Roadmap helps guide city planners to the smart, connected cities

The 5G network, augmented reality, machine learning and other innovations are delivering a wealth of options to rapidly advance the power of Smart Cities technology.

The Smart Cities Technology Roadmap helps city planners know what’s on the horizon for tomorrow so that they can start developing their technology vision today. The report is developed by the Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS), an organization that brings together the top global information and communication technology (ICT) companies.

The roadmap is the first ICT industry publication designed for city decision makers including CTOs, CIOs and technology advisors that provides an overview of the network-enabled technologies to have the greatest impact on the evolving Smart City.

The goal is to foster better budgeting, purchasing and staging decisions. The end result will be to position city decision makers to more effectively manage their upcoming technology investments as they create the connected cities of the future.

ATIS’ Smart Cities Technology Roadmap was developed through extensive discussions with city leaders, solution providers and manufacturers — all heavily invested in creating successful Smart Cities environments. It is available free of charge on the ATIS website.

“Rapidly advancing capabilities to collect and analyze constant real-time data are starting to help better manage many citizen-centric functions, improving traffic flow monitoring, public safety, and more,” said ATIS President and CEO Susan Miller. “The Roadmap is a much-needed focal point for dialogue between city planners and the ICT industry. It can enable planners to turn their Smart Cities projects into a comprehensive Smart Cities vision.”

Plans being made now will be more effective if they consider the introduction of 5G solutions in the next few years. These deliver the promise of high bandwidth, low-latency and pervasive connectivity offering Smart City ecosystems a new generation of applications.

The Roadmap helps planners look ahead to leverage advancements such as these. It provides an overview of Smart Cities technology challenges and benefits and offers a high-level technology framework and summary of key technology enablers.

The Roadmap also includes a deeper analysis on the current state of standards, a review of technology choices, and an assessment of critical factors that may impact future deployment.

Following publication of the guide, ATIS will gather feedback on collaborative activities that can advance Smart Cities technology investments. Input from city planners is welcome. ATIS is engaging cities to develop prioritized next steps, whether it be developing data exchanges, building on ATIS’ Internet of Things registry or another business framework. Opportunities are being explored to standardize foundation-level aspects of Smart City infrastructure, allowing customization and innovation to meet each city’s unique vision.

Companies participating in the roadmap include AT&T, Bell Canada, C-Spire, CenturyLink, Cisco, Cox Communications, Ericsson, Fujitsu, HPE, iconectiv, InterDigital, JMA Wireless, Motorola, NextNav, Nokia, Oracle, Qualcomm, Sprint, TELUS, Verizon, Viavi and West Safety Services.