cisco dubai expo 2020 internet of everything vision paper

Dubai and the Internet of Everything:Opportunity at the Crossroads

Information Technology

By 2020, there will be 50 billion Internet-connected things

in the world. The Internet of Everything will improve lives by

connecting the unconnected, creating unprecedented value

for organisations, individuals, communities, and countries.

Cisco is leading the next step in the evolution of the Internet.

And while the world and the opportunities in it continue to

evolve, Cisco will continue to pursue our vision: to change

the way people work, live, play and learn.

3 Dubai and the Internet of Everything

Internet of Everything

Dubai and the Internet of Everything 3

ContentsInternet of Everything Creating Exponential Opportunity for a Smarter Dubai .......................4Dubai: On the Fast Track to the Future ..............6Municipality .......................................................7Utility and Smart Grid ......................................10Ground Transport Automation .........................13Police ..............................................................16National Security and Defence ........................19Travel and Tourism ..........................................23Retail ...............................................................26Cisco Smart City Partner Ecosystem ..............31Conclusion ......................................................32


Internet of Everything Creating Exponential Opportunity for a Smarter DubaiWe are entering an era in which the Internet has the potential to dramatically improve the lives of everyone on our planet—from accelerating the discovery of cures for diseases, to understanding climate change, to enhancing the way companies do business, to making every day more enjoyable.




At Cisco, we call this new era the Internet of Everything (IoE), and we believe it will accelerate the next wave of business innovation, productivity, and customer engagement for years to come. From the Internet of Things (IoT), where we are today, we are just beginning to enter a new realm: the Internet of Everything (IoE), in which things will gain context awareness, increased processing power, and greater sensing abilities. Add people and information into the mix and you get a network of networks in which billions or even trillions of connections create unprecedented opportunities and give things that were silent a voice.

Cisco defines IoE as bringing together people, process, data, and things to make networked connections more relevant and valuable than ever before—turning information into actions that create new capabilities, richer experiences, and unprecedented economic opportunity for businesses, individuals, and countries.

About half the world’s population will have network access by 2020, and by then we estimate 50 billion physical objects will be connected to the Internet, with 500 billion connected by 2030.

The exciting thing about the IoE is that it’s not just about the number of connections that can be made. It’s also about what we can do with those connections. All of these connections create huge amounts of digital data, more data than we have ever had available to us before. It can be analyzed and turned into knowledge and understanding, allowing decision makers to act more wisely, enhancing productivity and planning, and bringing additional benefits for communities.

In fact, the IoE enables Smart and Connected Communities. A growing number of cities around the world are overcoming challenges through innovation and technology, and the Internet of Everything is underpinning the solutions they are developing.

Sensors can recognize when parking spaces become available and share that information with drivers. This capability can help reduce driver frustration and boost usage and revenue for parking spots, while also allowing roadside lighting to be dimmed along a highway when vehicles aren’t using it.

These solutions are already being used in cities around the world today. But with the Internet of Everything, it really is just the beginning. Again, it’s not about the number of connections that are being made but about what those connections allow you to do.

Through the power of the Internet of Everything, businesses, communities, and governments can not only do the things they did before faster, better, and more cost effectively, but that they can do things they couldn’t even consider before.

Cross-fertilization of data and ideas especially across government departments can lead to new, innovative solutions. Consider the example of traffic sensors mentioned previously. These sensors could also collect data that could be used to monitor the environment and help combat pollution. As the technology develops around us, we will see even more possibilities as to how to use it, and that in turn will lead to even more innovation, quite literally changing the world.

At Cisco we’ve long recognized the exponential power you get by adding more connections to a network. After all, we’ve been in the networking business for 30 years. But with the Internet of Everything, we aren’t talking about adding just devices and data, but also people and processes to unlock unparalleled economic opportunities for those cities that choose to embrace IoE.

No city in the Middle East has more closely aligned itself with the Smart-City goal than Dubai, whose Dubai Smart City initiative has made strong progress. His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Vice President, Prime Minister, and Ruler of Dubai, outlined his vision for a Smart and Connected Dubai in 2013. The Dubai Smart City initiative calls for taking advantage of the power of the Internet of Everything to make Dubai one of the world’s best-connected and happiest cities in the world, and deliver real value in the key areas of Life, Economy and Tourism.

The value at stake from the Internet of Everything is the combination of net new revenue, cost savings, and the value that migrates to organizations, industries, communities, and cities that take advantage of new connection-based capabilities. Several research reports estimate that Expo 2020 will directly create hundreds of thousands of jobs and indirectly create around a million jobs in the UAE by 2020. Our conservative estimate of the IoE value at stake for the public sector is AED 3.4 billion, resulting from improved asset management, optimized processes, and new innovative business models and services.

