< PreviousTHE VENDOR Avaya is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California, that specialises in unified communications (UC), contact centre (CC), and services. It is the largest pure-play UC and CC company, ranking No. 1 in CC and No. 2 in UC and collaboration. In 1995, Lucent Technologies was spun off from AT&T, with Avaya being spun off from Lucent as its own company in 2000. It remained a public company from 2000 to 2007, when it was purchased by private equity firms. On December 15, 2017, it once again became a public company, trading under the stock ticker AVYA. the website. “We are trying to adapt to how the public consumes technology. People want to use apps and or chatting when they want to communicate to us, just as they do in their normal lives,” says Alselham. There are still others who prefer phone calls. That is why KFMC contin- ues to offer the choice of voice, chat and email, he adds. Voice will decrease in usage over time as chats gain popularity, but espe- cially for healthcare, patients still need to talk to someone that will understand their situation, and confirmations still need to be done over the phone, Alsel- ham observes. KFMC has standardised its commu- nications and collaboration infrastruc- ture and software around Avaya, which makes integration easier, says Alselham. That said, the system mixes well with other third-party applications whenever they are needed such as recording sys- tem, the voting system for surveys, etc, Alselham adds. The contact centre continues to evolve, embracing the digital platforms that run our personal lives as well as so- cial media. Patients now have a single number for all KFMC departments, available round the clock. Callers can pick and choose which platform works better for them and can even switch from one platform to another. // CASE STUDY / KING FAHAD MEDICAL CITY // WWW.NETWORKMIDDLEEAST.COM /// 20 / NETWORK MIDDLE EAST / DECEMBER 2019SPECIAL REPORT THE RISE OF SMART CITIES IN THE REGION December 2019 LAYING THE FOUNDATION MARKET FOCUS DIGITISING DATA KNOWLEDGE PARTNERORGANISED BY For more information Mr Habib Chams Dubai +971588152161 Beirut +961 76 704 978 habib.chams@itp.com www.dgcgames.com C Level Delegates 500+ Companies 100+ Speakers 35 Countries Book your place now | www.dgcgames.com Join DGC Esports Summit the leading marketplace and forum for the Esports industry serving MENA region 4th Edition Connecting the Global Game Industry 1-2 April 2020 Dubai World Trade Centre, UAE DGC E Sports 2020 Press Ad 205x275 V2.indd 121/11/2019 07:26I t is difficult to define what actually constitutes a “Smart City”. That is because smart cities are designed to solve different prob- lems. For some cities, public parking is their biggest headache and ICT resourc- es have been deployed to solve those spe- cific issues. For others, traffic congestion on roads is the inspiration to adopt more innovative traffic management systems. Ditto for waste management in others. Whatever the motivation is, it is clear technology can and should be a signifi- cant ally in solving the many challenges that plague urban areas. In the Middle East, the relatively young cities are in a far better position to transition to innovation-led urban en- vironments without being encumbered by legacy infrastructure. Although it is possible to mount a sensor on an existing water pipeline to monitor water flow, it is far more effective to install a smart gauge from the get-go. Regional cities are also blessed with forward-thinking leaders who have been instrumental in driving the smart city agenda forward. In Dubai, a paperless strategy is not just bringing public services to the devices that people use on a daily basis, it is solving another common smart city imperative-sustainability. Although many people associate smart cities with the connected infrastructure, data is the real engine that runs these platforms. That is why open data strate- gies, like the one being pursued by Dubai are crucial. In smart cities, however, data prolifer- ation is a serious challenge. The millions of sensors that ‘smarten’ public infra- structure produce data in the gigabytes. Managing and analyzing this data for actionable insights takes some special effort, and technology. We have highlighted how Software AG, a partner to several regional authori- ties in their smart city projects, is putting its data analytics capabilities to use in helping make sense of this data. 5G Regional service providers are the true heroes in the regional smart city project. Telcos in UAE and Saudi Arabia were among the first globally to announce 5G networks. Smart cities and 5G will be intri- cately intertwined in the coming years. Although other technologies for con- necting IoT exist, many of the projected implementations such as connected transport will rely on real-time commu- nication and decision making. Only 5G can enable that at scale. Specifically, 5G offers massive ma- chine type communication (MMTC). MMTC is intended for a large network of IoT devices sending a lot of data back and forth. Applications here include smart buildings, logistics