https://www.iotworldtoday.com/wp-content/themes/ioti_child/assets/images/logo/IoTWorldToday-mobile-logo.png
  • Home
  • News
    • Back
    • Roundups
  • Strategy
  • Special Reports
  • Business Resources
    • Back
    • Webinars
    • White Papers
    • Industry Perspectives
    • Featured Vendors
  • Other Content
    • Back
    • Q&As
    • Case Studies
    • Features
    • How-to
    • Opinion
    • Podcasts
    • Strategic Partners
    • Latest videos
  • More
    • Back
    • About Us
    • Contact
    • Advertise
    • Editorial Submissions
  • Events
Iot World Today
  • NEWSLETTER
  • Home
  • News
    • Back
    • Roundups
  • Strategy
  • Special Reports
  • Business Resources
    • Back
    • Webinars
    • White Papers
    • Industry Perspectives
    • Featured Vendors
  • Other Content
    • Back
    • Q&As
    • Case Studies
    • Features
    • How-to
    • Opinion
    • Podcasts
    • Strategic Partners
    • Latest videos
  • More
    • Back
    • About Us
    • Contact
    • Advertise
    • Editorial Submissions
  • Events
  • newsletter
  • IIoT
  • Cities
  • Energy
  • Homes/Buildings
  • Transportation/Logistics
  • Connected Health Care
  • Retail
  • AI
  • Metaverse
  • Development
  • Security
ioti.com

Smart Environments


Getty Images

Image shows giant wind turbines overlooking a hillside..

Deploying Secure and Scalable Smart City Projects

Phil Beecher, president of the Global Wi-SUN Alliance, explores how utilities and governments can cope with the security and economies of scale involved in smart city projects.
  • Written by Phil Beecher
  • 10th October 2018

Large and small-scale IoT solutions are revolutionizing how citizens live their lives, how industry is streamlined and how transport infrastructure and utility programs can be enhanced. Time is saved, there is less energy waste and so improves our environment and citizen safety. For any manufacturer or specifier working in IoT over the next decade, they are in a unique position to help shape the future of our world.

This is indeed exciting, but it also comes with a huge responsibility. If the network infrastructure is not sufficiently flexible or secure, or if it not supported by a large ecosystem of product vendors, then it is unlikely it will support the future application needs of your organization, and may expose the network to hackers, compromising confidentiality and safety.

For instance, if you lock yourself into one particular supplier and a proprietary solution, you give up flexibility. Solutions built on open standards, supported by a certification program for interoperability, provide the network operator with a choice of vendors, competitive pricing and the confidence of a continuity of supply. When you have a smart, connected grid you can enhance its operation with new capabilities. Using a flexible and reliable underlying network makes it is easy to add new applications as they become available while ensuring security, interoperability and scalability are maintained.

Debunking the Myth That Proprietary Is Safer

There is a misconception that proprietary technology can offer better security than open standards – “security through obscurity.” In fact, the opposite is true; one of the advantages of open standards is that they are carefully designed and reviewed by a large community of experts. This community constantly analyses vulnerabilities, updating if necessary and this helps to improve security. The same is not the case for proprietary solutions, which are typically created by one company and therefore do not benefit from the large community of experts.

However, it should not be said that you can automatically equate high security and open standards. Therefore, it is important to understand how devices connect to the network and communicate, and be able to monitor the network for abnormal activity. Contacting an independent alliance or advisory body, such as Wi-SUN can help educate and show how your IoT network can be the most secure.

Examples

Florida Power and Light runs a smart network of advanced metering infrastructure and automated feeder switches to serve more than 4.5 million homes. It not only reduced operating expenses, because many meter checks can now be carried out remotely, but also improved customer billing efficiency. It crucially also helped the utility avoid 118,000 customer outages during 2016’s Hurricane Matthew, with 99 percent of those affected getting power restored within two days.

They added nearly 500,000 connected streetlights in what was the largest program of its kind in the world when launched. This has allowed the provider to improve the reliability of its streetlight network, reduce usage and save money by dimming at certain times and even provide emergency responders with the ability to control streetlights on demand.

Oklahoma Gas & Electric, has rolled out a similar smart grid, allowing it to lower emissions, give consumers more control on energy usage and reduce costs by minimizing the number of support vehicles on the roads. Its expandable network connected 250,000 LED streetlights to improve quality of service and lower energy consumption. There are projects like these occurring all over the world, including major European cities such as London, Glasgow and Paris.

Moving Forward

Choosing open standards-based solutions provides greater flexibility, availability, scalability and security for your IoT network. But of course, this is just one part in your decision-making. There are other considerations: for example, the way the network is organized (network topology) in determining the coverage and reliability of an IoT network, because this can also have an impact on the robustness and flexibility of your future network. With this in mind, it is important to choose a network technology that meets current and future application needs. Mesh networking technology has a proven track record of providing ubiquitous coverage and seamless connectivity, with great resilience and reliability. Using a mesh-based solution where your devices will forward messages if one connection is not functioning provides greater flexibility. In a mesh network, there are always multiple communication paths – and you are guaranteed robustness and flexibility.

Phil Beecher is the president of the Global Wi-SUN Alliance and authority on IoT solutions.

