The 10 Most Prominent Smart City Solution Provider 2019

www.insightssuccess.in MM 2019

VOL 7 JULY-2019

ISSUE 3

Manoj Kanodia CEO

Editor

From the

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t is estimated that by 2030, about 60 per cent of the world population will be living in urban areas. This population shift is set to put increased demand on the cities in terms of basic and civic amenities. The demand for clean water, housing, food, pollution control measures and waste management are set to skyrocket. This puts the cities under pressure to provide quality services, increase efficiency, effectiveness, productivity, reduce costs, improve services delivery and address congestion and environmental issues. This is motivating cities to turn to technology and apply smart solutions and also experiment with various smart infrastructure applications resulting in Smart Cities.

Smart City Calls for a Smart Infrastructure

While there is no one definition of a Smart City, but the most accepted one describes it to be an innovative city that uses ICTs (Information and Communications Technology) and other means to improve quality of life and efficiency of urban operations. Such a city is connected through technology and share data enabling it to take care of all issues that the population is facing or will be facing soon. And the basis of establishing such a city is developing Smart Infrastructure. A congregation of all the key elements of a smart city, a smart infrastructure decides and highlights the integrated approach required to develop such a city.

Key elements include – smart building, smart mobility, smart energy, smart water, smart waste management, smart health, and smart governance.

In India, under the Smart Cities Mission, the Government has zeroed-in on 100 cities to develop them as model smart cities. The mission gives different guidelines, funding details and regularly throws challenges which these cities need to overcome using smart technology. Still, achieving a smart city is a tough road to travel. Given the prevalence of unplanned designing of cities in India, developing a smart city isn’t an easy task. Challenges such as state-centre coordination, lack of a master plan, corruption, raising awareness are hurdles that need to be cleared with patience and effective interaction.

For Indian cities, the path is laid. All it needs is to tread it with passion, honesty and a firm belief that this transformation can be done. The city doesn’t just belong to those in authority but to the common people too. The time requires all and sundry, government and private players, established companies and start-ups to come together and realise this one big dream of becoming a Smart Nation with Smart Cities!

Sneha Sinha

Editor-in-Chief Pooja M. Bansal Managing Editor Rahul Niraj Executive Editor Sneha Sinha Art & Design Head Amol Kamble Associate Designer Poonam Mahajan Art & Picture Editor Rahul Kavnekar Co-designer Shweta Ambilwade Business Development Lead Tejaswini Whaval Business Development Executive Prathamesh Kate Technical Specialist Amar, Pratiksha Digital Marketing Manager Prashant Chevale SME-SMO Executives Manoj Shelge Circulation Manager Tanaji sales@insightssuccess.com

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08 Cover Story Inspira Enterprise Building Emerging Technologies for Optimization

Interview with Insights Success

Cxo

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Soteď€ n Parking Specialized Parking Solutions

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34

CXO Standpoint

Tech Talk

Challenges in Implementing the Smart City Projects

Emerging Technologies

articles

22 Smart Apps City Apps: Making Cities Smarter

Co nt en ts

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IoT for Smart Trafc Smart Technologies for Smart Trafc

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Hardcastle GIS Providing Technologically Advanced Solutions for Business Problems

Intelizon Energy Smart Energy made Efcient

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L&T Smart World & Communication Leveraging Experience to Custom-design the Future

NeoSilica Solutions for a Smarter Living

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10 T h e

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Smart City Solution Provider

Gearing up Cities!

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city is often a reflection of its inhabitants. It changes according to the people who govern it, who live in it and who work for it. Today, the cities are up for a digital transformation which will render them intelligent, connected and more liveable in tune with the changing times.

Transforming a city isn't a one-man’s job. It will take years and hundreds of people with expertise in this matter. It asks for a collective effort. In this issue of Insights Success, we are glad to enlist “The 10 Most Prominent Smart City Solution Provider”. These companies specialize in technology relevant for transforming a sleepy city in to a smart one.

The Cover Story of this issue features Inspira Enterprise, a leading Digital Transformation company with its Centers of Excellence in Cyber Security, Blockchain, Cloud, Robotic Process Automation, Smart City, Networking and Healthcare Solutions.

Also featuring in this issue are Hardcastle GIS Solutions, a Global Geospatial Solution Provider, Intelizon Energy, which intends to be the world leader in energy based product innovation for developing countries, L&T Smart World & Communication, which designs customised city-specific solutions, NeoSilica, an advanced technology company offering end-to- end solutions for Energy, Water, Smart City, Microgrid, eMobility and Industrial markets.

Further pages in the issue highlight the viewpoint of Wg. Cdr. Pradeep Valsangkar, MD, Global Consulting Solutions on Challenges in Implementing the Smart City Projects and Varun , Head of HR at INDIA LAW LLP on Emerging Technologies. Read through the insightful interview of Arup Chaudhari, Director, Sotefin Parking Private Limited. Our in-house articles City Apps: Making Cities Smarter from Smart Apps let you know the latest apps for a smarter city. With Smart Technologies for Smart Traffic from IoT in Traffic sheds light now how traffic jams could soon be gone if technology has its way.

We hope you enjoy reading this issue as much as we did while creating it!!

Cover Story

10 T h e

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Smart City Solution Provider

Manoj Kanodia CEO

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magine a city where streets light up on its own as soon as it gets dark. Imagine a city with a banking system so robust, it alerts the nearest police station as soon as it detects a breach. Imagine a city with a traffic system that alerts the nearest city hospital when an accident occurs. Sounds like science – fiction?

No. With the development of technology, it is possible to develop and maintain a Smart City. A city, which leverages technology to enhance the quality and performance of services in an urban setup increasing overall services utility and decreasing costs and wastage.

Chetan Jain Director

Endeavouring with an objective to make the best of emerging technologies, integrating them for better communication and improving the quality of life and business is Inspira Enterprise. The company is one of the leading global system integrator and consulting company in the field of Information Technology.

Inspira's stronghold on emerging technologies and wide industry knowledge helps the client to transform and optimize their IT infrastructure as per the advanced technology trends. It has executed major projects for India’s Largest Bank and other conglomerates across Industries, which makes it the globally leading System Integrator and IT solutions provider.

The Men with a Mission Manoj Kanodia is the strong-headed CEO of Inspira carrying the

founding vision forward. He heads the IT Business and is responsible for P&L. He is an engineer by qualification with more than 20 years of experience. His last assignment was with British Telecom as the Business Head where he oversaw BT's impressive growth in India. He has worked in senior management positions in companies like AT&T, Telstra V-Comm and Tata Telecom in past.

is responsible for generating new business avenues and developing government and enterprise relationships. An Electrical Engineer by qualification, he has several years of experience in the field of IT, BPO and banking. Over the years, he has built a reputation in the IT industry for his exceptional ability to build and grow new business offerings and nurture long-term relationships.

