CANTO Weekly Newsletter – BNamericas 07/08/16

Brazil leaps 12 places in WEF network readiness index – Regional

Telefónica partners with Cisco to automatize IP infrastructure – Regional

Motorola Solutions connects Panama Canal with over 20 security agencies – Panama

DATA: Number of pay-TV subscribers by controlling company in Q1 – Regional

One key path to lead the development of Latin America is through the implementation of Smart Cities, which solve citizens’ daily problems through the management of modern tools that have the goal to improve quality of life.

How will new technologies be part of our everyday lives in cities? Moreover, how are cities to fund them?

According to the Smart Cities Council (SCC), a coalition of technology companies with expertise in areas such as energy, water, communications and transportation, a smart city “has digital technology embedded across all city functions.”

Phillip Bane, its Managing Director, will speak at the BNamericas Latam Leaders Forum. He is responsible for developing strategies and implementing plans to develop high-value interactions between cities and all its stakeholders.

“We’re all in this world together and our Global Alliance for Smart Cities Councils reflects that,” Bane says. “We’re engaging stakeholders to work with us to promote smarter, more sustainable cities around the globe.”

The SCC envisions “a world where digital technology and intelligent design have been harnessed to create smart, sustainable cities with high-quality living and high-quality jobs.”

ALSO READ: No City Left Behind. The Smart City Movement Gains Traction in Latin America

“ICT-enabled cities – or smart cities – are more resilient during times of distress due to effective resource allocation and infrastructure management.”

Their three core values are:

1. Livability

“Cities that provide clean, healthy living conditions without pollution and congestion. With a digital infrastructure that makes city services instantly and conveniently available anytime, anywhere.”

2. Workability

“Cities that provide the enabling infrastructure — energy, connectivity, computing, essential services — to compete globally for high-quality jobs.”

3. Sustainability

“Cities that provide services without stealing from future generations.”

Bane exemplified a New York pilot of the Compassionate Cities Campaign, using data such as court records, shelter history and demographic information, with an analytics tool to identify families at risk of becoming homeless. “The information helped social workers decide where to focus their efforts. As a result, 50% more families were connected with eviction prevention services compared to neighborhoods not using the tool,” he says.

Can LatAm Cities be Smart?

Urban Strategist Boyd Cohen, from Co.Exist, developed the “Fast Cities Wheel” to quantify intelligence in cities.

Source: Fastcoexist.com

He ranked what he considers the top eight smart cities in the region. According to him, they “are making strides towards becoming more efficient, cleaner, more innovative, and yes, smarter.”

1. Santiago, Chile

A city with the lowest level of corruption in Latin America, it ranks high as a business partner, with a good metro system, bike sharing programs, and smart business parks.

2. Mexico City, Mexico

One of the first cities in the world to experiment with smog absorvent building technology.

3. Bogota, Colombia

Its rapid bus transit system is among the most extensive and utilized systems in the world.

4. Buenos Aires, Argentina

With a Ministry for Modernization, it combines urban renovation with cluster development by investing in new infrastructure in blighted areas.

5. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

It has an operations center, allowing for real-time monitoring of meteorological, traffic and crime data, as mapping poverty areas and urban waste hotspots.

6. Curitiba, Brazil

It integrated the use of green spaces to absorb runoff in the rainy season, and developed as recreational parks during the dry season.

7. Medellín, Colombia

Introduced gondolas and electric staircases to support the integration of the poorer hillside communities.

8. Montevideo, Uruguay

The city has programs to support technology entrepreneurship helping “Uruguay become the largest per capita software exporter in Latin America.”

Click here to see the agenda

How to Fund a Smart City

These projects are complex ventures. The World Bank, a partner of the SCC, carried out a series of diagnostics to develop a practical framework for sustainable urbanization.

“The large capital investments that are needed in the construction phase-whether for transport, water provision, solid waste management, or sewage removal and treatment-are likely to far exceed the budget of any city government,” it said.

To develop a Smart City, the Wolrd Bank suggests a series of steps:

Source: World Bank

The World Bank book Planning, Connecting, and Financing Cities expands on the pool of tools to fund smart city development projects, such as green bonds, different kinds of Private Public Partnerships (PPP), government back credit transfers, etc.

Its suggested framework for development is:

Source: World Bank

Brazil leaps 12 places in WEF network readiness index – Regional

Brazil was the most improved Latin American nation in the latest Network Readiness Index published by the World Economic Forum (WEF).

The country climbed 12 places in the index this year to obtain the sixth highest score among Latin American nations, jumping past Mexico and El Salvador in the process.

The report authors attributed Brazil’s improvement to its relatively affordable fixed line broadband and a particularly rapid improvement in individual usage, considering that this metric is growing well in most countries. The authors nevertheless note that the government could do much more to support the country’s ICT agenda.

