A major concern of Smart City planners is the need to have heightened security and the need for reliable and interruptible security feeds.

Installing devices, such as IP cameras and security sensors at key assets and infrastructure across an urban area is straightforward, but the challenge is two-fold.

Firstly, guaranteeing continuous, real-time communication – these data feeds need high availability of networks and cannot be subject to limited capacity.

In the event of partial network failure, intelligent routing has to be able to mitigate the impact while ensuring critical assets remain operational, said experts.

Secondly, authorities have to ensure a consistent quality of service by effectively prioritising the right users, devices and application data for uninterrupted high-priority communications.

To address these issues, there are now ‘smart’ network switches, or  application aware switches, that carry and deliver data across Application Fluent Networks.

These switches have the added value of being able to prioritise users, devices and applications depending on the situation – normal day-to-day or emergency.

Departments responsible for the transport links in a city can leverage M2M connectivity to create smarter transportation systems – this is IoT in action, say experts.

Gathering data multiple times a second from thousands of roadway and transport sensors, CCTV cameras, vehicle detectors and weather stations require    connectivity, and connectivity relies on the network.

Utility grids, public lighting and transport systems are just some of the areas that are realising cost efficiencies and safety benefits from the introduction of smart technology and automation.

All these individual advancements are driving an overall trend towards greater energy efficiency within cities, a target which is of increasing importance due to growing global warming concerns.

A high degree of network agility and scalability will be needed to ensure city services deployed on a large scale have the required connectivity.

By adopting the Smart City model, energy efficiencies can be made while simultaneously lowering operational costs and improving quality of life, experts say.

In areas such as healthcare and education, scalability will be important calling for the introduction of digital services and widespread IP-based communications.