An operating system for cities: How IBM plans to make your city smarter | VentureBeat Cutting emergency response times in Rio de Janeiro by 30 percent? Reducing pollution in San Francisco’s Bay Area? Eliminating traffic congestion in Lyon, France? Those are all things you can do … if you make your city smarter. IBM calls it Intelligent Operations Center (IOC), and in the past three years has led over 2,000 projects to “monitor, measure, and manage city services such as water systems, public safety, transportation, hospitals, electricity grids, and buildings.” Just this past week, the company announced new projects in South Bend, Indiana, Davao, Philippines, and Lyon, France. In each of them, the company will be working to add sensors to everyday infrastructure, install software to integrate and manage the massive inflow of data, and provide city officials with the information and intelligence they need to run their cities better. Hopefully, the result will be better, more livable, and more sustainable urban environments. VentureBeat spoke to Chris O’Connor, IBM’s vice president in charge of engineering and smart city products, to find out what makes IOC tick. And to learn what might be the future of smart cities … an operating system for reality.

An operating system for cities: How IBM plans to make your city smarter | VentureBeat

Cutting emergency response times in Rio de Janeiro by 30 percent? Reducing pollution in San Francisco’s Bay Area? Eliminating traffic congestion in Lyon, France?

Those are all things you can do … if you make your city smarter.

IBM calls it Intelligent Operations Center (IOC), and in the past three years has led over 2,000 projects to “monitor, measure, and manage city services such as water systems, public safety, transportation, hospitals, electricity grids, and buildings.” Just this past week, the company announced new projects in South Bend, Indiana, Davao, Philippines, and Lyon, France.

In each of them, the company will be working to add sensors to everyday infrastructure, install software to integrate and manage the massive inflow of data, and provide city officials with the information and intelligence they need to run their cities better. Hopefully, the result will be better, more livable, and more sustainable urban environments.

VentureBeat spoke to Chris O’Connor, IBM’s vice president in charge of engineering and smart city products, to find out what makes IOC tick. And to learn what might be the future of smart cities … an operating system for reality.

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How Data is Making Rio de Janeiro a Smarter City - TNW Latin America Do you plan to attend 2014 FIFA World Cup or 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro? If so, the city is already getting ready to welcome you. Here is how Rio is using technology and data management to get smarter. Manage information to avoid tragedies In April 2010, the State of Rio de Janeiro was hit by a natural disaster, when floods and mudslides killed over 200 people and made 15,000 homeless. Worse, Rio de Janeiro’s Mayor admitted that Rio’s preparedness was “less than zero”. To avoid similar tragedies, the city had until the next rainy season to prepare. This led to the creation of Rio Operations Center in partnership with IBM. It opened its doors on December 31st 2010, only a few months after the catastrophe. Rio Operations Center, the city’s control room Although its initial focus was floods, the scope of Rio Operations Center expanded considerably. Beyond managing all emergency response situations, it’s also the city’s information management center. It monitors transportation, water, weather and energy 24/7, 365 days a year. The Center is part of the Smarter Cities initiative that IBM has been promoting since 2007. The group, which celebrated its 100th anniversary in June, has launched similar projects in cities such as New York City or Gauteng in South Africa. However, Rio is its most ambitious initiative to date, as part of the major transformations the city is going through ahead of the World Cup and Olympics.

How Data is Making Rio de Janeiro a Smarter City - TNW Latin America

Do you plan to attend 2014 FIFA World Cup or 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro? If so, the city is already getting ready to welcome you. Here is how Rio is using technology and data management to get smarter.

Manage information to avoid tragedies

In April 2010, the State of Rio de Janeiro was hit by a natural disaster, when floods and mudslides killed over 200 people and made 15,000 homeless. Worse, Rio de Janeiro’s Mayor admitted that Rio’s preparedness was “less than zero”. To avoid similar tragedies, the city had until the next rainy season to prepare. This led to the creation of Rio Operations Center in partnership with IBM. It opened its doors on December 31st 2010, only a few months after the catastrophe.

Rio Operations Center, the city’s control room

Although its initial focus was floods, the scope of Rio Operations Center expanded considerably. Beyond managing all emergency response situations, it’s also the city’s information management center. It monitors transportation, water, weather and energy 24/7, 365 days a year.

The Center is part of the Smarter Cities initiative that IBM has been promoting since 2007. The group, which celebrated its 100th anniversary in June, has launched similar projects in cities such as New York City or Gauteng in South Africa. However, Rio is its most ambitious initiative to date, as part of the major transformations the city is going through ahead of the World Cup and Olympics.

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