To explore these possibilities in greater detail for Dubai, Cisco® Consultancy Services conducted a study that identified 17 use cases that are of higher priority for the Executive Office. Dubai’s unique qualities—including its strong healthcare, low crime rate, and high housing density—mean that Dubai can come as close as possible to the ideal Smart City.

Delivering on this value won’t happen overnight, even for a city as fast-moving and forward-thinking as Dubai. But ultimately Cisco believes that cities like Dubai that are taking advantage of the potential opportunities to embrace the Internet of Everything will create a sustainable, competitive advantage and serve their constituents better.


Dubai: On the Fast Track to the Future

Dubai: On the Fast Track to the FutureIn the sections that follow, we provide a vision for the seven areas that stand to gain (and contribute) the most from the application of Internet of Everything concepts in Dubai. These benefits will be for both the short term (leading up to and including Dubai Expo 2020) and longer range (implementing the Dubai Smart City Initiative).

• Municipality—Promoting citizen involvement and improving municipal services in the 21st century

• Ground-transport automation—Developing the infrastructure and best practices to further automate ground transportation for residents and Dubai Expo 2020 visitors

• Police—Preparing for the influx of visitors by using innovative approaches to policing and police services

• National Security and Defence—Implementing a common, unified, connected communications platform that enables various safety and first-responder agencies to share information, coordinate, and collaborate

• Utility Smart Grid—Deploying IoE concepts to ensure better management, delivery, and conservation of energy for a reliable, sustainable supply and a secure grid

• Travel and tourism—A unified vision and platform for hosting and engaging with the more than 25 million visitors expected for Dubai Expo 2020 and those that visit after

• Retail—Closely related to travel and tourism, a vision for promoting Dubai as a retail destination as part of a Dubai experience


MunicipalityGoverning in the 21st century presents new challenges for public officials. Technology is changing the ways we interact as global citizens and how we govern. With billions of people now online, citizens expect to connect with governments and public sector agencies in a secure, smooth, and reliable environment. Public service employees also need to collaborate across multiple agencies and geographies in real time.

Municipality

Governments at the city, state/province, and federal levels worldwide confront a common dilemma: how to meet increased citizen expectations in the face of reduced or flat budgets. This challenge has contributed to an increasing gap between citizen expectations and what governments can actually deliver. In addition, a large set of other issues needs to be addressed across federal, city, state, and local government, as well as healthcare, defence, and education.

More than perhaps any technological advance since the dawn of the Internet, the Internet of Everything (IoE)—the networked connection of people, process, data, and things—holds tremendous potential for helping public-sector leaders address their many challenges, including the gap currently separating citizen expectations and what government delivers.

Approximately half of the world’s population will have network access by 2020, by which time 50 billion physical objects will be connected to the Internet. The power of the IoE is not the physical connections, but the outcomes they make possible. These outcomes will enable individuals, businesses, governments, and other organizations to either do things they couldn’t before do things they currently do, only better, faster, and more safely. The majority of the population lives in urban areas today, and that urbanization trend will only continue over the next few years. By 2020, more than 20 cities will have 10

million citizens or more1. The high density of people combined with the need to be always connected, the need to better manage city infrastructure (transportation, street lighting, and so on) and the growing need for natural resources (electricity, water, and gas, for example) redefine the way cities should be managed. Under the smart cities umbrella, several cities have largely embraced the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). ICT has improved cities’ efficiency, quality of life, safety, and overall sustainability.

The Internet of Everything (IoE) brings ubiquitous connectivity among people and things and uses massive data collected from sensors, devices, and social networks over Machine-to-Machine and IoE infrastructures to deliver a new set of citizen-centric smart services. IoE offers governments the opportunity to make significant advances in citizen services. For example, IoE will enable governments to create services that take advantage of Big Data and crowdsourcing to expand the power of machine-to-machine communications for citizen delivery. Large organizations, government departments, and cities can benefit directly from the same new technologies that are transforming supply-chain management and logistics in the private sector. Similarly, they can build on the potential of mobile technology to develop “smart working” for their employees, resulting in significant cost savings. “Smart-building” strategies can also reduce costs, while generating a positive environmental impact.

1. World Population Prospects: The 2010 Revision, United Nations Population Division


Municipality

TrendsGovernment officials around the world are exploring new ways of doing things in order to cope with the challenges of globalization, economic uncertainty, emerging technologies, and a more connected citizen base. The solutions to these challenges have two factors in common: connecting people and maximizing resources in radically new ways. The connection of things, people, data, and processes is transforming industries, communities, and countries, and it represents a global economic opportunity. The current state of IoE-based public-sector programs is characterized by a high degree of sponsorship and encouragement by national governments. IDC estimates that 70 percent of spending on Smart-City projects in 2013 will be focused on energy, transportation, and public safety, and 90 percent of it will be at least partially funded by national or international governments2.

