CIO OPINION
Mexico is already leading the way when it comes to Smart Cities in LATAM
Antonio Bocigas , EMEA Telco Director , Lenovo
Future cities : Taking a smart approach to infrastructure
Antonio Bocigas , EMEA Telco Director , Lenovo , says cities need an ‘ edge ’ as they adapt to high bandwidth technologies advancing transformation .
For thousands of years , humankind has strived towards building a ‘ Smart City ’, the ultimate goal in city infrastructure development .
Looking back to ancient Rome , people were already seeing new technologies applied through a complex interconnected urban system , such as public transport management , energy source distribution systems and water drainage systems . Such innovations transformed the lives of thousands of citizens .
Fast forward to the 21st century , we are now experiencing a high level of technological development and glimpsing new innovations such as driverless cars , intelligent traffic systems and delivery bots .
But as the adage goes : ‘ Rome wasn ’ t built in a day ’. All progress does not happen overnight , there are still improvements and efforts needed to transform and advance infrastructures for cities to follow a smart approach .
Leveraging Edge Computing
For cities to handle a vast amount of data , a high bandwidth and low-latency network is essential to construct a smart approach in the modern age . Although we are seeing mass rollouts of reliable and affordable 5G around the world , certain cities are still facing low levels of network connectivity .
The answer ? Edge Computing : a distributed computing paradigm that brings computer and data storage closer to the sources of data . Edge technology allows faster decisions to be made and data processed in real-time within the device itself , as opposed to needing to send
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