Tech-savvy: Information Technology experts propose smart cities

Technological solutions put forward in 2nd CIO Summit.

KARACHI: As Pakistan continues to face challenges in urban efficiency, IT experts proposed setting up smart cities to improve civic infrastructure and highlight technologies the country should adopt to compete internationally.

The country is facing a host of challenges pertaining to urban efficiency with growing population putting more pressure on the country’s civic infrastructure, according to Munib Khawaja – vice President of Schneider Electric’s IT Business for Pakistan and Afghanistan. “It is, therefore, important to build smart cities with data centers tuned to cloud.”

While addressing a packed audience at the inaugural session of the 2nd CIO Summit that kicked off at Marriot Hotel on Tuesday, Khawaja stressed on the importance of data centers for achieving efficiency in the management of civic infrastructure.

“The country’s infrastructure is faced with numerous problems, such as water shortage, power outages and line losses to name a few,” Khawaja said in his presentation titled, ‘Why and how data center be tuned for cloud’.

He then showcased the technological solutions developed by the German firm Schneider Electric, which could help address these problems.

Giving details, the VP said their solutions, such as smart water, smart energy, smart public services and smart mobility can result in smart distribution of services by balancing the demand-supply function. “These utilities can be managed with some software at the back-end [data center] to achieve urban efficiency,” he said.

The two-day CIO summit is an annual IT show that brings together Chief Information Officers (CIOs), IT Heads and technologists from all over Pakistan as well as across the world. These experts then discuss problems facing the country’s IT sector; propose solutions to the same and share their ideas and thoughts about the latest trends in IT.

The participating companies also use the platform to promote their products, enterprise solutions, for the Pakistani public and private sector. This year’s expo gathered over 200 IT experts, according to Kamran Saeed, Summit Director and CEO of Solutions Inc., which organised the event. Besides Pakistan, the event also showcased technologies of companies from China, Germany, USA, UK, Austria and the Netherlands.

“Events like this highlight the investment opportunities in Pakistan and attract foreign investment into the country,” Chief Guest and Minister of State for Privatization Mohammed Zubair said at the end of the inaugural session.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 26^th, 2014.

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