As multiple smart-city services will co-exist on a multitechnology communications infrastructure, a converged or unified network is required to avoid complexity and delay in the deployment of services. The city services operator and the citizens use one network to access the Internet or consume the city services, but for the operators and engineers there are multiple networks to support. Wi-Fi networks, Cellular Networks, WSN, and so on will form the overall urban network infrastructure. For Dubai, the IoE value at stake is significant and, more importantly, aligns with its smart city vision as a way to transform the life and economy in the city.

Impact on Dubai Expo 2020The hosting of Expo 2020 in Dubai will reshape the way business is done in the UAE and the region. The impact of the event will be widespread including the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and broader Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia region. Dubai Expo 2020 will undoubtedly have an impact beyond the borders of Dubai and the UAE. Various

studies predict that the impact of Expo 2020 will go beyond commerce to include a real human-development dimension, with investment and job creation expected to benefit the regional economies.

The construction, tourism, hospitality, and leisure sectors have obvious potential to benefit from development spending and job creation. Technological innovators in conventional and alternative energy, engineering, urban planning, and logistics will also likely see a host of in-region opportunities. In addition, hosting Expo 2020 in Dubai is likely to boost the attractiveness of Dubai as a base for overseas companies wishing to invest in the Middle East.

Context and Current LimitationsJust as broadband has been a critical enabler of economic growth, social inclusion, and improved government service delivery over the past few decades, the IoE is creating many new opportunities (and risks) that public-sector leaders need to consider. In addition to connecting people, IoE has enormous potential across all sectors through its ability to:

• Connect ever-growing numbers of sensors and actuators to objects or things on the Internet

• Extract and analyze growing amounts of useful data

• Use the analysis in automated and people-based processes.

IoE is capable of helping organizations achieve many public-policy goals, including increased economic growth, improvements in environmental sustainability, public safety and security, delivery of government services, and productivity. These benefits, of course, don’t come without costs and public-policy concerns. Now is the time for governments at all levels to assess where and how they might use IoE in their own operations, as well as the role it could play in achieving broader economic and social goals.

2. Source: IDC, February 2013


RecommendationsCisco offers the following recommendations to the leaders of Dubai:

• Develop a citywide budget allocation for smart-city initiatives that is cross-agency in its governance and coordination to address the topic of concentrated costs and distributed benefits.

• Redesign services and government processes to consider new connected capabilities.

• Measure smart-city success in a way that is different from the current departmental KPIs. A city dashboard would provide views for decision makers, operational staff, residents, and tourists with location- and context-sensitive personalized information.

• Share access to systems, collaboration tools, and business insights across all agencies. This sharing calls for better virtualized technology capabilities in a “fog” environment, and also calls for rethinking the context within which technology partners can add value.

• Direct Dubai’s Smart City Initiative and IoE framework messaging toward some of the existing priorities such as public-sector excellence, city experience, and others.

• Identify an initiative owner with cross-agency mandate and coordination capabilities, and develop an overarching implementation roadmap with dependencies identified.

• Promote a priority “theme” for more detailed use-case designs and functional, technical, and organizational requirements.

BenefitsMany industries are expecting to benefit from Dubai Expo 2020 and enjoy an unprecedented expansion leading up to the event and beyond. Hospitality, transportation, retail, banking and finance, real estate and infrastructure will witness significant growth and will therefore need to expand. Several research reports estimate that Expo 2020 will directly create hundreds of thousands of jobs and indirectly create around a million jobs in the UAE by 2020. Because 25 to 30 million people are expected to visit during the Expo, 90 percent of the newly created jobs will be in the travel and tourism sector. These job opportunities are expected to be created from 2018 to 2021.


Utility and Smart Grid

Utility and Smart GridAround the world, public utilities face the challenge of modernizing aging infrastructure to support more reliable and efficient power delivery. Operators are looking for ways to optimize the productivity of investments in new and existing facilities and integrate more distributed energy resources onto the grid. At the same time, they must help ensure grid security and manage operating expenses (OpEx), while complying with continuously evolving regulatory requirements.


TrendsThe Dubai Electric and Water Authority (DEWA) is a good example of a modern utility that has the vision of becoming a sustainable world-class utility. Its mission is to satisfy customers and promote Dubai’s vision through delivery of electricity and water at a world-class level of reliability, efficiency, safety, and environmental protection by employing a competent workforce and effective partnerships while supporting resource sustainability.

