Cybersecurity and new revenue streams: Blockchain changes the game for open cities
Swiss technology company Paradox Engineering is further enhancing its PE Smart Urban Network platform for interoperable Open Cities by integrating blockchain technology to grant the highest possible cybersecurity and enable the monetisation of urban device-generated data. New components for smart lighting and smart parking are also being announced.
All new features will be disclosed at Smart City Expo World Congress, the international Smart City exhibition taking place in Barcelona (Spain) from November 19th to 21st, 2019.
“It’s time to change the game for Smart Cities: over the edge cybersecurity is in order, as is turning cost saving into revenue generation and boosting new economies. The Internet of Things is not only about connecting devices into an open and interoperable network: it is about information becoming tangible value for the benefit of all, citizens, businesses and city managers”, states Gianni Minetti, CEO at Paradox Engineering
“Since the very inception of PE Smart Urban Network, back in 2011, and now as part of MinebeaMitsumi Group and the uCIFI Alliance, we have always envisioned openness and security-by-design. Today, we are moving one step forward by integrating blockchain for cybersecurity and data tokenisation“.
The utmost cybersecurity and new business streams for Cities
Cybercrime is a risk that no City can overlook any longer. Today PE Smart Urban Network integrates blockchain technology and makes commissioning and operational procedures of smart urban infrastructures intrinsically secure. The combination of blockchain, dedicated hardware security modules on devices, ultra-reliable encryption and other features brings PE Smart Urban Network at the forefront of cybersecurity, and allows Cities to move away from the conventional ‘bastion defence’ paradigm to benefit from security-by-design network systems.
Blockchain technology integrated in Paradox Engineering’s platform also allows to monetise device-related data from streetlights, parking lots, waste bins, environmental sensors, and other urban objects. Such data can now be transformed into tradable tokens. For instance, the information a parking sensor generates about the car lot being vacant or busy can become a token and traded to offer Smart Parking services. In doing so, parking operators buy “info-tokens” from the City, fuelling their service business; travellers save time and consume less; Cities turn their parking sensor investment into revenues, while benefitting from lower traffic and pollution, and higher quality of life.
“Info-tokens” can stem from virtually any sensors in the City: for example, environmental data (ie. density of PM10 e PM2.5 particulates, carbon monoxide, etc.). can be used for traffic-mitigation applications to dynamically manage restricted traffic zones upon the improvement or worsening of air quality. Universities, startups and any local organisation can design innovative applications and services by mashing-up different data streams.
Extending the interoperable PE Smart Urban Network’s portfolio
PE Smart Urban Network is now further enriched by the new MinebeaMitsumi’s Dual Smart Parking Sensor, whose coupled magnetic field sensor and radar sensor grant outstanding vehicle detection, and MinebeaMitsumi’s Smart LED Streetlight, the energy-efficient LED lamp featuring a novel optical design and a superior utilisation factor for higher brightness with lower power consumption.
These innovative components seamlessly integrate the hardware and software portfolio of PE Smart Urban Network’s open IPv6 / 6LoWPAN infrastructure, with its extensible PE Smart CMS, its PE Smart Nodes and Gateways. PE Smart Urban Network is a single, interoperable infrastructure managing both multi-sensor Wireless Internet of Things (IoT) applications as smart lighting, smart parking, smart waste, etc., and Wireless Highspeed IoT services as pervasive WiFi, video surveillance and other high-bandwidth applications.
Showcasing at Smart City Expo World Congress
All news around PE Smart Urban Network will be first introduced at the Smart City Expo World Congress 2019. Visitors can live a hands-on technology experience and enjoy an Augmented Reality immersion into applications for Open Cities at booth F612 in hall 2.
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