and fleet man- agement, as well as air and water quality monitoring. CYBERSECURITY The interconnectivity that makes a smart city work also creates new and substantial cybersecurity risks. Smart cities can be susceptible to various cyber-attack scenarios, such as remote execution and signal jamming, as well as traditional means, including malware, data manipulation and DDOS. EDITOR’S NOTE The cities of our future beckon THE TRUSTED SOURCE FOR NET- WORK NEWS AND ANALYSIS CONNECT WITH MORE THAN 30,000+ INDUSTRY PROFESSIONALS This risk is exacerbated when the con- nections are for critical infrastructure such as power grids. To counter the risks, a smart city must be built with cybersecurity embedded in the infrastructure itself. Smart cities also require sharing of data both by businesses and individu- als which increases the risk for privacy violations and cyber-attacks for busi- nesses. GDPR-type regulations are required as a basic foundation for the mass connectivity promised by smart city implementations. // SPECIAL REPORT / EDITOR’S NOTE // DECEMBER 2019 / NETWORK MIDDLE EAST / 23// WWW.NETWORKMIDDLEEAST.COM /The Smart City project in the UAE is gaining momentum. The Abu Dhabi Smart City Summit, the premier event of its kind in the emirate, brought together dozens of entities and decision-makers to UAE’s capital last month to discuss and showcase how Abu Dhabi is emerg- ing as a frontrunner in the lobal smart city innovation. The telco du, which has been involved as the infrastructure foundation for many smart city projects in the country, was the main sponsor for the event. Its senior vice president for ICT commercial and business development Marwan Bin Dal- mook, said the company’s ICT expertise and technology capabilities would help produce safe and smart city experiences. “By enabling a new era of 5G connec- tivity and connected technology ecosys- tems, du is supporting the creation of in- finite possibilities for connectivity in the smart city landscape of tomorrow,” said Bin Dalmook. In Dubai, the ‘Startupbootcamp’ se- lected 11 startups last month to take part in its third cohort of the Dubai Smart City Accelerator, a three-month pro- gram focused on building Smart City in- novation in the emirate. Launched in 2017, the Dubai Smart City Accelerator is an initiative of the Startupbootcamp and hosted at Dubai Silicon Oasis (DSO), itself the testbed for many smart city projects in Dubai. Dubai Silicon Oasis Authority (DSOA), du, Dubai Chamber, Smart Dubai, Visa, Orange Business Services, and RIT Dubai are the main players behind the such the Accelerator create ideal condi- tions for embracing the fourth industrial revolution by leveraging breakthrough technologies. Eng. Al Katheeri added: “We are com- mitted at DSOA to offering initiatives at Dtec that support the directives of the government in building a sustainable economy and motivate young talents and entrepreneurs to adopt innovation, in several technology verticals. Since its launch in 2015, the DSCA program has helped several startups harness their ideas and achieve fruition and we are pleased to see 11 start-ups representing eight countries attend this year’s event.” Laying the foundation of the smart city, one sensor at a time Dubai Smart City Accelerator, provid- ing not just the funding, but also the ex- pertise, exposure channels, and access to their smart city network of industry professionals and mentors from around the world. Events were held in 28 countries to identify the most promising Smart City- focused startups aligned with the Ac- celerator’s verticals: IoT & connectivity, urban automation & mobility, artificial intelligence, blockchain, open city data, sustainable cities & living, smart gov- ernment, and smart retail. The selected startups receive a 3-months mentorship from over 100 industry experts, office space in Dubai Technology Entrepreneur Campus at DSO, seed funding, and access to a net- work of investors and corporate part- ners from across the Smart City indus- try. The program concludes with Demo Day on January 14th 2020, where the startups will pitch to over 200 investors and partners. Once accelerated, the startups join Startupbootcamp’s alumni network consisting of more than 800 enterprises from 50 countries worldwide. Eng. Muammar Al Katheeri, execu- tive vice president of Engineering and Smart City at DSOA, said initiatives Progressive cities are turning to cloud, data platforms, mobile applications and IoT to scale and prepare for the future.” Initiatives across the region add impetus to regional Smart City vision // SPECIAL REPORT / MARKET FOCUS // WWW.NETWORKMIDDLEEAST.COM /// 24 / NETWORK MIDDLE EAST / DECEMBER 2019 /with seismic technological, demographic and environmental shifts. Data is the rocket fuel for this transformation, and progressive cities are turning to cloud, data platforms, mobile applications and IoT to scale and prepare for the future,” said Susan O’Connor, global director for Smart Cities, Oracle. “In contrast, not taking advantage of emerging technologies such as AI, Block- chain or virtual and augmented reality comes