DEWA is planning a smart-grid deployment to automate grid-control decisions and enhance interoperability. DEWA is focusing on reliability, sustainability, and connecting renewable-energy resources to the grid, to achieve a green and cleaner environment, encourage conservation, manage demand, and improve efficiency of infrastructure management and grid operations.

DEWA is also taking a forward-looking view of the smart grid as a means not only to increase output, reduce energy consumption, and improve carbon footprint, but also to deliver new services to consumers that would let them automate and control their power consumption.

Impact on Dubai Expo 2020In line with Dubai’s vision to become the smartest city in the world in the next 3 years, DEWA has outlined a 10-year plan to raise production capacity, upgrade its infrastructure, and implement smarter technologies to manage generation, transmission, and distribution of electrical power. DEWA has launched three initiatives in line with that vision:

• Smart Cars: A plan for deploying car-charging stations and promoting the use of electric vehicles in the Emirate

• Smart Meters: Full implementation of smart electricity and water meters

• Solar Generation: Enabling end users to generate their own electricity with approved solar panels

Saeed Mohammad Al Tayer, MD and CEO of Dewa, said: “We are committed to fulfilling Shaikh Mohammad’s promise to host the best Expo the world has ever seen. Our smart projects and initiatives will help improve the quality of life in the coming years. We will be able to provide our Expo guests with smart services and utilities that meet the highest international standards, and achieve Dubai’s objectives to create a better future for its citizens and residents.”

Context and Current LimitationsDEWA’s smart-grid-system strategy will focus on the existing monitoring systems, analytics, control and communication systems; integration of renewable resources; advanced metering infrastructure; and support for the diversification of fuel resources. This strategy will cover both current and future energy needs of the city.

An undertaking of this scale requires a communications infrastructure architected to support crucial business priorities and lower the total cost of ownership (TCO). Other requirements include:

• Addressing regulatory concerns by focusing on increasing the renewable energy portfolio. Plans include a solar park, rooftop solar generation, a prosumers’ initiative, and securing critical infrastructure.

• Reliability through diversification and demand management alongside safe, reliable power delivery.

• Interoperability and infrastructure sharing to continuously balance the cost and risk of large-scale upgrades with the need to extend the useful life of the installed asset base as well as share the communication infrastructure with other entities.

• Securing the power grid against both external threats and internal incidents through policies that extend beyond basic compliance to proactive physical and cyber security practices and solutions.

RecommendationsAs the worldwide leader in networking, Cisco provides one of the industry’s most comprehensive portfolios of infrastructure solutions that can address DEWA’s Smart Grid priorities as discussed in the following sections (Figure 1).


Figure 1. DEWA’s Smart Grid Priorities

Smart Energy Markets

Generation toConsumption

Power Grid

IndustrialUtilityOperation Energy

Consumer

BenefitsAs more and more IP-enabled intelligent electronic devices, sensors, and automated devices connect across the distribution line, utility providers will be able to gain a deeper level of insight into the demands placed on the grid. That information can then be used to help conservation voltage reduction, which reduces the voltage level of the grid to match the lowest acceptable value. This reduced voltage level saves energy and, theoretically, lowers its cost.

The Internet of Everything promises to provide better ways to meter and therefore influence individual consumption, empowering consumers with new choices. In addition, the items and appliances we own, and the grids that supply the power to run them, will no longer simply be “on or off”. Instead, they will become more intelligent and more flexible, responding and reacting to demand.

As energy metering and control moves from analogue to digital, the Internet of Everything will underpin a smarter, more efficient future. By implementing a Smart Grid and Cisco recommendations, Dubai can help ensure better management, delivery, and conservation of energy.

Maintaining ReliabilityCisco can help ensure continuous high availability of grid operations with communications solutions that enhance situational awareness across the grid. Cisco self-healing architectures support continuous monitoring of distributed systems and devices, as well as the tools needed for condition-based maintenance.

Addressing Regulatory RequirementsCisco’s technology allows DEWA to efficiently and securely integrate distributed resources onto the power grid. DEWA can meet information privacy concerns by securing data traffic and storage and supporting security compliance from assessment to design and deployment.

Interoperability and Infrastructure SharingCisco helps utilities manage such risk by supporting a phased technology migration that interoperates with and protects investment in existing infrastructure while enabling new applications, securely sharing the infrastructure, and maintaining the required operating requirements for each use case or entity.

