Huawei listed as key smart city vendor

January 5, 2015

Huawei — a global ICT solutions provider — has recently been listed as one the world’s leading smart city technology vendors as part of a global study by Navigant Research.
The report cites that Huawei’s smart city strategy and execution were key areas of strength that makes Huawei a strong Contender in the smart city market.
In a bid to highlight the key players in the market, Navigant Research developed an assessment that offers an evaluation of vendors that have the capacity to support cities across a range of operational and infrastructural issues.
The report also assessed vendors who were able to deliver on large-scale projects spanning multiple city requirements.
The Navigant Research report, published as of Q4 2014, outlined the position of 16 of the world’s most prominent smart city vendors and where they place in the market.
The report maintains the growing importance of benchmarking vendors as city service providers go in search of technology providers who can help them deliver on their smart city vision.
Eric Woods, research drector, Navigant Research said: “Huawei’s appearance on the Smart City Suppliers Leaderboard reflects both its core role delivering communications and IT infrastructures for smart city initiatives and the growing ambitions of suppliers in this market.”
The director said: “The research is a reflection of the competition in the market as vendors are becoming much more serious about developing Smarty City initiatives. Governments and city leaders are looking to deepen their vendor relationships to plan for larger scale programs and deployments. We look forward to seeing the maturity of Smart Cities develop, where they can leverage the integration of technology into a strategic approach to sustainability, citizen well-being, and economic development.”
The vendor eco-system for smart city developments continues to expand at an increasing rate, which has created a complex and dynamic market, especially in the Middle East.
The smart city technology market is characterized by a diverse range of vendors spanning across a variety of sectors, which makes a comparison of their strengths and capabilities a challenging exercise.
Huawei was identified as a strong Contender on the Navigant Research Smart City Leaderboard by meeting a series of criteria that showed its ability to: deliver smart infrastructure IT and communications solutions, support cities across multiple operational and vertical sector infrastructure issues and use its global network in order to work with cities in multiple regions.
According to Navigant Research estimates, the global smart city technology market is expected to be worth more than $27.5 billion annually by 2023, compared to $8.8 billion in 2014.
This represents a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) during that period of 13.5 percent.
Cumulative global investment in smart city technologies over the decade is expected to reach $174.4 billion.
The concept of the smart city covers a wide range of communities and governance models spanning from mega city regions to small towns and from historic urban centers to greenfield developments. Similarly, an incredible diversity of customers, suppliers, technologies, and requirements fall under the smart city banner.
Commenting on the announcement, Safder Nazir, regional vice president of Smart Cities & IoT at Huawei, Middle East, said: “It is encouraging to see that the industry is recognizing our Smart City capabilities a strong contender in this market. Following the announcement of Huawei’s Smart City ‘Center of Excellence’ in 2014, Huawei is in a position to provide the right expertise to transform regional smart city initiatives from concept to reality.”
A key player in supporting the development of the region’s smart city initiatives, Huawei believes that the future of smart cities lies in Mobile Broadband-based services.
The global ICT solutions provider recently launched a white paper in collaboration with IDC highlighting the enablement of smart cities with Mobile Broadband.
The white paper follows another recent IDC report unveiling figures that government spending in the Middle East and Africa is set to top $8.27 billion, an 11.4 percent increase as more regional governments expand their mobile government, online services and mobile broadband networks.
Huawei has been working on a range of Smart City initiatives across the globe including the deployment of an extensive range of Mobile Broadband technology such as 4G (LTE) for nearly 40 telecom operators in Asia, the Middle East, North America, Western Europe, Russia and Africa. Huawei’s value proposition for Smart Cities lies in its expertise in end-to-end network planning and the development of cutting-edge technologies.
These include mobile broadband infrastructure and communication technology to niche industry applications and data center innovations.
The company has participated in over 60 Smart City projects in more than 20 countries worldwide and cooperates with over 1,100 technology providers and 800 services and system integration firms.
Its recent acquisition of Neul in September 2014 reflects Huawei’s ambition to be at the leading edge of innovative communications solutions for cities.
Neul is a specialist IoT communications provider based in the United Kingdom that has been focusing on smart city applications.