Bristol smart city programme chooses Silver Spring for citywide network
Published on 17th Mar 2015
Bristol is being transformed into a smart city, and last week a major new contract was awarded to establish the backbone of the smart city network.
US-based Silver Spring Networks will deploy its standards-based IPv6 wireless network across the city, connecting a variety of smart city sensors and creating a ‘living innovation lab’. Selected businesses and academic institutions will be able to leverage the resulting sensor data and insights to trial new smart city applications and services.
Silver Spring will also connect existing city assets. For example, by connecting street lights the city hopes to demonstrate the economic and energy benefits of intelligent street lighting.
Other smart city applications that can utilise the citywide network include parking meters, traffic light and congestion sensors, safety cameras, air quality sensors, weather sensors, public transportation sensors, remote personal healthcare monitors and acoustic detection.
The ‘Bristol is Open’ smart city programme is a joint venture between Bristol City Council and the University of Bristol.
Paul Wilson, managing director of Bristol Is Open, said: “We are building in Bristol the world’s first open programmable city, a groundbreaking project aimed at providing a platform for the development of applications that will promote innovation and deliver a better quality of life.
“After a fair and open competition we are delighted to be working with Silver Spring Networks. A variety of factors informed our decision, one of which was Silver Spring Networks’ ability to support an open Software Defined Network environment. We look forward to working together in the spirit of innovation as we break new ground.”
Silver Spring’s smart city solution already helps connect critical infrastructure in cities all around the world, including Chicago, Copenhagen, Glasgow, Paris, Sao Paulo, San Francisco, Singapore and Sydney.
