Cisco ties up with IL&FS to network upcoming ‘smart cities’

Networking giant Cisco has partnered Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services Technologies (IL&FS) to jointly develop digital solutions to tap into the multi-billion dollar opportunity in the smart city space in India.

The companies will jointly develop Internet of Everything (IoE)-based digital solutions to pursue opportunities in the infrastructure sector and smart cities in India.

"The partnership is a collaboration between Cisco's vision of IoE, which is the intelligent connection of people, processes, data, and things, and IL&FS' deep expertise in infrastructure development in India along with ITL's excellent technology services capabilities,'' Cisco India and SAARC president (sales) Dinesh Malkani told reporters in Bengaluru.

According to Cisco, the IoE total value at stake in India is $511 billion over the next 10 years. Of the total IoE at stake, public sector value is $116 billion, which includes creating smart cities and citizen services such as health and education.

The government plans to develop 100 smart cities by 2022. In the budget, the finance ministry has allocated Rs7,060 crore for developing these smart cities.

"Some of the solutions that will be jointly developed will focus on urban services and smart city infrastructure solutions like traffic and transportation, public safety and security, command and control services and e-governance," Malkani said.

"A broader set of next-generation urban services like parking, lighting, traffic and citizen engagement services built on top of Ciscos City Infrastructure Management will also be worked on," he added.

These solutions will help citizens access, in real time, infrastructure services such as traffic, parking, lighting, and water, as well as city operators to improve city infrastructure operations through sharing information in real time across agencies and systems.

In India, an average of 2.75 lakh devices get connected to a network every day. In September, Cisco had unveiled a smart city model to demonstrate how smart networks can play a crucial role in areas like education, healthcare, work and electronic delivery of citizen services.

It was set up to act as a blueprint for the future of smart and connected communities in India. IL&FS Technologies is a technology solutions arm of Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services (IL&FS).

"Our collaboration with Cisco will bring the power of the IoE to greenfield and brownfield cities, communities and rural communities in India. Together we can enable digital solutions for the most essential citizen services such as healthcare and education", ITL chairman Prem Saigal said.