Tags: Smart Environments News

Related Content


  • former British Prime Minister Tony Blair at ATxSG 2022.
    ATxSG 2022: Tony Blair on Tech and Politics
    Older politicians don’t get tech, suggests Blair
  • AI Powers First Continuous Traffic-Monitoring System
    Japan's NEC uses vehicle vibrations to enable more accurate traffic flow trajectoriesHelen Hwang
  • Image shows downtown, Near North, Chicago Riverwalk, Marina City skyscrapers on the background
    Smart Street Lighting Coming to 30 Cities in the U.S. and Canada
    While many cities have already transitioned to LED streetlights, only a minority have also made the switch to control and dimming features
  • Image shows Global communication network concept. Worldwide business. IoT (Internet of Things)
    IoT Deals, Partnerships Roundup: Google, Arm, Senet and More
    The latest deals and partnerships in the Internet of Things

Leave a comment Cancel reply

-or-

Log in with your IoT World Today account

Alternatively, post a comment by completing the form below:

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Latest News

  • Image shows a Vodafone storefront in Munich Germany
    Vodafone Hints at IoT Spinoff
  • Image shows Siemens headquarters in Munich
    Siemens Launches Digital Business Platform, Partners with Nvidia
  • US Army Gets 5G Boost for AR/VR Capabilities
  • Google, Accenture Help Create 5G AR Experience at Marvel Stadium

Roundups

View all

IoT Product Roundup: Canonical, InfluxData, Wiliot and More

23rd June 2022

IoT Product Roundup: Cisco, Telit, Draganfly and More

9th June 2022

IoT Deals, Partnerships Roundup: Google, Arm, Senet and More

26th May 2022

White Papers

View all

The Role of Manufacturing Technology in Continuous Improvement Ebook

6th April 2022

IIoT Platform Trends for Manufacturing in 2022

6th April 2022

Latest Videos

View all
Image shows Unilever's Alberto Prado at AI Summit 2022 in London

AI Summit 2022: Unilever’s Alberto Prado

Prado talks about how Unilever is using AI to accelerate the speed of new discoveries and gives them access to more breakthrough innovation

Image Shows John Lewis' Barry Panai at AI Summit London 2022

AI Summit 2022: John Lewis’ Barry Panayi on AI in Retail

Panayi talks about data and AI in retail and how individuals and the technology can work together

E-books

View all

How Remote Access Helps Enterprises Improve IT Service and Employee Satisfaction

12th January 2022

An Integrated Approach to IoT Security

6th November 2020

Webinars

View all

Rethinking the Database in the IoT Era

18th May 2022

Jumpstarting Industrial IoT solutions with an edge data management platform

12th May 2022

AI led Digital Transformation of Manufacturing: Time is NOW

9th December 2021

Special Reports

View all

Omdia’s Smart Home Market Dynamics Report

7th January 2022

Cybersecurity Protection Increasingly Depends on Machine Learning

28th October 2020

IoT Security Best Practices for Industry and Enterprise

20th October 2020

Twitter

IoTWorldToday, IoTWorldSeries

IoT Product Roundup: Nokia, Energous, Dashbot and more dlvr.it/STRKDh https://t.co/YgTAI5SXSB

6th July 2022
IoTWorldToday, IoTWorldSeries

A new #IoT bug monitoring system from @CENSIS121 is helping the UK’s #forestry industry fight pests, and save money… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

6th July 2022
IoTWorldToday, IoTWorldSeries

NHTSA Boss Hints at Federally Regulating Autonomous Vehicles dlvr.it/STQrrw https://t.co/Yjp1UKuaE5

6th July 2022
IoTWorldToday, IoTWorldSeries

Nvidia Powered Driverless Three-Wheelers Set to Debut dlvr.it/STQq0H https://t.co/RrYyVPgFzB

6th July 2022
IoTWorldToday, IoTWorldSeries

New Drone System Aims for Full Autonomy dlvr.it/STQnvV https://t.co/S4O8hb6gQh

6th July 2022
IoTWorldToday, IoTWorldSeries

Bosch, VW Approved to Develop Automated Driving dlvr.it/STQllD https://t.co/neI30dVmC6

6th July 2022
IoTWorldToday, IoTWorldSeries

🤔 Looking for 3 Strategies to Avoid IoT Key Theft? We’ve got you covered! As tech companies continue to develop an… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

5th July 2022
IoTWorldToday, IoTWorldSeries

AI Summit 2022: Unilever’s Alberto Prado dlvr.it/STMpRN https://t.co/1dyLREr8N6

5th July 2022

Newsletter

Sign up for IoT World Today newsletters: vertical industry coverage on Tuesdays and horizontal tech coverage on Thursdays.

Special Reports

Our Special Reports take an in-depth look at key topics within the IoT space. Download our latest reports.

Business Resources

Find the latest white papers and other resources from selected vendors.

Media Kit and Advertising

Want to reach our audience? Access our media kit.

DISCOVER MORE FROM INFORMA TECH

  • IoT World Series
  • Channel Futures
  • RISC-V
  • Dark Reading
  • ITPro Today
  • Web Hosting Talk

WORKING WITH US

  • Contact
  • About Us
  • Advertise
  • Login/Register

FOLLOW IoT World Today ON SOCIAL

  • Privacy
  • CCPA: “Do Not Sell My Data”
  • Cookies Policy
  • Terms
Copyright © 2022 Informa PLC. Informa PLC is registered in England and Wales with company number 8860726 whose registered and Head office is 5 Howick Place, London, SW1P 1WG.
This website uses cookies, including third party ones, to allow for analysis of how people use our website in order to improve your experience and our services. By continuing to use our website, you agree to the use of such cookies. Click here for more information on our Cookie Policy and Privacy Policy.
X