It’s an exciting time here at Cisco Canada, especially for the folks involved with Smart+Connected Communities (S+CC). We recently announced the second phase of the Boyle Renaissance development with The Holmes Group in Edmonton, are underway on Canada’s first Smart+Connected Community, Rampart Avenir in St.Albert, and we continue to build strong relationships with municipalities throughout Canada. And now, we add to our achievements with the official opening of our exciting new Innovation Centre here in our Toronto office.
At first glance, the Innovation Centre is a strategic location where Cisco and our partners can come together and co-create pragmatic, scalable and repeatable solutions and proof of concepts for smart communities. But the Centre is much more than that. It truly is the culmination of our S+CC vision and highlights the vital role our partners play in the execution of that vision.
The ultimate goal of S+CC is to help communities achieve economic, social and environmental sustainability by changing the way cities, towns and villages are built, managed and renewed. From a technical perspective, this is done by using the power of the network to transform physical communities into connected communities that run on networked information.
But there’s more to S+CC than simply deploying the technology. In order for the solution to be completely successful, we need to have a strong relationship with partners and make sure our visions are aligned and in sync. To this end, we work very closely with our partners, from idea to execution.
Cisco has spent many years building a broad ecosystem of partners that bring proven expertise across green field and revitalization projects for communities around the world. Partners such as Fifth Light, Delta Controls, FlexITy, ESC Automation, Control4, EllisDon, IBM and many others all have strong track records of bringing innovative sustainability solutions. Together, we can use our diverse portfolio of products, services and solutions to effectively address the emerging opportunities inherent in using the network as an open and integrated platform to deliver the most effective S+CC solutions.
The new Innovation Centre will serve as a fantastic method for Cisco and our partners to further explore solutions for long-term sustainability. Partners can work with us within the Centre and have the opportunity to test firsthand a variety of Cisco smart technologies through a number of connected real estate solution demos such as building automation systems like lighting and HVAC controls, or Kiosk options for retail or transportation.
The Centre further allows partners to check for network compatibility with their products. This can identify and isolate any potential challenges with future deployment without having to do painstaking and time-consuming testing throughout the actual customer deployment. It’s a terrific time and cost-saving tool that ensures partners will be well-equipped and ready to go once they deploy solutions for their customers.
Ultimately, the Centre will further cement the relationships we hold with our partners. This is something that will not only benefit the active participants, but also those within the communities that will be transformed into sustainable smart communities. It’s a vision Cisco Canada and our partners are proud to have as we collectively embark on the transformation of our communities, regions and country.
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