart work spaces.
Cisco's Smart City in India sees Cisco collaborating with public sector players in the country including the Dept. of Information Technology, Biotechnology and Science & Technology, Government of Karnataka to spearhead the vision of transforming the country with a population of more than 1.25 billion into a digitalized nation. The Cisco Smart City leverages on IoT and Internet-of-Everything (IoE) technologies and services to drive a truly connected city and connected communities. At the launch of the Smart City, Cisco showcased how connected education, connected healthcare, smart buildings, connected transport and smart parking can transform the way cities and communities are designed, built and renewed to ensure economic, social and environmental sustainability.
According to Cisco, the Cisco Smart City which follows Cisco's other smart city initiatives including the ones in Barcelona, Spain and Canberra, Australia, highlights how intelligent and connected cities of the future can truly empower citizens via real time, online and on mobile government service platforms, and complement India's digitalization efforts which includes providing broadband in villages, providing universal phone connectivity and public internet access points, providing public Wi-Fi in schools and universities, promoting digital inclusion, enabling electronic delivery of governance and services, and facilitating job creation.
"Cities are growing at the rate of 10,000 people per hour even as we accelerate toward a world with more connected devices. For every two people connected around the globe, there are 5 others who soon will be. And for every device connected to the Internet, 10 more will join it in the near future. Through the Internet of Everything, we can help countries, cities and communities embrace sustainable urban development and enable economic, social and environmental sustainability. We believe that the Cisco Smart City in Bangalore can be a model for smart cities not just in India but around the world. For government leaders thinking about the delivery of citizen services or for companies thinking about how to be ready for the future of work, the Cisco Smart City presents a blueprint on how to be relevant."
- Wim Elfrink, Cisco Executive Vice President for Industry Solutions and Chief Globalisation Officer
"We are very excited about the government's vision of a Digital India and the creation of smart cities. We want to collaborate with the government on its vision of digitally empowered citizens and believe that the Cisco Smart City is a great showcase of how the government can deliver governance and services to citizens digitally, build broadband highways, enable digital inclusion and deliver information for all. The foundation for a Digital India will be intelligent networks which will transform the delivery of citizen services from transportation, utilities and security to entertainment, education, and healthcare. The Cisco Smart City and the announcement of the next phase of our expansion of the Cisco India site underline our commitment to deepening our presence in India and helping transform the way citizens in a Digital India will live, work, play and learn."
- Dinesh Malkani, President, India and SAARC
