A Smart City is simply the wise use of new technology and services to save money and improve operations.

Communications is becoming ubiquitous.  Just as communications between people improves relationships, it also improves operation on a machine to machine basis (M2M).

So what is the goal; save money, improve security, streamline operations or ….

In a world where power is becoming costly from a production and environmental perspective, we must choose solutions that reduce our need for power but if we can at the same time add new services at minimal cost, we all win.  This is Smart City thinking.

So what is our goal today?

We can implement LED lights to save 40% plus on power.  We can control the light levels and dimming based on a range of events and criteria to further reduce power costs and we can add security cameras to strategic locations to better understand community dynamics and reduce crime.

Reducing maintenance costs through light notifications is a huge savings.   Instead of having drivers patrol the the city looking for light failures, you can simply send repair crews directly to failed lights for repair.

The technology is here, have you asked the right questions?