Spec-tech-ular: Global tech leaders leverage internet of Things Expo to shine spotlight on smart cities of the future

Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 10 June 2015: The inaugural Internet of Things Expo 2015 (IoTX) - the region’s first IoT exhibition and conference - closed at Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC) today, with the world’s leading technology firms vying to capitalise on regional Smart City projects.

As pioneering IoT and device-driven technologies transform 21st century urban living and citizen experiences, global IoT opportunities are expected to reach US$19 trillion by 2020 according to tech giant Cisco. 

“With UAE cities and other GCC nations championing Smart City technologies, the battle for regional market share is at the forefront of global technology leaders’ attentions,” said Trixie LohMirmand, Senior Vice President, Exhibitions & Events Management, DWTC. “IoTX 2015 has brought the industry’s major players under one roof to provide a glimpse at the technologies, products and services that will shape our cities of tomorrow.”

At IoTX 2015, Cisco demonstrated end-to-end solutions for Smart Cities which use umbrella IoT technology to allow city management and planning departments to enable and enhance citizen services. Encompassing expansive industry sectors such as healthcare, the energy grid and intelligent supply chains, as well as specific urban planning factors such as Smart street lights, Cisco’s solutions utilise IoT and back-end technology to directly benefit citizens and society at large.

Elsewhere, EMC, via its federation of five companies, demonstrated technologies redefining the approach to Smart Cities. In particular, Pivotal’s Smart Grid and Connected Cars technology collects data from cars and uses predictive analytics to calculate probabilities and predict potential destinations. A feedback-based mechanism that allows the driver to input information in real time, the Connected Cars software evaluates external factors such as position, traffic flow, accidents and fuel consumption before communicating the optimum route to the driver.

Finally, tech giant Dell leveraged the specialist confex platforms to showcase its complete end-to-end software solutions for IoT and Big Data. In addition to demonstrating its new Gateways product - the small, wireless or connected devices that collect, secure and process sensor data at the edge of a network - Dell Software’s pioneering Boomi programme cleanses proprietary data via a Cloud-based integration platform that transfers data from source to target. The final step of the digital data journey is Dell Software’s Statistica, a predictive analytics programme which makes sense of data to foster automated decision-making.

On the second day of the IoTX Conference, a series of influential figures and academic visionaries from global technology institutions traversed the ever-changing IoT landscape. 

Highlight sessions included Koert van Mensvoort, Managing Director of Next Nature Network, exploring how new technologies are introduced, accepted or discarded within society in a session entitled ‘How technology becomes nature – the seven steps’; Carlo Ratti of MIT Senseable City Lab, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, discussing technologies, innovations and business integration in city-wide connected eco-system in a session entitled ‘Creating SENSEable Cities’;  and Dr. Eric Feron, Expert of Cyber Physical Systems at the Centre for the Development and Application of IoT Technologies (CDAIT) at GeorgiaTech, dissecting cyber physical systems and their role in making intelligent connections in a session entitled ‘When trillions of things can be connected, which things should you connect?’