An Impressive Portfolio

Chetan Jain is the Director of Inspira and his role sees him developing high quality business strategies and plans ensuring their alignment with short-term and longterm objectives.

He also oversees the International expansion to territories like Middle East, Africa and now USA. An engineering and finance graduate, he guides the Banking and Enterprise team on overall strategy and G2M and makes investment decisions to advance the business and increase profits.

The duo is joined by Vishal Jain as the Director on board Inspira. He plays a key role in driving large strategic business deals. Currently, he

Inspira Enterprise holds expertise in Cyber Security, Blockchain, Cloud, Robotic Process Automation, Smart City, Networking and Healthcare Solutions. It follows a unique quality excellence model for diverse lines of business, benchmarked to international quality standards. It is ISO and CMMI Level 3 certified organization and helps clients to maximize their performance by leveraging best talents having technical expertise & domain wide knowledge, innovative management philosophy and comprehensive portfolio of services.

Inspira has created robust capabilities through investments in emerging technology products and solutions.

By remaining in-sync with the challenges faced by its customers, it has evolved annuity / consumptionbased models for most of its new age services like Managed Security services, RPA, Blockchain, Cloud etc. There is negligible upfront cost making adoption easy. Also, it helps customers understand the cost-benefit analysis. Most of these solutions have a quick payback in the form of saving from having to manage legacy investments. It caters to customers in the Government Sector (Central Ministries & State Departments), Defence, Agriculture, Public Sector Undertakings, Banking Financial Services Insurance, IT / ITeS, Healthcare & Enterprise verticals.

The Smart City Challenge

Vishal Jain Director

At Inspira, Smart City solution is one of its fundamental Centers of excellence. It designs and implements a comprehensive and customized smart city solution stack.

To make devices intelligent is also one of its domain expertize. It offers solutions like Automatic Number Plate Recognition, Red Light Violation Detection, Speed Detection, Adaptive Traffic Control Systems – Traffic lights, Pedestrian Signals, Smart Parking – Parking decision based on Analytics, Smart Lighting, and Smart Pole etc. IoT solutions are also been used for Solid Waste management to Track vehicle real time, weight and volume sensors, Route coverage, ward assignment etc.

But the road to realising a smart city dream is not void of speed-breakers.

• Technology, however advanced,

For a Smarter Future Future is approaching fast with all the techadvancements. Inspira partners with world-leading OEMs who invest heavily in R&D rather than just the box selling. Manoj says, “With the latest technological advancements it becomes imperative to stay abreast with the changes. Cloud and SDN offering has taken a giant leap in the current era. We have moved from Old-school delivery to more of a work-ow based delivery model.”

Changing times call for changes in methods and aspirations and businesses today are realising the benets of going digital. The Government is supportive and drafting policies which require trades of various sizes to adopt digitalization. Start-ups are mushrooming across the country with disruptive inventions. The company feels, “Overall, it is a good time to be in this business and we will do our best to hit the iron while it is hot. We are revamping our SOC into a state-of-theart facility, expanding our team and planning new ofces in Africa and the USA.”

still faces challenges with coverage and capacity.

• Implementation of solutions is another area of concern as it needs to be agile and suit the different needs of different cities.

• Legislation and policies, lack of confidence or reluctance shown by stakeholders is an issue too.

• Adopting Smart solutions means letting go of good-old, time-tested methods of running a city and adopting changes which many legislative are apprehensive of.

• Integration of new and technologically advanced solutions with existing infrastructure for energy, water and transportation systems is yet another challenge.

Coming Together with the Government Information Technology is changing the evolution of cities.

The notion of “growing” cities based on implementing correct urban planning is being replaced with the idea of making a city “smart”. The Internet is changing the traditional urban planning model and compelling planners to not only consider the physical planning of a city but also to consider the use of Information Technology to make the economy, environment, mobility and governance of a city more efficient and effective. With the Indian Government too taking a plunge into transforming cities that are technologically advanced, the time is ripe for companies like Inspira to come forth with solutions.

Inspira is closely aligned to the

government’s mission of smart cities by developing innovative and advanced smart city solutions, by partnering with world-renowned OEMs. Its Smart City Solutions include: • Design & Build Smart City Operation Centre --Video Wall, iBMS, Networks, Workstation and Desktop.

• City Wi-Fi, Networks, Data Security, DC and DR. -- Design and offer Wi-Fi Solutions along with Controller, Partnered with World Renowned OEMs for Network, Data Security, DC and DR • Delivery of computing services over the internet, Efficient and Scalable, Auto Software update etc.

• CCTV Surveillance -- Video Management System, Video Analytics, Network Video Surveillance System.

• Traffic Enforcement – ANPR, RLVD e-Challan -- Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR), Red Light Violation Detection (RLVD), Speed Detection • Traffic Management -- Adaptive Traffic Control System (ATCS) – Traffic Lights, Pedestrian signals • Solid Waste Management -- Real-time Vehicle Tracking, Use of RFID Technology, Weight Sensor & Volume Sensor • Smart Parking -- Parking decision based on Analytics; App based Guided Parking • Smart Lighting -- Remote Control based, Real-time energy and Parameters measurement • Smart Pole -- Sensors for Lighting & Traffic Analytics, Antenna for communication with other Poles. Some Poles will have Gateways too, Speaker for Radio or Announcements.

• Smart Elements -- Public Address System, Environmental Sensors – Flood Sensors, Emergency Call Box – SOS, Variable Messaging Display, Mobile Apps, ERP and Utility.

Working at Grass-root Level For Smart Cities to flourish, awareness is essential as it helps create an amicable environment for changes to come. The lesser the scepticism, the more accepting is the citizen for the smart city program. Inspira works for increasing social awareness about benefits like data-driven decision making, safe and secure community, enhanced engagement among citizens and local governing body. It believes that improved transportation increased digital services, better infrastructure, economic development etc. can be created through Social Media, Trade shows, and articles in magazine & Newspapers.

The company is aware that it isn't alone in this sphere. To all the young and dynamic entrepreneurs who are trying to make a mark, Manoj says, “Our message to CIOs & CXOs is to stay ahead and adapt the futuristic technology that would help to keep your business efficiency level high.”

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SOTEFIN PARKING Specialized Parking Solutions

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n the highly mobilized world today, the world vehicle population raises by around 4 per cent per year. This brings us to the requirement that this growing needs presents – that of parking. Parking solutions are a necessity for the growing urban cities and Sotefin Parking Private Limited, the Indian Branch Of Sotefin SA seems to have the required answers.

The following interviews with Arup Chaudhary, the Director, sheds light on the various technological solutions that the company is doling out.

• Kindly brief us about the company.

The journey towards this Success Story in India started in the Year 2014, after successful completion of 900 cars fully underground Automatic parking at Kamlanagar by Sotefin S.A., Switzerland.

