MNCs line up for a slice of India’s smart-city pie

The buzz around smart cities created after the Modi Government announced an investment of $1.2 billion to create 100 smart cities in India has multinationals like Dassault Systemes, Philips, IBM, Cisco, Intel, Schneider Electric and Bosch lining up for a slice of the smart city pie.

With products and solutions ranging from connected lighting and connected networks to simulating smart cities and building management solutions, multinationals are eyeing a $35-billion IoT (Internet of Things) opportunity in India, of which smart cities are an integral part.

“Cities can be built at much lower costs if Governments invest in simulation technology. We can simulate and create physical cities along with digital cities in 3-D, which can be improved and experimented upon by the urban planning department to check whether all the elements of the city and its multiple systems work in harmony,” Chandan Chowdhury, MD – India, Dassault Systemes, told BusinessLine .

He said it would cost $2 million - $5 million to simulate a smart city environment for a city like Bangalore. Dassault has already done a smart city simulation pilot for Pondicherry city last year along with Power Grid Corporation of India.

Cisco has partnered with Electronics City Industries Association, Bangalore, to set up Asia’s first ‘Internet of Things Innovation Hub’ within a 5-km stretch.

Seventy software and hardware firms in Electronics City along and 50 start-ups will collectively work together, building on Cisco’s network infrastructure and expertise, to design and develop products, services and solutions for a Smart Connected City, to be ready in January-March 2015. “We are using our network infrastructure to deploy digitally-enabled transportation, healthcare, education, utilities, energy grid and real estate in cities. Electronics City will serve as a replicable model of a smart connected city for the rest of Bangalore, other cities in India, and other emerging markets in the world,” said Anil Menon, President, Smart+Connected Communities, and Deputy Chief Globalisation Officer, Cisco.

Intel offers an array of smart city solutions such as intelligent transportation systems, digital security surveillance, modernisation of the public distribution system, interactive retail solutions with integrated analytics, mobile healthcare platforms, sensor-based environmental sensing platform, energy management, capital goods monitoring and factory automation. “Our intelligent transportation project has been deployed in Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat,” said Satish Jadhav, Country Manager & IoT lead – Embedded Business, Intel South Asia.

Philips’ connected LED Lighting solution, that allows streetlights to be instantly connected to and controlled by a remote lighting management system, has been installed at Naya Raipur, one of India’s first few smart cities. “Philips foresees a future where lighting innovations connect seamlessly with smart controls, networks, devices and apps to improve lives,” said Sumit Joshi, Head – Marketing, Philips Lighting India. Frederick Fan, Network Connectivity, APAC region, Schneider Electric, said the company offers last mile network connectivity to buildings, from structured cabling to intelligent connectivity in all rooms. “Our key focus area is intelligent smart buildings and with the initiatives announced by the new Government, India shows the biggest potential for growth,” he said.

IBM has partnered with the Lodha Group to build and manage smart city infrastructure spanning 4,000 acres at the junction of Navi Mumbai and Dombivali. As a part of the project, IBM Intelligent Operations will serve as the backbone of city infrastructure and will centralise key city functions through real time monitoring and advanced analytics. Bosch has a digital platform of convergence which is capable of integrating audio, video, alarms, audit schemes and final projection to track traffic and secure workplaces, housing and other places of importance in a smart city. “Our smart city solutions centre around software engines where video solutions, access control, fire detection, communication products and analytics merge seamlessly and create intelligent output,” said Sudhir Tiku, Head – South Asia, Bosch Security Systems.

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