at a cost. Cities of the future need strategic, long-term investments in cloud data architecture, along with the right expertise to guide them through.” Oracle’s Smart City platform inte- grates technologies spanning cloud, digital outreach, omnichannel service, case management, mobility, social, IoT, Blockchain, and artificial intelligence while helping ensure security and infor- mation privacy. ROI Indeed, being ‘Smart’ pays, as an ongo- ing project in the UAE shows. Hassantuk, a next-generation fire and life safety and property maintenance monitoring system currently being rolled out across the UAE, is facilitating lower insurance rates for registered and connected commercial buildings. By working with several insurance companies, Hassantuk is helping own- ers obtain reduced insurance premiums for connected buildings. A connected building is monitored around-the-clock by Hassantuk, an AI platform that en- hances not only safety in buildings but also the ability for emergency services to respond to fire and life safety events. Hassantuk is a public-private initia- tive between the UAE Ministry of Inte- rior and Injazat, the UAE-based ICT ser- vices provider. It is designed to increase the efficiency of emergency service re- sponses to fire and life safety emergency alarms through a smart system, helping to shorten response times and increase response efficiency to emergency events across the UAE through a unified smart city platform. DATA A recent study by Oracle has recog- nised Abu Dhabi and Dubai as two of the world’s top ‘hyper-connected’ cities that are making progress on interconnecting the urban ecosystem and realising the ac- cruing benefits. The ‘Building a Hyperconnected City’ study found that cities are drowning in data from advancements such as internet of things (IoT). The survey projected that there will be more than 30 billion con- nected devices generating data by 2020. The study notes that for cities to become truly ‘smart’, they must have a cloud in- frastructure in place to extract, integrate, and analyse this data to glean the insights needed to enhance everything from citi- zen services to building projects. According to the study, the average re- turn on investments in hyper-connected initiatives ranges from 3 to 4%. As cit- ies become more interlinked, their ROI grows: cities just starting out realize a re- turn of 1.8% for implementers and 2.6% for advancers, while hyper-connected leaders see a 5.0% boost. That can trans- late into enormous returns ranging from $19.6 million for implementers to $40.0 million for advancers and $83 million for hyper-connected leaders. The study found out that artificial in- telligence, Blockchain and biometrics are increasingly pervasive: Cities are using these technologies in key urban areas, such as IT infrastructure and telecoms, mobility and transportation, payment and financial systems, and physical and digital security. The report also revealed out that smart initiatives are bolstering constituent satisfaction: While physical and digital security top the list of priorities, citizen engagement and satisfaction have risen as a top-five goal. “The public sector, particularly at the local level, is dealing // SPECIAL REPORT / MARKET FOCUS // DECEMBER 2019 / NETWORK MIDDLE EAST / 25// WWW.NETWORKMIDDLEEAST.COM /The regional Smart City project, long the subject of discussion in conference halls and research journals, is being turned into a reality. This is the culmination of advancements in various fields such as 5G, analytics and low cost sensors. Dubai, the epicentre of the regional smart city deployments, has a number of digitisation underway spearheaded by the Emirates’ digital arm, Smart Dubai. A key part of this Smart City strategy, and perhaps a bit underappreciated, is Dubai’s paperless strategy. Through this initiative, several technological changes are being rolled out through automation in government operations. A recent announcement between Smart Dubai and Software AG in line with the paperless strategy will inter- connect Dubai-wide government entities and key private sector systems and pro- cesses to leverage digital innovation to- wards a paperless environment, observes Rami Kichli, vice president, Gulf and Le- vant, Software AG. Dubai’s AI roadmap also continues to accelerate through several projects underway in the Emirate. In line with Dubai’s AI initiative, Software AG show- cased during this year’s GITEX Technol- ogy Week “The Future Smart City” where various public use cases such as traffic management, smart parking, and school bus services amongst others can leverage artificial intelligence and IoT to improve the lives of residents and visitors. set of government services through a sin- gle portal,” explains Kichli. In Kuwait, the government recently announced it will cancel the residency stickers on expatriate passports, which will be replaced by a civil card issued by the Public Authority for Civil Informa- tion (PACI). This initiative is in line with Kuwait’s smart initiatives under its ambi- Smart cities will revolutionise the lives of residents and visitors