Sotefin S.A., Switzerland, is one of the market leader in mechanized parking, founded in 1956. Sotefin SA began its activity by patenting (1959) and developing a trolley for the automated parking transfer of vehicles which proved to be extremely reliable and accurate over time, to the extent that some systems are still operational today. For more than 60 years the company designs, and builds parking systems, bringing an extraordinary baggage of experience to the field, together with passion, commitment and professionalism.

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Since the 60s, many of the company’ s realizations in the field of automated parking systems have shone out for their originality and reliability. The innovation and technological evolution of its products for automatic car parking systems are aimed at achieving maximum quality and reliability for which Sotefin SA holds numerous patents and trademarks. The technological solutions developed by Sotefin SA have always proved to be winners to such an extent that other companies, making an appearance in the automatic parking market in the meantime have availed of such solutions in the past and continue to do so.

Over the last 25 years, Sotefin SA has designed and installed an increasing number of automatic parking systems overseas and currently there are corporate installations in over 20 countries.

Sotefin Parking Private Limited, India is the perfect blend of such Technology operated by the Specialized Technocrats of India, thus designing and manufacturing the Best Customized Mechanized Car Parking Solutions of every possible types.

• What are the company’s different products and services?

Sotefin Parking Private Limited, India is the perfect blend of the finest Swiss Technology operated by the

JULY 2019

Interview with Insights Success

Specialized Technocrats of India, thus designing and manufacturing the Best Customized Mechanized Car Parking Solutions of every possible types: like for e.g.

Fully Automatic Silomat Car Parking Tower Parking system: Pallet and comb type Puzzle type Car Parking system Stack Parking System After Installation, Sotefin Parking Offers One Year Product Maintenance Services with no extra cost.

Also we undertake Turnkey solution including civil construction of parking structure as we have done for Ministry of Surface Transport and doing the same for Pune Cantonment Board.

• What is the USP of the company that serves as an advantage over competitors and benefits clients/customers?

• High product Versatility allowing it to be customs/tailor made to meet customers requirement • Maximum number of project reaslisation. In public parking garage where “zero” down time is allowed. This is achieved by greater redundancy and superior quality of the product • 360 degree assistance including turkey project execution.

• Post warranty, Annual Maintenance contract (AMC)

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entered with the customer for providing round the clock service at a very nominal cost.

• Share with us the challenges faced by companies in the Smart City Solutions sector.

Our experience with SCS is not too much. However from couple of Tender Documents we gathered following limitations: • Awareness of selection of technology/system with respect to applications • Awareness of quality and operational parameters Mechanised Parking needs Capital Investment like any infrastructure project. Hence, financial support from Government as initial funding is a must for public parking.

In our country, automated parking is still restricted to Metro Cities only though there is a shortage of space and parking problem in Second tier cities also. Advantage of mechanised parking should be made aware to the planners. Also the absence of a regular body for monitoring the quality of such systems, limit market growth.

In Offering Solutions from Planning, Designing, Constructing and Implementing the same in Operation and Maintenance, as the Best Part of Our Turnkey

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Projects. “Our Technology enabled with Thought” sets us further apart from our Competitors.

Such Specialised Technology thus needs a Specialised Understanding Among Customers in order to adopt the same. We face challenge in creating such awareness of necessity of our Design Criteria to the desirable Customers.

• Smart City is synonymous to technology. What core technologies are being used by the company to design these solutions?

We are operating on Highly Specialised Time-tested technologies working on different types of sensors.

Combining of sensory data derived from a variety of sensors and then processing the same through modern PLC is our core subject.

• How closely is the company attached with the Government's Smart City Initiative?

We have joined hands in the execution and completion of some projects floated by the Government of India. The Seven Level Automated Car Parking Solutions of 112 cars for National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL) at 1 Parliament Street, Transport Bhavan is a must to be mentioned under this criteria. Our Parking Structure has provided total solution to the immense Parking crisis of the Parliament Street, New Delhi • How does the firm intend to increase social awareness about the benefits of a Smart City?

We are already into the process of designing various Marketing Solutions and Strategies and shortlisting a Consultant to execute our proposals in creating social awareness about our Unique Technology and Design.

• What would be your advice for the budding start-ups?

For any budding entrepreneur, our advice would be "Generate Your Focus and Practice Ultimate Passion to Achieve it!!"

• Brief us about the company’s future perspective We are looking to the future of Our Specialized Parking Solutions by: • Providing Induction Based Wireless Charging of Electric Cars when they are parked in our parking system • Providing Parking Solutions for heavy vehicle or buses • Export to USA and Europe. We have already taken our first step towards it by undertaking the process of installation of Automated Parking System in USA.

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HARDCASTLE GIS PROVIDING TECHNOLOGICALLY ADVANCED SOLUTIONS FOR BUSINESS PROBLEMS

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ost of us have a dream job. A job that pays well, gives exciting opportunities every day, provides job security, and guarantees a stable lifestyle.

But, how many of us actually land up with such a job?

Chances of settling down with a routine job and making a few compromises are higher than we think or like.

However, a few refuse to settle down with anything less than what they want and set out on an entrepreneurial venture to realise their dreams.

• Global Experience Responsive team with technical and communications skills.

• Exceptional Ongoing customer services which go out of the way to service the customer • Development Strategies that are tailored to each client.

Swapnil Jadhav, a go-getter, didn’t want to be a part of the regular technology industry and was looking for something challenging in personal career. While doing research for his career options, he stumbled upon Geoinformatics and GIS Solutions. It was an upcoming technology which held the key to the future where locations will be playing a key element around everything. This led him to establish his venture - Hardcastle GIS Solutions. The name Hardcastle, which means impregnable fortress or stronghold in the domain, reflects the fact that all the initial hire in the company were domain expert. Founding Hardcastle helped him in addressing the problems of society.

• GIS Data Collector • A GIS-Based Smart City Site Plan/Plot Owner Plan Generation.

• Single Window Building Permission System • GIS-Based City Centric Dashboard • GIS Mapping • GIS Consultation for Smart City • Data Analytics • Software & Mobile App Development • IOT Development

Gaining Momentum with Each Client Hardcastle GIS Solutions is a GIS-focused Software Development company providing solutions such as GIS, Software Development, Data Analytics, Mobile App Development, etc. It also participates in Global RFP directly, Joint-Venture/Consortium as or sub-contractors. It works as a Geospatial Software company enabling digital transformation for client companies using its geospatial solution at its core. It delivers cutting-edge web, mobile, and geospatial solutions while keeping client goals as its top priority.

Over the ages, the company’s projects with various clients have contributed towards society through its solution and also benefitted clients because of Hardcastle’s:

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Efficient Technology-based Solutions Hardcastle has a gamut of products and services that cater to different client needs including:

These solutions are based on latest and core technologies like: • Cloud Computing -- It offers organizations, ways to reduce costs and increase efficiency. Privacy and security concerns have been voiced, but many cities have experimented with private cloud services and a public/private hybrid infrastructure.