A Platform Designed for Grid SecurityCisco has a long history of providing integrated security solutions, offering defence in depth for threat detection, containment and mitigation, controlled access to resources, and coordinated incident response. Control is perhaps the greatest benefit that the Internet of Everything will bring to the energy industry in the coming months and years. As smart meters provide better insight into how much power is used and where, smart devices and services like the ones discussed previously will enable individuals and organizations to rethink how they consume and conserve energy. The items and appliances we own, and the grids that supply the power to run them, will no longer simply be “on or off.” Instead, they will become more intelligent and more flexible, responding and reacting to demand.

Ground Transport AutomationThe UAE and the Emirate of Dubai have experienced astonishing growth since the foundation of the nation. In the decade leading up to 2010, the population of Dubai grew by 121%3. Between 2010 and 2013, it grew by another 16%4. Worldwide, urban agglomerations have been growing steadily for the past several decades, with more people living in cities now than in rural areas.

Ground Transport Automation

Dubai and the Internet of Everything 13 3 and 4. Dubai Statistics Centre Dubai Statistics Centre


In Austria, a country of roughly the same land area as the UAE, the urban population grew by 7% in the decade ending in 20135. In the same period, the urban population of the UAE grew by 177%6. This population growth, coupled with smart governance, has also fueled an economic boom. From 2003 to 2013, GDP in Dubai grew 74%7.

Accompanying this growth has been a rise in transportation, the second-largest sector in the economy, which currently contributes almost 15% to GDP8. That growth has also come with an associated growth in road traffic. In 2004, the last year for which this data exists, the UAE had 271 vehicles per road-km9. By comparison, in the same year, Austria had 42 vehicles per kilometer of road.

TrendsThe modern, driverless Dubai Metro, opened in 2009, delivered 138 million passenger journeys in 2013, double the amount delivered in 201110. Both the Dubai Metro and the system of public buses help to alleviate road congestion. In 2013, Dubai’s urban, feeder, and intercity buses delivered 116 million passenger journeys, 8% more than in 201111. Judging by the number of trips taken by taxi in 2013, 82 million—a decrease of 15% compared to 201112—the metro system is helping generate the desired shift in passenger transport from road to rail.

Dubai is already experiencing the convergence of major trends in society and technology, including:

• Increasing numbers of people are moving to and working in the city.

• Tourism in the region continues to grow.

• Most of these people wish to have easy access to a smoothly running transport system.

• Transport system users want to be informed of congested roads and know when the road will permit normal traffic flows again.

One significant new trend— driverless vehicles—could change transportation in Dubai dramatically in the next few years. Driverless vehicles will very likely be commonplace on Dubai’s roads even before the start of Dubai Expo 2020. As the blog and video by C.G.P. Grey points out, the technology to make driverless automobiles a reality is already here13. These new “autos” don’t text while driving, don’t get tired, and can’t be distracted, thus making them inherently safer than human drivers. Driverless cars will be in constant contact with hundreds of roadside sensors in a given moment. They will be aware of nearby vehicles and know predicted traffic patterns. Automation and the ability to process vast amounts of data very rapidly in order to adjust routes and speed accordingly will provide for smoother journeys and less roadway congestion.

Impact on Dubai Expo 2020The introduction of driverless vehicles on Dubai’s roads will transform its transport system, the transport sector skills base, and the structure of the Dubai Roads and Transport Authority (RTA). With the advent of fully automated, driverless taxis, buses, and lorries, a segment of the transport sector workforce will no longer be needed in their present positions. Workers with skills in automation software programming and automation systems management will be required. The changes will require the RTA to evolve its skills base and organizational structure to develop, maintain, and operate the next-generation transport automation systems that make safe and efficient driverless transport possible.

RTA will also need to institute safeguards for the ICT infrastructure of IP networks, sensors, and traffic-management systems in the city, without which travel will be reduced to “manual mode” and severely restricted. Prioritization of traffic management data in the network will become an absolute necessity. The RTA will also need to ensure cyber-security competency to prepare for and respond rapidly during and after a cyber-security attack on its systems. Incident management at RTA must also include communication and coordination with the planned 5D Dubai Smart City Control Centre14.

As Dubai residents and visitors adopt driverless modes of transport, new opportunities for RTA to serve the traveling public will emerge. Automobiles are already highly complex computers on wheels today. In the way that the MP3 player revolutionised how we consume music, so the driverless auto will change the way we use our time en route. The driverless auto will be connected not only to roadside traffic-management systems, but also to trackside networks that deliver personalized services, including smart parking and notification of the availability of electric-vehicle (EV) charging stations, all based on traveler preferences.

Context and Current LimitationsThe RTA is charged with providing a high-quality transport infrastructure for the traveling public in the Emirate. To help alleviate some of the congestion on roads at peak travel times, the Dubai Metro now operates on two lines. Feeder buses carry passengers to and from the metro stations.

