CISCO Announces Strategic Engagement with ELCIA for IoT Hub

CISCO Announces Strategic Engagement with ELCIA for IoT Hub


Cisco has just announced a strategic engagement with Electronics City Industries Association (ELCIA) for development of first end-to-end Internet of Things/IoT innovation hub in Asia at Bangalore. On a fast growing wave of internet penetration, this collaboration is needed for establishing the foundation for a new ecosystem to enable Electronic System Design & Manufacturing firms and other companies of electronic city engaged in IoT product development.

ELCIA is involved in this ambitious project on account of being the brown field ESDM cluster in India that has obtained in-principal approval for a financial grant from the Indian government to spur innovation in manufacturing and product design.

The Task Force report commissioned by the Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY) has reported that the demand for electronics hardware in India is projected to increase to around 400 billion US dollars by the year 2020. This initiative is needed for addressing domestic demand for enabling local manufacturers to gain control over a growing market opportunity for saving foreign exchange for the country.

As part of this initiative, Cisco will be responsible for the network infrastructure and expertise for testing and production of electronic product prototypes. This is suitable for an IoT enabled smart city environment. Companies involved in creation of electronic cities and ESDM start-ups can design solutions through the “Living Lab”.

Infrastructure Management (CIM) includes Smart Parking, Smart CCTV Surveillance, Smart Street Lighting, Smart Water Managment/Leak Detection and Community Messaging. The project is set to utilise the Cisco Smart+Connected City WiFi solution for enabling community WiFi services and allowing access to public utility offerings. ELCIA is also in-charge of embedding Cisco network equipment of access points, routers, switches and required hardware as well as software applications for connections to the smart city's fibre optic backbone network.

The first stage of this smart city project is to be rolled out in Electronics City. This phase will serve as a replicable model for the remaining parts of Bangalore as well as other cities across India. Companies which participate in this will be able to utilise boot strap funding for ventures under the Cisco IoT innovation fund. This will provide a strong idea for the new IoT product/application development with commercially viable business case. Companies will also get a chance to participate in the global Cisco IoT challenge.

The project is part of the Cisco Smart+Connected Communities to use technology and economic development for providing better standard of life in modern cities. The focus is on using the network for deploying digitally enabled transportation, education, healthcare, utilities, energy grid and real estate.
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