• Big Data and Data Analytics -- Trends such as IoT, Open Data, etc. mean that cities are increasingly collecting and making available significant amounts of data. This high volume data or Big Data is often real-time and extremely varying in its sources, formats, and characteristic.

• Open Data -- In the context of Smart Cities, this refers to public policy that requires or encourages public agencies and private companies to release data sets and make them freely accessible. This data can cover a number of areas: from energy-usage to crime statistics, to city service levels, to infrastructure data etc.

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Creating Smart Cities with Citizen Engagement In creating Smart Cities, Hardcastle is trying to be as closely attached to Smart City Initiatives by the Government of India. It has done some implementation for smart cities and is trying to replicate in other smart cities.Smart City Initiatives are a definite help in increasing technology importance and awareness bringing more business for the company.

But the key to developing such cities is Citizen Engagement. It is an important aspect of many of the smart city technology trends – particularly open-data, IoT, and big data. It is a movement towards capitalizing on technology as a tool for greater engagement with citizens. It also is closely related to leveraging the “collective intelligence” of cities and communities in order to understand better what citizens need in their daily lives. To increase awareness amongst citizens, Hardcastle plans to host a few seminars and meet up events where it invites the stakeholders of smart cities and citizens to underline the fact as to how it can benefit the city.

Advising the Young Swapnil has a lot to share with young entrepreneurs as he would like them to learn from his story of success and a few mistakes: • Don’t wait for perfect! When starting a new business, we have learned that there is only so much you can predict with the information you have. The only way to really know if something is going to work is by testing it in a quick and scrappy way • “No entrepreneur or business owner has all of the answers, but if you’re calculated, hardworking, and seek good advice, you’ll figure out how to achieve the bigger goals.

• “There are a lot of problems to solve when building a business that can distract you from delivering real value to your users.

You should wake up thinking about your end user and go to bed thinking about your end user.”

• Lastly its “High-Risk High Gains”.

Looking Forward Through its Global Offices, Hardcastle plans to get the best smart city initiatives from the globe to be implemented in India through a collaborative effort. It also plans to tie-up with local government to build products which would deliver citizen-centric services at low cost to citizens and reduce the current delivery time.

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Swapnil Jadhav Founder

Our mission is to create advanced Smart City Solutions that are simple to use, bringing the benets of GIS to every corner of the world

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City A Making Cities

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Smart Apps

Apps Smarter

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ince the launch of the Smart City Initiative in 2015, by the Government of India (GoI), a lot has been said and done about it. The initiative opened among mixed reviews.

While some lauded it calling it as the need of the hour, some view it as a herculean task for a country where cities aren’t planned per se. But those, who are committed to making the Indian cities smarter, are leaving no stone unturned in their capacity. And one crucial thing they concur is the need to involve the citizens.

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A city is made of its citizens and the initiative is aimed at providing them with the benefits of technology.

So, the involvement of citizens is the true driving force. Awareness sessions, taking their feedback, and surveys to determine what they need, are all ways to let them have their say in building a smart city. And to empower them mobile applications or apps are the best way. A lot of apps have been developed to address the issues of a city through the help of technology. Here's a look at a few popular ones that are making cities and its services smarter.

Swachhata App – The application launched by the GoI is a complaint redressal platform. The issues are addressed by the Municipal Corporation of the respective city and are applicable for all 4041 towns of India. This app requires the citizen to take a picture of the civic issue they want to complain about like a garbage bin that hasn't been picked up. They then post the image on the app. The app sends the geo-location of the image to the authorities along with the complaint. These complaints can be viewed by the Municipal Administrator on their respective website. The status of the complaint is sent to the citizens through push notifications. There’s a set Service Level Agreement for different issues and the complaint must be resolved within that time limit. Once the issue is resolved, a resolved image is pushed by the Municipality. The citizens have the option of re-opening the complaint if they are not satisfied by the resolution and can also provide feedback on the work done.

Surat Smart City App – The city of Surat can now boast of its own set of apps that help it improve its infrastructure using technology. The Surat Smart City mobile application enables the citizens to stay updated with the latest happenings and project details under the Smart City Mission. Another app, Surat Sitilink tracks the city buses for citizens. The app can be used for searching particular bus routes, mobile ticketing, bus schedules and more.

Meri Sadak – Roads are the lifeline of a city. Launched by the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY), the mobile app Meri Sadak is intended to take care of this lifeline through the citizen’s point of view. Using this app, citizens can capture and upload the image of the road that needs attention, like potholes, water logging etc. Using GPS, the app allows citizens to give feedback on their complaints, whether they have been addressed or not or general feedback about the status and work on a road.

Citizen Cop – This initiative by the Madhya Pradesh Police, calls out the citizens to be their eye. The app Citizen Cop is now adopted by other states too and acts as a technological bridge between the police and the citizens. This award-winning app has features like incident reporting, SOS help, news and notification, Police Directory, reporting lost article etc. Apart from the Citizen Cop foundation is also involved in the conservation of forests, preventing child trafficking, donating extra food to the hungry and underprivileged and more.

Once again, the emphasis is on making citizens more participative and aware of their surroundings and its issues. These apps aim to open a bridge of communication between the government and the citizens. These apps reinforce the thought process that making a Smart City is indeed a collaborative effort of the authority and the common people.

Sneha Sinha

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INTELIZON ENERGY SMART ENERGY MADE EFFICIENT ith Global Warming on a rise and its effects now very evident, the switch to green and clean energy sources is becoming a necessity. Of all the renewable sources, Solar Power is being harnessed the most. With India geographically blessed with abundant sunshine, it becomes all the more logical and important.

With a mission to harness solar energy and provide Reliable and Quality Electricity for All, Intelizon Energy has emerged as one of the top brands in the solar industry.

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running on the solar, lithium-ion battery and with grid option.

A world leader in energy based product innovation for the developing countries, it has set the standards for energy efficient products. It uses a combination of lithium-ion battery with solar, LED and advanced electronics technology to provide high quality and reliable solutions at affordable prices. It has also set the standards for reliability in indoor & outdoor lighting.

It has coined the term “SELF AUTONOMY” for an advanced technology combining the benefits of lithium-ion battery and auto dimming. Their smart controllers provide long backup hours of illumination even with extended cloudy days leaving behind the 1 or 2-day autonomy provided by lead-acid based as well other streetlight systems.

A Passionate Founder

Backed by Technology

Dr Kushant Uppal founded Intelizon in 2007. He has spent over 20 years developing industry-leading technology products and businesses in the hotbed of innovation – Silicon Valley, California. In 2006, he decided that energy efficient products are the key to enhancing productivity and presented a tremendous market opportunity for a new venture. The passion to create an enterprise has driven him to India to drive technology and business with a focus on India and Africa.