In Metro stations and on board trains, Wi-Fi service is available. A roll-out of Wi-Fi in taxis will begin soon. To provide a centralized operations base for all transport modes, the RTA has issued a tender for the construction of a state-of-the-art, enterprise command and control center (EC3), due for completion by 2017.

Ground Transport Automation

5–6. The World Bank 7–8. Dubai Statistics Centre 9. The World Bank10–12. Dubai Statistics Centre

13. C.G.P. Grey, “Humans Need Not Apply”, on YouTube and www.cgpgrey.com, August 13, 2014

14. FutureGov.asia, Kelly Ng, “6 Key Initiatives of Dubai Smart City Project”, March 7, 2014

http://www.cgpgrey.com


The RTA is also pursuing its initiative to increase the environmental sustainability of the transport system. Electric taxis and abras are in service, and escalators and lifts are powered off when not in use to save energy. The government of Dubai and RTA are taking many of the necessary steps to develop a highly advanced public transport system that its users will want to use.

Recommendations“The UAE is already a significant trade, commercial, and service hub between East and West,” as the mobility page of the Expo 2020 Dubai website points out15. The Dubai Expo 2020 will showcase, among other things, innovations in efficient logistics and transport systems.

In order to maximize the value that can be derived from the paradigm shift in highly automated ground transportation and the business models that can be built on top of the behavioral change of travelers, the RTA should make the data it generates from its systems easily understood by people and easily used in the various cyber-physical systems in Dubai. The smart transportation system will generate unprecedented volumes of data from hundreds of thousands – if not millions – of sensors. It will need to process that data and the data from the hundreds of thousands of vehicles on the road at a given time as well. The ability to conduct big data analysis and to make this data easy for people to understand and act on will be a critical success factor for Dubai Expo 2020.

For Dubai to successfully stand out from other smart connected cities, it will need to make the data necessary for, and generated from, its smart transportation system both secure and consumable. Achieving this essential objective will require the deployment of a modern, standards-based IP network backbone to securely connect roadside sensors and provide a link for vehicle-to-infrastructure communications. To avoid system outages and quickly return to normal operations if downtime occurs, the RTA will need to maintain control of this critical communications backbone. Otherwise, there is potential risk for significant road congestion, service interruptions, and public scrutiny.

Transportation infrastructure is one of the critical factors that can accelerate or, if underdeveloped, impede the growth of a city and the quality of life for its residents. To make Dubai one of the world’s leading smart connected cities, its leaders would do well to avoid unnecessary complexity and duplication, and to adhere to industry standards. A single, common IP network backbone shared by all government agencies for the secure transmission of data will be a key factor for the delivery of operational and commercial services. An equitable system of governance will prioritize the services of each agency. By building out a single communications infrastructure and centralized network operations

management, Dubai can avoid the problems inherent in multiple, parallel metropolitan networks; for example, wireless transmissions that interfere with one another, and thereby reduce the availability of services for all.

Dubai RTA can further distinguish itself by collaborating with leading universities abroad and in the UAE to establish a curriculum of training and practical in the fields of vehicle-to-infrastructure telecommunications, smart transportation traffic management, cyber security, and big data analysis. The visibility generated by Dubai Expo 2020 offers the city the unique opportunity to host projects showcasing innovation in which academia, subject-matter experts, and established players collaborate to address challenges in building and operating an efficient smart transportation system.

BenefitsDubai can accelerate its economic growth and further improve the quality of life for residents and visitors by building a citywide transportation communications infrastructure that is ready to manage driverless vehicle traffic today and in the future. The security and resiliency of that network infrastructure will greatly enhance the RTA’s ability to mitigate interruptions in services, and aim for very high levels of satisfaction from commercial logistics companies and the traveling public.

By designing and deploying a shared telecommunications infrastructure across the city, Dubai can improve its time to market in the delivery of both public and commercial services. Reduced complexity, adherence to standards, and avoidance of competing wireless systems that interfere with one another are critical success factors in achieving this goal.

Finally, the ability to attract top talent and seed world-class innovation in the areas of smart-city telecommunications infrastructure, data security, and transportation management will enable Dubai to become a leader in perhaps the single most important metric of all: residents and visitors who are satisfied with the breadth and availability of city services that are truly state-of-the-art.

15. http://expo2020dubai.ae/en/theme/mobility

http://expo2020dubai.ae/en/theme/mobility

PoliceThe Dubai Police Force has existed for more than 60 years. Its mission and goals are similar to those of police forces around the world including a quest for public security and safety; satisfied citizenry; and rapid, agile incident response.