UNIFIED PLATFORM Abu Dhabi, through its Vision 2030, is another city strongly invested in innova- tion. A pillar project is Abu Dhabi Digital Authority’s TAMM initiative, a unified online service platform launched last year. “TAMM through Software AG’s webMethods API Management, offers a customer journey with a comprehensive In a smart city, vehicles, traffic management, parking, etc. can leverage artificial intelligence and IoT to improve the lives of residents. TAMM offers a customer journey with a comprehensive set of government services through a single portal.” All over the region, cities look to digitisation to create better urban environments // WWW.NETWORKMIDDLEEAST.COM /// 26 / NETWORK MIDDLE EAST / DECEMBER 2019 / // SPECIAL REPORT / KNOWLEDGE PARTNERtious Kuwait National Development Plan 2035, observes Kichli. “These and other regional smart city initiatives and their progress, are all geared towards enhanc- ing the lives of residents and visitors and improve and elevate public sector servic- es,” says Kichli. Embarking on a smart city project is a major undertaking that deserves short, medium and long term goals. A good place to commence on any digital transformation drive in any city is to first identify the purpose of digitalis- ing, says Kichli. “This is a core challenge which, once met, is a major step in the transformation journey. The receptive- ness and open-mindedness, not (neces- sarily) in terms of the technology but more in regard to the design model is of utmost importance,” Kichli adds. “Other areas city authorities need to consider include significant transforma- tion in existing business and technol- ogy models, existing infrastructures and costs, internal buy-in on the new change from within the organisation and its em- ployees, securities and testing, privacy concerns, feasible legislation and poli- cies, educating and engaging the com- munity and the ability of being socially inclusive,” Kichli says. The success or failure of a smart city rests heavily on the readiness and re- ceptiveness by the recipient/ customer in terms of the change itself, and an im- plementation is considered unsuccessful should there be resistance in the change, says Kichli. SUSTAINABILITY Environmental sustainability is a key fac- et of a Smart City. Through the deployment of environ- mental IoT solutions, elements such as Automotive and transport leaders from across the world gathered in Dubai for the 5th International Conference on Future Mobility (ICFM) last month as HE Abdulla Abdulqader Al Maeeni, Director General, Emirates Authority for Standardisation and Metrology (ESMA) outlined plans to integrate new technology into the emirate’s transport infrastructure. Through keynote presentations and panel discussions, experts, from international specialists to regulators, delivered their exper- tise on the future of travel and autonomous vehicles during the opening day of the conference which will run at the Grand Hyatt from 26-27 November. Amongst the opening remarks was the announcement of the first ever semi-autonomous heavy vehicle journey between Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Completed by Mercedes-Benz’s new Actros truck, the 140km trip demonstrated the future of goods transportation and what can be achieved with current technology. Mitsubishi displayed their region- al premiere of their e-Evolution. DUBAI’S FUTURE MOBILITY STRATEGY OUTLINED AT INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON FUTURE MOBILITY DATA Data is the most crucial element in the Smart City transformation, and access to credible data is imperative to design pub- lic policies and provide quality services. With platforms such as Dubai Pulse which currently boasts 460 datasets from 35 entities, out of which a total of 2000 that the platform is aiming to add in the near future, Dubai is at the forefront in building a governed and secure data en- vironment, Kichli observes. Kichli says technology providers such as Software AG are the hidden engine to drive smart city initiatives. The major players are investing billions in R&D into AI, IoT and other modern technologies. “It is our promise to continue offering robust platforms that support a coun- try’s real-time integration and overall transformation vision in order to deliver a seamless and safe environment to resi- dents and visitors,” he concludes. Kichli: A project is unsuccessful if there is resistance to change. energy monitoring to control costs and conserve resources for better efficien- cies, reduction of pollution and create liveable and safer environments for city inhabitants, can all be catered to in line with the digitalisation efforts towards a smart city, says Kichli. // DECEMBER 2019 / NETWORK MIDDLE EAST / 27// WWW.NETWORKMIDDLEEAST.COM / // SPECIAL REPORT / KNOWLEDGE PARTNERInnovation, particularly in the infor- mation and communication tech- nology (ICT) sector, is redefining energy. Solutions based on 5G, arti- ficial intelligence (AI), cloud, and other new technologies are transforming the energy industry from the digital era into the intelligent one, enabling great- er