Technology has everything to do at Intelizon. Its inbuilt Lithium Ion battery based solar street lights solutions are much more reliable than the conventional lead-acid based streetlights. It provides a wireless lighting solution thereby cutting down the costs associated with cabling and maintenance. Intelizon has installed solar LED lighting power products for rural and urban markets globally. The company has the benchmark for innovation with their inbuilt CCTV based streetlights for security as well as IOT for remote management and health monitoring which are ideal for smart city deployments.

For a Cleaner Planet Intelizon provides indoor, outdoor solar based & DC-based systems. Its products include: Zonstreet platform – A solar LED street light (CCTV/Motion sensor/IOT/based).

Zonhome platform -- A solar home system with DC loads like LED lamps, fans, tube lights, Fridge and TV all

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The company also focuses on excellent after sales service which allows seamless support to their valued customers. It is the only company in the world who has inbuilt Li+ based streetlights operating in the field for more than six years.

The company has a 3 tier value system-Customer Satisfaction, Innovation & Quality.

The Speed-breakers The Smart City initiative aims at making cities technologically advanced, connected and ecologically sustainable. The company is of the view that the initiative is lacking technical clarity and expertise in terms of standardisation of products and technologies. Young companies spend a lot of time highlighting the technical

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aspects but the larger ones who may not have the technologies have a stronger influence on the authorities.

This leads to delay in decision making and has resulted in a lack of concrete results on the ground. Intelizon had a few interactions with some state government agencies but large scale deployments through the smart city initiative are still pending.

Awareness and Opportunity Creating a smart city starts with the people who care.

Intelizon is doing its part to create awareness among citizens. Its products create a triple social impact (providing light especially in rural /remote areas changes people’s lives), environmental (low carbon footprint) and economic (savings on electricity). As of today, it has impacted 2.5million lives, saved 30mega tonnes of CO2 and reduced electricity consumption by over 20million units.

Solar is a wide field with multiple opportunities and many young companies are taking to it. Kushant’s general advise to them is as follows , “One can target power plants, rooftop or solar products like pumps, streetlights, home systems and lamps. Every segment is an opportunity and the new entrepreneur needs to be clear on their target as the challenges vary accordingly. The local work done in renewables has a global impact and everyone can feel proud of the impact.”

For an Efficient Future Intelizon’s core belief is that energy should be reliable, affordable and clean; and the path to this is through innovative engineering using technologies like solar, LED and advanced electronics. With the strong channel partners, it is working together for a better tomorrow. Intelizon is making this possible by creating product and technology standards using industry-leading cost efficiency and service in its effort to become the world’s best clean energy company. It is scaling across India and is also planning to penetrate the African continent in FY20.

JULY 2019

Dr. Kushant Uppal Founder & Managing Director

Intelizon is determined to become a global leader in lithium-ion based solar DC systems for indoor and outdoor applications by integrating communication technologies like WiFi and GSM

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U

rbanization in India has been accelerating due to country's adoption of a mixed economy.

Population residing in urban areas in India, according to 1901 census, was 11.4%. This count increased to 28.53% according to 2001 census, and crossing 30% as per 2011 census, standing at 31.16% In 2017. These numbers increased to 34%, according to The World Bank. According to a survey by UN State of the World Population report in 2007, by 2030, 40.76% of country’s population is expected to reside in urban areas. As per World Bank, India, along with China, Indonesia, Nigeria, and the United States, will lead the world's urban population surge by 2050. No wonder improving the lives of the citizens living in the urban areas through the adoption of Smart City initiatives is a major Project of the NDA Government at the centre.

A city is a complex system of systems, involving many different domains,

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infrastructures, organizations and activities. All these systems need to integrate and work together effectively for that city to become smart. This integration needs to take place at many levels, technical level of course, but also about integration of business processes and management, integrated strategies and regulations. It is clearly impossible to develop a single model of a smart city that will be simple enough, but will be comprehensive enough to cover all the key aspects.

However one factor that stands out clearly is the “Adoption of Key Information & Communication technology across all aspects of urban Living”.

While urban infrastructure may provide facilities to the citizens, they can only be converted in to smart solutions and services through the use of Digital Technology. Digital technology acts as a force multiplier that multiplies the impact of the underlying infrastructure by many

folds. Hence the smart grid makes power distribution far more efficient bringing down the mean time between failures; smart transportation makes available to the commuters’ whole lot of information that helps them make critical travel decisions that saves them time and money and smart street lights automatically figure out times to switch on and off thereby saving lots of critical energy.

It is there for important that the digital technology take the centre stage in the implementation of the Smart city solutions across the state.

Implementation of digital technology solutions across all domains of the city infrastructure is covered under the Pan City ICT Solution Component of the Government of India's 100 Smart City Program.

While implementation of the Digital technology solution shall immensely enhance the effectiveness of the urban JULY 2019

CXO Standpoint

About the Author

infrastructure; there is very little capacity amongst the city corporations and administrators to understand and implement such technology solutions effectively. Thus, the cities face innumerable challenges in implementing smart City Projects. No wonder, not much progress has happened across the designated Smart Cities in the country. Some of the Major Challenges faced by Smart Cities include: • Advanced Technology Solutions: Most of the Technology solutions in the Smart City space belong to the advanced technology category. Take for example “Internet of Things” (IoT) based data acquisition and analysis, Advanced data analytics using Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, Integration of voluminous data from across varied domains in to a Command and Control centre, Use of advanced Video technology and real time systems for different domains. While the implementing agencies need not get in to the details of these technologies, there is a need for them to at least know the nuances of these technologies. However, such working knowledge of these technologies is clearly missing from the smart City Practitioners in the field.

• Information Technology Project Implementation Expertise: City municipalities and the commissioners have historically been involved in implementing Urban infrastructure projects. The life cycle of implementing an Urban infrastructure project is very different from that of

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an advanced Information technology project. Lack of knowledge in implementing large Information Technology projects with their nuances and complexities, severely limits the ability of the municipalities in implementing such projects. Take for example detailed User acceptance testing is an integral part of any Information technology project.

However, no such step exists in the implementation of an infrastructure project like building a bridge or a dam.

• Difficulties in The Procurement of large Smart City Projects. Usually a common man sees allocation of large sums of money to big projects announced by the Government of India. Smart City projects in India are no exception to this rule. Rs.1000 crore have been allocated to each of the designated smart city. However, spending this money is not an easy task. Detailed project reports, Developing voluminous Request for Proposal or Tender documents, lengthy and complicated tendering procedures, technical and financial negotiations, Putting in place a legally tenable contract for project implementation and finally implementing the project successfully is a long and complicated road to success. Add to this complicated procedure the everdangling sword of the Central Vigilance Commission, Auditor generals audit and the central Bureau of Investigations keep the senior bureaucrats on tender hooks while taking any big financial decisions in regard to these projects. From a career perspective, some of the Bureaucrats find it safe to not take decisions rather than take risky decisions to implement project.