Police



TrendsThe Dubai Police Force stands out from other police forces for its early adoption and use of modern technologies and techniques in everyday operations. Examples include DNA testing in criminal investigations, electronic fingerprinting, Global Positioning System (GPS), electronic services, and more.

Impact on Dubai Expo 2020More than 25 million visitors are expected to attend Dubai Expo 2020. To prepare for this unprecedented event and beyond, Dubai Police could explore enhancing operations and services in the areas discussed in the sections that follow.

Context and Current LimitationsThe foremost objective of the Dubai Police Force is security, which constitutes the following four strategic goals:

1. Prevention and reduction of crime 2. Preparedness to deal effectively with crises and disasters 3. Rapid response to calls and situations4. Timely case status reports for victims

Case Study: Innovation, Connected Safety and Security, and the Internet of ThingsIn preparation for the 2014 World Cup, the Government of Brazil implemented an Integrated Mobile Command and Control Center. The solution allows for greatly improved communications, collaboration, and coordination across previously disparate and separate public safety agencies and systems, and it provides important new capabilities for day-to-day operations and during special events. The main goal for using this vehicle was to have the public safety agencies use different types of communications, radio communications, and situational awareness to improve decision making across mobile command and distributed agency offices and command centers.


RecommendationsCisco offers recommendations for the Dubai Police Force in four key areas:

1. Ensuring safe communities by addressing both crime prevention and victim services: Collaboration with joint policing committees, community and business organizations, local authorities, and others is vital in fighting crime and its negative effect on communities. A video collaboration infrastructure could become the platform for more widespread presence in the community, better communication, and faster decision making. Audio and video collaboration capabilities and solutions such as Cisco Instant Connect, Contact Center, WebEx® meeting applications, Jabber® messaging integration platform, and Cisco TelePresence conferencing have been shown to increase real-time information sharing and engagement of community members via social media, especially among the younger population. The same platform would improve support to crime victims and witnesses, providing an easy way to report a crime or incident. By making every phone call a video call, this solution would be more personal than a voice call alone.The infrastructure would be secure to safeguard sensitive victim personal information. Only the victims would have access to their case. Applications such as Trackmycrime could overlay such a service, providing timely, up-to-date information of interest to victims.

2. Improving Situational Awareness through Connected Safety and Security: Cisco is investing in new technology innovations with Internet of Things (IoT) solutions to provide vastly superior capabilities for businesses and government leaders to help manage connected safety and security solutions that deliver efficiencies and new capabilities at unprecedented scope and scale.New Cisco IoT innovations boost scalability to allow the management of a practically unlimited number of cameras and connected devices and enable more intelligent safety and security solutions. These solutions, powered by IoT technologies, applications, and architectures, provide hyper-scalable, hyper-flexible, hyper-agile ease of use and management for connected cameras, systems, and devices. New technology innovations will also enable distributed business intelligence with a new application-development platform for IP cameras allowing them to be smart endpoints on the network, enabling organizations like the Dubai Police Force to add functions as new applications are developed.

3. Offering Video Remote Interpretation Services: With the influx of foreign visitors expected during Dubai 2020, establishing widespread access to interpretation services would help people contact police and other government organizations and services. Video interpretation services

enable conversations in a remote location (crime scene, traffic checkpoint, etc.) or from custody suites and could serve nonnative language speakers, whether suspect, victim, or witness. The service could be accessed from a mobile device or from a screen or kiosk in the custody suites or prison.

4. Deploying Additional Video Services: After a robust video platform is in place at Dubai Police, many other uses for video could improve efficient delivery of services such as:• Custody suites or prisons. Embedding video in health

services or video visitation for lawyers and family, especially if the detainee is a visitor from overseas.

• Training. Improve employee knowledge and skills in strategic, operational, and tactical functions. Develop the relevant material and deliver it using video or innovative approaches including online learning.

• Expertise from anywhere. Use video to make a small team of experts available on demand everywhere in the city or country with a network of Cisco Remote Expert PODs. These Remote Services Centers, which could be located in a commercial complex (e.g., shopping mall), in a public space such as a library, or in a local building (e.g., bank or post office), provide a confidential and fully interactive video experience, just as if the citizen and the police clerk or other public service expert were sitting together at a desk in a private office. Such Remote Services Centers move the point of service closer to the citizen or visitor without the cost of building and staffing full police stations or outposts.