Chile retains the top spot among Latin American countries, coming in at number 38 in the total index of 143 countries, as it did last year. Chile is 27^th out of the 31 OECD countries listed in the index.

After Brazil, the next most improved Latin American countries are Honduras, up six positions to become number 10 in the region, and Costa Rica, up five places and retaining third place behind Uruguay.

El Salvador tumbled 13 places in the index, having scored better than Brazil and Peru in last year’s ranking. And Brazil’s overtaking of Mexico was helped by the fact that the latter fell seven places this year, mainly due to deterioration of the regulatory and legal environment, according to the authors.

Colombia also suffered a slide, of four positions, but keeps its number five slot among Latin American nations.

Telefónica partners with Cisco to automatize IP infrastructure – Regional

Telefónica Business Solutions selected Cisco’s Network Service Orchestrator (NSO) for automating and configuring its global IP infrastructure.

The implementation of Cisco NSO will help Telefónica Business Solutions digitalize its operations, enhancing the automation, agility, and reliability of its network, the San Jose, Cafironia-based firm said in a press release.

According to data from Cisco, the NSO can simplify its users’ network operation by automating the end-to-end service lifecycle and reducing manual configuration steps by up to 90%.

With the adoption of YANG-based development & operations service model, Telefónica will be able to move away from manual updates and re-provision network services, reconfiguring models in a faster and more accurate way, Cisco added. The new model will also allow the Spanish telco’s B2B solutions branch to speed up its service delivery times from months to minutes by relying on automated, on-demand service provisioning.

Telefónica recently secured another strategic alliance to include Fortinet’s Security Fabric architecture into its portfolio of managed security services.

Motorola Solutions connects Panama Canal with over 20 security agencies – Panama

MEDIA RELEASE

Panama City, July 1, 2016–The Panama Canal has been a central link in the global supply chain for more than a century and, as of this year, the expanded waterway will double the amount of cargo it is able to handle, improving the efficiency, reliability and ease of international trade. To celebrate the expansion, the Panama Canal Authority (PCA) hosted public events at the new Atlantic and Pacific locks, which were attended by the authorities and leaders from 60 nations. The mission-critical instant communications traffic involved in managing the canal and the security of the inaugural events was handled by Motorola Solutions systems complying with TETRA and Project 25 (P25) standards. Motorola Solutions (NYSE: MSI) also deployed MOTOBRIDGE, an interoperability solution that enabled communications between the different technologies to guarantee the constant and transparent flow of critical information.

More than 11,500 officers were responsible for security at the inaugural events using a communications system by Motorola Solutions that conforms to the P25 standard. To ensure constant, seamless contact among the communications systems of the PCA and the 20 agencies involved in the effort, a MOTOBRIDGE was deployed. This system is based on Internet Protocol (IP) and creates a communication bridge that allows different teams to work together, regardless of which communication standards they use, allowing the agencies to stay connected to the remote command and control center as well as dispatch facilities.

As a result, different teams were able to communicate quickly and hear each other clearly, with optimum levels of reliability and redundancy that ensured communications in the face of different types of events. Officers received high-quality audio and were able to respond more quickly thanks to applications like emergency alarm notifications set off by certain situations, call prioritization based on the type of event and how critical it is, and other intelligent features of the system.

A Canal that Brings Two Worlds Together

Critical communications are needed to guarantee that canal operations always run smoothly for the hundreds of ships, 10,000 workers and hourly operations at the Panama Canal. The PCA has been using Motorola Solutions’ communications technologies for decades, both to coordinate with the pilots of the ships that pass through the canal and to fully manage the 80 km-long canal.

The three most important operations related to the canal include: dredging operations to maintain the waterways navigable and in good condition; controlling the hydrographic basins (dams) to guarantee both, the supply of potable water used for main cities (with more than 1.4 million people living in metropolitan area) and to operate the locks; and overseeing the entrance and exit of ships. In order to perform all these tasks, reliable, high-quality critical communications are essential.

The aquatic fleet, including 4 dredgers, 30 floating towing devices, 80 personal transportation crafts and more than 4,000 employees, uses radios by Motorola Solutions to coordinate their efforts. The TETRA communication devices allow agents to communicate with other devices in the system using voice and data services, like telemetry, text messages and localization.

“The Panama Canal is a focal point in international trade that is expanding and seeing its coordination needs grow as well. These inaugural events marking the canal expansion required the latest coordinated mission-critical communications. We are proud that the technologies by Motorola Solutions are connecting the thousands of workers who need to make decisions in real time to ensure the flow of activities,” said Mike Devente, vice president and general manager, Motorola Solutions Latin America.

DATA: Number of pay-TV subscribers by controlling company in Q1 – Regional

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