• Financial Difficulties in Converting cities in to Smart Cities. It may seem that large sums of money have been allocated to implementing

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Smart Cities in India. However, reconstructing the old and dilapidated infrastructure in Indian cities requires far bigger budget allocations. Old and blocked drainage system, old and poorly constructed roads, inadequate power supplies to the municipalities, poor and inadequate city transportation system, poor health care and education institutions, all add up to requirements of much bigger budgets than what has been allocated for building the Indian smart cities. The newly created Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) for implementation of smart cities are grappling with development of new financial instruments to raise adequate budgets for implementing all aspects of the Smart City.

• Overall Work Culture of City Municipalities: Traditionally the municipalities have been burdened with fire fighting of immediate problems on a daily basis. The lights on an important road are not functioning, the garbage collection trucks have broken down, a drainage is blocked or big gaping holes have appeared on a large arterial road. The municipal commissioner seems to be on his phone, speaking with different authorities all the time, in resolving these days to day problems. S/he just doesn't have the time or the expertise that is required to implement large Information technology infrastructure projects. Also, poor working conditions, continuous pressure from the political bosses, low levels of pay scales etc, over a long period of time has created a work culture amongst the municipal employees that has no incentives for implementing some state-of-the-art modern systems in the municipality domain. As such these employees see these new age projects as an additional burden on their already

burdened lifestyle.

• Social Fabric of Cities: It will be incorrect to blame only the civic authorities for the failure of development and sustainability of modern amenities in Indian cities.

The citizens of the country are as much to be blamed for it. Poor social behaviour, poor habits of littering the roads, indifferent attitude towards anything that is in public good all add up to undermining any new infrastructure that has been put up in the smart cities. Strict laws and their implementation in the social sector are needed to ensure that the newly created smart city infrastructure is put to better use for the citizens of the city.

All the above issues require deft handling and leadership skills to implement smart city projects in Indian cities. There is a need to induct fresh and young professionals from the Privet sector to help implement the Smart City projects in the country.

Young professionals with sound understating of the underlying Information and communication technology, effective management of such technology intensive projects, good procurement and financial acumen and great communication skills will alone be successful in implementing such projects in the chosen Indian cities. The recent experiment of the Government of India in inducting Joint Secretary Level officers in the government domain should be emulated in the smart city space for inducting young and effective professionals to head the Special Purpose Vehicles created for implementation of Smart Cities. Such professionals with energy and vigour and without the burden and fear of Indian bureaucracy will be best suited to implement such projects in India.

JULY 2019

L&T SMART WORLD & COMMUNICATION

LEVERAGING EXPERIENCE TO CUSTOM-DESIGN THE FUTURE

L

arsen & Toubro (L&T), the 20-billion-dollar conglomerate, for over eight decades, has been transforming lives by converting innovative ideas into defining infrastructure. With the development of the Smart World & Communication (SW&C) Business, L&T reaffirms its commitment to make the world a smarter place to live in. As a Master Systems Integrator, SW&C derives expertise from the project execution capabilities of L&T Construction combined with the technological prowess of L&T Infotech and L&T Technology Services to design customised city-specific solutions and deliver projects within stringent timelines.

Dedicatedly Building Next-gen Cities SW&C is perfectly placed to build India’s next-gen cities.

With proven expertise in focused strategy, robust processes and comprehensive, end-to-end solutions, the business unit offers Integrated Security Solutions, Smart Infrastructure Smart Communication Networks and Telecom Infrastructure. The growing track record of SW&C includes: • Surveillance and intelligent traffic management systems developed in Ahmedabad | Gandhinagar | Vadodara • India’s largest city surveillance project comprising 5000+ cameras across more than 1500 locations in Mumbai • Building India’s First Smart City - Jaipur • Making Prayagraj City Kumbh-ready with a range of smart facilities • Largest roll out of Smart Meters for EESL - Haryana & UP • Metro Communication Systems - Lucknow, Delhi, MEGA, Nagpur, Bengaluru • Early Warning Dissemination System - AP & Odisha (First-of-its-kind in India) • High Tech Labs in 6039 government schools in Tamil Nadu • In house design of smart poles incorporating built-in smart solutions introduced in Vizag and Raipur • Incident free crowd management during Kumbh Mela through AI intervention • Dedicated Smart City Skill Development Centre for training technicians to install and maintain IoT devices • State-of-the-art Technology Innovation Centre with

complete smart city technology solution prototypes fostering innovation, enhancing technological capability and building competency through research and training programs • High-speed optical fibre network for rural connectivity Translating Vision into Action Mr Srinivasan heads the Smart World & Communication Business Unit, bringing with him several years of rich experience. An Electrical & Electronics Engineer from the College of Engineering, Guindy, and an Alumnus of the Administrative Staff College of India (ASCI), Indian School of Business (ISB) and INSEAD (France), he commenced his career in L&T as a Graduate Engineer Trainee. With a vision to take L&T forward through technological advancements, he has played a crucial role in the creation of SW&C and instrumental in bagging several key projects.

He states, “Our experience in implementing smart solutions in critical infrastructure projects like airports and metros and understanding of infrastructure challenges, enable us to deliver optimal solutions across more than 20 smart cities, thereby retaining our position as the market leader in the segment. With our foot set firm in commissioning backbone communication infrastructure, we are keen to play a major role in transforming our cities to cope with their growing technological needs in monitoring the efficiency of systems thus helping city administrators serve their citizens better.”

Effective Solutions The infographic below is the representation of the solutions offered by SW&C across the country: SECURITY SOLUTIONS

SMART INFRASTRUCTURE

q

q q q q q

City Surveillance Traffic Management System Security of Cri cal Infra Coastal Security Border & Homeland Security

q q q q q q q

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Smart Ci es Smart Mobility Smart Grid & water Smart Educa on E-health Smart Governance City Op c Fibre Backbone Smart Poles

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COMMUNICATION

q q q

q q q q

Fiber Op c Backbone Microwave, Satellite Comm.

Network Infrastructure (incl.

Bharatnet & SWAN) Early Warning Dis. Sys. Emergency Response Sys. Metro Communica on State & City Wi-Fi

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Of Challenges, Capabilities and Creating Awareness The challenges that SW&C face are very similar to that faced by any infrastructure project right from financial closure, right of way, implementation challenges and issues of integration. The smart city project plan should be solution centric and not product-centric, MSI specific and not OEM specific. Use of open source and vendor agnostic systems would ensure better functionality and customisation.

L&T has proven its capability for executing all types of mega-projects on a turnkey basis involving innovative designs, comprehensive construction services that include procurement, supply, installation, testing and commissioning. This unique L&T combination of executing complex infrastructure projects with digital interventions gives SW&C the edge in smart city projects along with network and communication expertise. Awareness being the key behind Smart City success, SW&C’s project leaders present the benefits derived from their smart city projects at all the leading conferences. Seminars and workshops are conducted in universities to attract talent to this sector.

