IoT That Hits Close to Home

I am incredibly excited about IoT in general. But IoT applied to cities—so called “Smart Cities”— is particularly exciting because it hits so very close to home. This is not about sensors in some faraway manufacturing facility. It is stuff that can profoundly affect the quality of the air you breathe and the safety of the streets you walk.

As a geek and innovator, I am always looking for the multiplier: What needs to happen to get to the next level of awesome? How do we take what we have learned so far and make a bigger impact for a broader swath of humanity?

For Smart Cities, we need to do a few things. We need to make it super-simple for cities to securely connect new “things” so that new information can be collected, analyzed and shared. And at the same time, we need to make it super-simple for new cities—cities that are not yet on the digital track—to get started.

The Cisco Smart+Connected Digital Platform we announced today helps on both fronts. Cities can confidently connect new “things” as we certify a set of companies that provide infrastructural solutions both “south” of the platform and application solutions “north” of the platform. This simplicity—a cornerstone of our overall strategy for IoT—will give more cities the green light to boldly pursue a digital future.

We are excited to be working already with cities in the US, India, Denmark, and Australia. Results won’t come overnight, but change will happen faster than you might expect. I am so excited about IoT’s ability to create cleaner, safer cities—cities I want to live in. What do you think about smart cities? Let me know @rowantrollope

To learn more about the Smart+Connected Digital Platform, please visit cs.co/digitalplatform