China's Huawei showcases how a city can become a living organism

BARCELONA - Huawei, a leading global information and communications technology (ICT) solutions provider, is showing on Tuesday how a city can become a living organism at the Smart City Expo World Congress (SCEWC).

Under the theme "Leading New ICT, Creating a Smart City Nervous System", Huawei highlighted in a press conference that a "Smart City can be like a living organism that works seamlessly to continuously learn and enhance the city's services."

In the press conference, the company explained that a Smart City comprised a "brain", the control center or Intelligent Operation Centre (IOC), and "peripheral nerves" (the network and sensors) which gather real-time information about the status of the city, its infrastructure, and environment.

Victor Yu, President of Industry Marketing and Solution Department of Huawei Enterprise Business Group, said "the app that requires more qualification is the IOC, the brain of the city" as it "aggregates data from the city", analyzing them and allowing it to make decisions on key events.

The underlying infrastructure of the IOC comprises distributed cloud data centers and city networks that collect, integrate, and share the information the city provides.

An Integrated Communications Platform (ICP) enables intelligent collaboration across city functions and by using Big Data, machine learning, and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, the IOC provides insights to make city planning and management of services easier in areas such as security or transportation.

Huawei created a Smart City Nervous System for more than 100 cities in the world. In 2016, the company took part in projects in 62 countries around the world.

Apart from Huawei, the four-day Smart City Expo World Congress, which opened its doors on Tuesday, brings together tech companies such as ZTE, Alstom, Ferrovial, or Microsoft to expose the latest innovations applied to smart cities.

This year's congress includes 675 exhibitors from 700 cities from countries across the globe.