Guiding the Startups As per Mr Srinivasan, “Start-ups can play a major role in developing solutions for city-specific challenges through IoT interventions in the areas of Smart Mobility, Traffic Management, Solid Waste Management, Security Surveillance, Pollution Monitoring Systems and Citizen Apps to ensure sustainability and improve delivery efficiency of the utilities. Focus is important since a smart city is a very broad concept. Start-ups can bring in innovative solutions through technologies such as Blockchain and Artificial Intelligence.”

Creating Cities of the Future The challenge of creating cities of the future is to be able to foresee and address future issues; evolve solutions for tomorrow today. SW&C is currently helping transform some 20 cities into smart cities by improving the liveability index and help infrastructure cope with the requirements of a growing population to enhance the quality of the lives of citizens. The business unit possesses the depth of talent and operational bandwidth to roll out this suite of smart solutions across the country. Among others, the business has already enabled the development of an information highway bringing fibre optic network and Wi-Fi to gram panchayats through Bharatnet, GPON and BSNL Wifi projects. SW&C is the only organisation in India that can provide smart, scalable and sustainable systems for urban buildings, public safety, transportation, green energy,

JULY 2019

Mr Srinivasan Executive Vice President

We design processes to select the right technologies, depending on the specic needs of cities.

emergency response and better governance. As opportunities open up, SW&C is poised to spread its influence far and wide.

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Tech Talk

EMERGING

TECHNOLOGIES

T

he word technology has taken over all the aspects of the industry. Technology has become part of each and every life in the world on the current day. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is prevailing in the current industry and its better collaboration with a human is the current ongoing exercise. Internet of Things (IoT) is another technological advancement which is trending in the industry to make things simpler and easier for users. There is always a debate on whether emerging technologies like AI, IoT, etc., are boon or bane to the world, but no one has arrived at a concrete conclusion on this aspect.

Technology gives a wonderful experience and precision on the day to day work to ease out and make

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accurate understanding which enables us to take right decisions at right points. Whereas it also makes human resources dispensable in certain routine works who has mastered the same for years. It is becoming mandatory to include technology into Human resource domain as it is their primary job to optimize the human resources.

Technology is giving a cutting edge to all the corporates, right from managing the hiring of the prospective employee until its separation. AI is playing a major role in this regard by providing prompt and unbiased services to the user in hiring, onboarding, training, performance evaluation, retention. On the other hand, since every employee got a smartphone, IoT plays a major role in making his life easy and flexible in hectic schedules at work with

multiple tasks which need face to face interaction shall be done online using the internet which improves the productivity. This also provides unprecedented data which is extensively useful for decision and strategy maker. Similarly, the use of IoT may cause the breach in security and also it may lack the privacy which anyone wanted.

Crisis: End of the day every HR professional strives to influence the employee to engage him/her so that he/she is satisfied and retained. Human resource domain is moving into a revolutionary phase where psychology, technology and behavioural data interpretations provide a crucial understanding of the employee's preferences. This should enable the decision makers to

JULY 2019

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Varun is an experienced Human resource consultant and the Head of HR at INDIALAW LLP, a PAN India law rm. His interest sits at the intersection of Human resource, technology, leadership and business results, and he focuses in the areas of shared services, L&D and Performance management.

Varun is an MBA in Human resources and holds a Bachelor's degree in Science. His work experience is spread across legal, healthcare and IT sectors.

He is also a law graduate.

formulate effective policies and welfare related decisions within the company, to make the company satisfactory and better place to work at.

Whereas, the entrepreneurs are falling short in understanding the importance of this gap, mostly in the MSME sector. Understanding HR analytics and needs make any organization better workplace. Having said that, we should have effective HR professionals, who make the entrepreneurs understand the importance.

Revolutions: The entire world is stepping into Fourth industrial revolution or IR 4.0

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and there should be swift gear shift by the Human resources to get ready for the advanced technological developments, The major focus areas of this industrial revolution are • Human skill development As per the World Economic Forum, the top skills to obtain by 2020 are, • Complex Problem Solving • Critical Thinking • Creativity • People management • Coordinating with others • Emotional Intelligence • Decision Making

• Addressing the customized expectations of the customer/clients • Making world one village through digitization By addressing the above focus areas we achieve, • Effective Corporate Governance • Effective exploration of data analytics • Technology effectiveness Any industry has to undergo change some time or other. The biggest challenge is to adapt to the situations as per the futuristic and technological reforms, rest all falls in place.

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NEOSILICA

SOLUTIONS FOR A SMARTER LIVING

H

istorically speaking, India has been a land of many firsts. Ancient India’s contribution to science and technology are undeniably precious. And even now, many old scriptures are being decoded to uncover the knowledge that our ancestors held. But modern India is a developing nation, with a fast expanding population with a youth majority. It still is looking up to other developed nations which have, over time, become pioneers and wield power.

On top of that India has missed out on key sectors such as – telecom, semiconductors, mobile, and electronics and software products. Smart technology and Industry 4.0 for OT and IT is even more critical for India – and it is a matter of National Security to groom and support indigenous full stack IP and entrepreneurs. As these technologies are into a new 4th generation with AI and IoT, all major countries have a national agenda and investment to support new age entrepreneurs for their countries.

Drawing inspiration from India’s need for National Security in 4.0, and aspiring to build a “bottom-up innovative product – from India” in critical sectors such as energy, water, buildings, and Smart City, Satyam Bheemarasetti and Ravi Prasad Patruni founded NeoSilica. They believe that it is critical for India to build and own Indian IP for sustainability and infra for Smart Cities. They are passionate about scaling the venture for Indian and global markets.

Both the technocrats hold decades of international experience in advanced technologies at AT&T Bell Labs, Analog Devices, Deloitte & Touche, Mentor Graphics, CMC, and PECO Energy – in the US, India, Europe and Asia. They have lead and built innovative and marketleading technology products and businesses in AI, cybersecurity, and enterprise and distributed systems across a range of verticals at MNCs. The Emerging Power NeoSilica has built an enviable record of deploying their indigenous technology as • World’s largest Industrial IoT system for solar in 500MW (AC) across 2,800 acres • India’s first and only MDMS to integrate 9 different

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Smart Meters coming from mesh wireless, GPRS, and PLCC • India’s first IIoT for multiple water projects with central management • World’s largest IIoT for Canal top solar It holds the distinction of being the only Indian Technology Company managing 2GW of large scale solar plants, using its IIoT and Central Analytics & AI System, collecting over a billion data points per day. It has products and systems for energy, water, buildings and industrial specialized for upcoming Smart Cities in India and across the world. They include– • Meter Data Management (MDM) and Utility Analytics SW, Demand Response, Distribution Management and Acquisition Systems for Smart Grid applications for Electrical, Water and Gas grids in Smart Cities • Plant SCADA, EMS, and Central Asset Management for Renewables, eMobility, Storage and Microgrids, • SCADA, Operational and Energy Efficiency Systems for all water applications (WTP, distribution and irrigation) • Energy management and BMS for building and industrial customers.