productivity, more efficiency, and many other benefits – such as increased sustainability. Energy has been at the core of human development since our ancestors first harnessed the power of fire. The large- scale introduction of electricity to global society in the 19th century prompted hu- manity to move forward into the second industrial revolution. Nuclear energy initiated the third in- dustrial revolution in the second half of the 20th century, which saw the begin- ning of the electronic age as telecom- munications, computers, automatons and robots rose in prominence, in turn contributing to the evolution of space research, biotechnology, and paving the way towards today’s digital era. We are now in the throes of the fourth industrial revolution, in which technol- ogy provides the means for ubiquitous connectivity. This is the internet of things (IoT), which is further empow- ered by technologies such as 5G, AI and cloud. Just as energy has had a key role to play in streamlining industry – and in the creation of the ICT sector – the ICT sector is now in a position to return the favour, so to speak, by implement- ing smart solutions that enable greater sustainability, efficiency and productiv- ity throughout the energy industry. Our Initiating intelligent energy through ICT goal, now, is to fuel digital transforma- tion of all industries and build the foun- dation for the future digital world. A key step towards this is to make intelligent energy a reality. An example of this comes from the deployment of 5G networks, which op- erate differently to their predecessors; they use high-frequency bands and have small coverage. This means that a higher base station density is required than with 4G and earlier network gen- erations. Limited space for the multiple sites required has become a restriction in the fast deployment of 5G networks. To overcome this, Huawei has de- veloped a solution for building 5G base stations on substations, enabling energy suppliers, tower providers, and carriers Technology can enable greater sustainability, efficiency and productivity in the energy sector, writes Alaa Elshimy, MD & SVP, Huawei Enterprise Business Group, Middle East alike to benefit by sharing infrastruc- ture resources. Energy suppliers provide physical bases for substations, which carriers can use to deploy 5G base sta- tions. Carriers lease substation cabinets and power supply from energy providers to ensure uninterruptible power supply (UPS) for 5G base stations. Huawei’s 5G antenna technology enables tower pro- viders to utilise and integrate their tow- er resources by mounting multiple types of antennas onto one mono-pole tower. A base station of this kind was success- fully deployed by China Unicom Nanjing in 2019, which saw a construction period of what would typically be 30 days re- duced to just one day. This significantly shorter period led to lowered costs, plus savings in terms of pipelines, transmis- // WWW.NETWORKMIDDLEEAST.COM /// 28 / NETWORK MIDDLE EAST / DECEMBER 2019 / // SPECIAL REPORT / TECHNOLOGYsion, power, and land. The latter was re- duced by 840,000 square meters, equiv- alent to 117 football courts. Additionally, 420,000 tons of steel were saved. In to- tal, the solution cost US$1.3 billion less than a traditional deployment – thanks to ICT innovation. The above is just one example of how the ICT sector and the energy sector can collaborate to increase efficiency and sustainability. The ultra-reliable, low- latency communication feature of 5G networks has enabled autonomous driv- ing of mining trucks and remote control of excavators at mining sites, reducing manual operations and enabling smart mining. 5G’s enhanced mobile broad- band feature enables mining companies to conduct AI-based analytics for a large number of on-site videos, thereby facili- tating more precise and efficient mining. Intelligent power transmission plat- forms, which integrate front-end rea- soning, cloud-based training, and cloud-edge synergy into pole and tower Elshimy: With the combined expertise of the ICT and energy sectors, innovation knows no bounds. monitoring units, can perform intelli- gent analyses, working with the cloud to update detection algorithms in real time. They can automatically monitor and transmit potential hazards, such as bird nests on the lines or mechanical intrusions, to operating crews without manual assistance, so that efficiencies are increased five-fold and secure, stable power line operation is ensured. With the combined expertise of the ICT and energy sectors, innovation knows no bounds. The above-mentioned examples are just a handful of existing solutions that are propelling the intelligent energy era. Many more exist, and even more are still under development as technologies con- tinue to evolve and adapt to the needs of the world around us. This is just the beginning of a new stage of development for the energy sec- tor, as it evolves towards a more sustain- able, efficient, smarter future, enabled by ICT. // DECEMBER 2019 / NETWORK MIDDLE EAST / 29// WWW.NETWORKMIDDLEEAST.COM / // SPECIAL REPORT / TECHNOLOGYNext >