Kansas City Taps Cisco for Broad-Ranging IoT Implementation

One of the challenges of doing smart city implementations is that different agencies and departments have control over different pieces of the infrastructure – and one-off IoT deployments don’t always realize the full value they could have if they were part of a more holistic strategy. The good news is that some cities are now building more wide-ranging strategies around IoT. Kansas City, Mo., appears to be one such city.

Kansas City recently contracted Cisco Systems to help it create a framework through which it can erect a development data portal, digital kiosks, smart lighting, and smart water applications. Sprint is the service provider involved; it will leverage Cisco gear to build a Wi-Fi network to act as the backbone for the deployment.

Phase One of the project will include the build of the wifi network, the creation of an enterprise mobility service platform to support a mobile app for residents and visitors, the creation of a data portal called the Living Lab managed by ThinkBig Partners, the installation of CityPost kiosks, work with Black & Veatch on smart water, identification of technology for use in police vehicles, and smart lighting and video deployment with Sensity.

As Hugh Martin, chairman and CEO of Sensity Systems, told IoT Evolution last year, now is a great time to move to smart lighting given that many outside lights are ready for replacement and LED lights offer energy savings and last longer. Because most cities have plans and budgets in place to install the lights, they can leverage those resources to at the same time install IoT sensors. Sensity sells lights, but its focus in the long term is on its NetSense system, which it licenses to light manufacturers at no cost. As part of its solution, Sensity developed software including APIs to connect to the back end of the cloud; a handful of applications to kick start the use of its platform; the ability for third-parties to build and host their own applications on the platform; and NetSense Live, a global operations center Sensity uses to support a service through which it provides end customers like cities and property managers with application and network monitoring and maintenance.

As communities all over the world follow Kansas City's lead and get smarter, it's going to become ever more critical to learn all there is to know about smart infrastructure and city planning. Make sure you attend IoT Evolution Expo, August 17 to 20 in Las Vegas for the inside scoop.