Technology as an Ally When it comes to Smart City technology, there is an integration of highly efficient and secure network communications, cloud software systems and AI driven intelligence. NeoSilica has an extensive record of intelligent Industrial IoT systems proven in harshest of renewable plants, reliable and secure network and systems, integrated with enterprise systems with AI. It is probably the only Indian ground up the technology to have strong track record across Smart Grid, eMobility, Microgrids, Smart Buildings and renewables – all considered building blocks for Smart Cities. Its systems are highly scalable and open standards-based that they are most suitable for any global Smart City applications.

Building a Smart Society The Smart City initiative by the Government came as a relief for NeoSilica. It now finds many related initiatives under one umbrella, falling under the SPV created for a city, with a clear initiative to address all critical topics in a

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phased manner. The expectations are high and capabilities are still building up. With no prior investment in technology and innovation over the past decades, the complexities of such a massively integrated system are posing major challenges.

NeoSilica works and bids on multiple projects, bringing innovation even in traditional architectures, and laying down the foundation for true expansion and integration. Its extensive international experience brings every aspect of technology – field to Cloud to AI; every aspect of energy –generation, distribution (city grids) to demand; and every aspect of water –reservoirs, distribution, irrigation and city grids.

NeoSilica also finds it essential to engage the key stakeholders – the citizen and related government and private agencies – in every stage of Smart City development. Multiple modes of marketing, including social media campaigns, have to be utilized in order to justify the end use and a clear outcome of each project. The company participates in multiple energy and water conservation campaigns and conferences, initiated by different agencies, wherever it can contribute.

Every Opinion Matters The founders feel that every country needs to develop full-stack entrepreneurs of their own for the purpose of building Smart Cities. Entrepreneurs should consider solutions based on extensive field research with feedback from real-world case studies. They add, “It is matter of National Security and job growth for India to invest in local entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs should focus on the longer term and go through the iterative development of various projects. It pays for entrepreneurs and cities to invest in own IP for the simple reason – across the world, these smart technologies are in their first generation of evolution. There is ample room for smaller companies to work closely in partnership with a few Smart Cities, and accelerate to reach its fullest potential and sustainability outcome.”

A Scalable Future NeoSilica is uniquely positioned to take advantage of 360° track record in • Technology, • Customer installations on all aspects of energy, water and buildings for Smart Cities • The passion to build world-class solutions – Just Right – for Smart Cities, at highly cost-effective rates.

NeoSilica evolves as a partner with the customer and deploys future proof technology and solutions that continue to address future and expanding needs. Utilizing its vast experience, it ensures rapid deployment, customization as a single enterprise solution for present and future needs. This is a very important mindset and value system that customers will highly gain from NeoSilica for years to come.

JULY 2019

Satyam Bheemarasetti CEO & Co-founder Ravi Prasad Patruni CTO & Co-Founder

NeoSilica is always at the forefront of technology evolution and plays an active and strong role as Cities look for advanced, highly adaptive, intelligent and integrated solutions

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IoT for Smart Trafc

SMART TECHNOLOGIES SMART FOR

TRAFFIC

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W

hat’s common among Bengaluru, Mumbai, Delhi and Chennai? Apart from being metro cities, what binds them together, though unceremoniously, is the snarling traffic. In any given day, a common citizen drives for up to 2 hours a day and sometimes even more, depending on traffic conditions.

And the problem isn’t just limited to traffic jams but spills into road rage, pollution, health issues, accidents and more. Managing the ever-growing number of vehicles on the streets is perhaps the most herculean task for the authorities. The solution, experts opine, lies in utilizing technology and with high hopes, they are looking up to the Internet Of Things (IoT).

Experts suggest that IoT along with Big Data can radically infuse up-gradations in traffic management systems(TMS) and make for what is termed as Smart Traffic. The idea is to establish a TMS as a complete ecosystem where different components like vehicles and traffic lights can interact with each other to facilitate a smooth running. To get things started, traffic lights, toll booths, and even the roads are beginning to incorporate smart infrastructure technologies, enabling them to communicate with each other and the vehicles that traverse upon them. This interaction takes place by utilising two important aspects of technology: Vehicle-to-Vehicle – Two vehicles in the vicinity are able to communicate with each other. It forms the basis of autonomous vehicles which utilizes sensors to detect the perimeter of a vehicle.

Vehicle-to-Infrastructure – A vehicle can communicate with the infrastructure like traffic signals to send and receive data that can be used and analyzed to ensure smooth traffic.

And now, here are a few scenarios as to how IoT can be functional in creating a Smart Traffic.

Smart Traffic Signals – Smart Traffic signals are the adaptive ones that can be modified for their signal timing according to the traffic flow. Using IoT and Big Data, real-time traffic flow can be gathered and analysed to manage the signalling for better traffic management.

Similarly, the street lights can also be mounted with weather sensors to make them work according to the daylight and weather conditions.

Real-Time Traffic Feedback – A Real-time traffic feedback can be of great assistance for drivers commuting on a certain route in order to either continue or take a diverse course. This will also help decide the peak and off hours on a given route and plan development accordingly.

Pedestrian Traffic – Traffic also comprises of pedestrians, joggers and others. Using technology, the traffic at intersections can be determined at a given time to ascertain the ratio of vehicles and pedestrians and traffic signals can be manipulated to suit the timings.

Traffic Decision Support – Connected vehicles and infrastructure can let vehicles on a certain route know about the current situation of the traffic. An accident or maintenance work can be easily picked up and broadcast to help drivers ascertain the time it is going to take them while traversing a route.

Parking – Parking, another big concern, especially in densely populated areas can be addressed too. IoT based sensors can feed real-time information about parking slots available near a vehicle. They can also let drivers estimate the time that will take them to find a slot and park safely.

There’s little doubt that IoT when implemented in a righteous manner, can help solve many traffic issues that most of the countries are facing. The key lies in improving the infrastructure of the cities so that they can enjoy the perks offered by technology. But addressing these issues like road plans, zoning, constructions is not an easy task. The technology also demands high-speed internet connectivity, which again relies on basic infrastructure development because a fault at a single node can bring the whole system crashing down.

As cities evolve, develop, expand and embrace the growing population, it becomes impervious that they should be built on robust methodology and technology so that they can support the growing demand. The current services and infrastructure need to be re-evaluated and upgraded and upcoming plans need to be aligned with the goal of developing smart cities. And such a smart city would be incomplete without a technology-driven Smart Traffic System.

Sneha Sinha

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