Telefónica will deploy 350 sensors across Valencia and run its smart city project through its own internet of things platform after winning a competitive tender by the local council.
The solution will be based on Telefónica’s own Fi-Ware open standard and the platform will be delivered from the operator’s cloud services. The sensors will manage municipal services across the city, from traffic, street lighting, gardens, police, pollution, cleaning and waste management and weather services.
The operator will also deliver an open innovation ecosystem to simplify the amount of data that has been collected and make it available to business across the city. It said the project, the first smart city to be implemented in Spain, will boost the telecoms, energy transport, emergency and security sectors, which will be able to deliver new types of services as well as benefit from increased efficiency.
Javier Castro, General Manager of Telefónica for the Valencia, Murcia and Balearic Island regions, said he wants to make Valencia the “global benchmark” for smart cities. Referring to the advantages of a connected city, he said: “City managers will know what is happening in the city in real time and can cancel automatic irrigation on rainy days, open traffic lights to let ambulances though, switch on street lights on a cloudy day to improve visibility and notify citizens where there are free parking spaces, along with many other possibilities.”
IDC has predicted that decision making about smart cities will become increasingly common during 2014, with the bulk of use cases centred on the transport and public safety sectors, as well as on the ability to save money. Ruthbea Yesner Clarke, Research Director, IDC Government Insights Smart Cities Strategies, said: “This is going to be a big year for Smart Cities. Cities will move more quickly from research and evaluation to investment in pilots and the organizational structures to support Smart City initiatives.
“We predict that in 2014 there will be a lot of partnership activity as vendors define their Smart City offerings and strive to gain customer mindshare.”