BenefitsDubai Police have a unique opportunity to take advantage of increasing communications and connectivity technologies to improve service and safety for Dubai citizens and visitors well into the next century. Connected safety and security extends police presence and services into more areas of the city and enables new services such as remote video-based language interpretation to meet the near-term Dubai Expo 2020 and long-term needs of a vibrant and changing Dubai. Benefits of adopting Cisco’s recommendations include:

• Prevention and reduction of crime

• Preparedness to deal with crises and disasters effectively

• Rapid response to calls and situations

• Timely case status reports for victims

• Efficient delivery of services

Police

Internet of EverythingNational Security and Defence

National Security and DefenceSafety and emergency services organizations have always found it challenging to mobilize the people, equipment, and information needed to rapidly respond to and resolve an incident. Communications technologies are essential for success.

Communications technologies must quickly process and convey data and information yet stand up to everyday use in field environments. Because of the small, narrow market, costs for dedicated, purpose-built safety and emergency responder mobile communication technologies have skyrocketed while research and development have plummeted. As a result, these technologies have not evolved alongside the more commonly used products and technologies used in the consumer market.

Today’s flood of real-time data available from connected devices, video sources, and sensors has heightened the challenges facing emergency services personnel and the communications technologies they use. Collaboration among intra- and interagency teams of responders both in-country and internationally is always crucial whether responding to safety, defence, health, or other types of incidents or emergencies.



TrendsOperationally resilient broadband access can serve as the platform for real-time applications, processes, and case resolution for a smart, connected safety and emergency services organization. In fact, a dedicated, purpose-built, resilient communications infrastructure with adequate broadband is essential for existing and emerging public safety technologies and applications such as:

• Connecting license-plate-recognition technologies with databases in real time

• Remote video monitoring from the site of the emergency

• Avoiding busy or unavailable networks in crowded environments

• Sharing data, information, and knowledge among responders such as fire, police, and ambulances

• Connected glasses or body cameras worn by patrol officers

To address these challenges, the global market is considering LTE—the 4G mobile consumer technology—to meet the need for resilience and mobile broadband with a single solution.

In several countries such as the United States, Australia, and now UAE, safety organizations have been granted LTE spectrum. Safety and defence system integrators have started to explore the use of LTE in resilient networks. This study represents the first time that the mobile telecommunications industry is converging into an Internet Protocol (IP) flat architecture for global mobile communication networks because the fixed telecommunications industry has now finalized that step.

The era for monolithic mobile networks serving only the consumer is over. Today, thanks to LTE and the flexibility of IP-based engineering, it’s possible to implement purpose-built LTE architectures that will meet specific and demanding professional requirements. This evolution will contribute to major enhancements in the Emergency Mobile Communication market:

• A resilient mobile broadband network in sensitive, designated indoor/outdoor environments

• An opportunity to take advantage of the Cisco Smart Service Providers and Smart City infrastructures in a secured manner, even if nonresilient, where and when possible

• A crisis-management capability offering interoperability across emergency-services agencies

• Economy of scale for different LTE and Wi-Fi endpoints from smart phones to connected objects, connected glasses, or mobile routers for connected vehicles

• Enhanced time to market for the integration of value-added endpoints such as video networks; noise, gas, or temperature sensors; or any other kind of alarm or monitoring system

• Independence from commercial networks

The nature of an emergency mobile broadband resilient network should at the same time claim independence from consumer networks while taking advantage of their core assets:

• Mobile users with their native equipment could be invited to use the emergency network at any time, like an executive in a crisis moment

• Any consumer network should be in a position to offer roaming and privileged services to a native emergency network subscriber

• The technology used in the dedicated network should be the same technology used in the consumer world with only architectural, deployment, and applications specific to its resilience and security nature.

Impact on Dubai Expo 2020Dubai Expo 2020 will bring together people, science, and innovation showcasing excellence within public and private organizations for the benefit of the region and the world. Dubai safety and emergency services organizations, as first responders, will need to be prepared if Expo participants and visitors require aid if an incident occurs. Collaboration, communication, and data sharing across responding organizations and with private businesses could be critical. Only this type of smooth cross-collaboration may provide rapid enough response time and problem resolution.

Context and Current LimitationsAround the world, emergency services and first-responder organizations are using mission-critical voice networks but have limited support for data. However advanced the endpoint or data-intensive application, it typically relies on either fixed network connectivity or a consumer-grade network that has no built-in resiliency. During a catastrophe or in the face of heavy network traffic, the network would likely become unavailable.

Beyond internal challenges such as user traffic, malicious or natural attacks can also affect a consumer network that has not been built with resilience in mind. That is why an emergency network may adopt the same consumer technology but has to implement it with a specific architecture and application framework.

National Security and Defence


RecommendationsBy adopting a mobile communication platform that can take advantage of LTE and Wi-Fi technologies; public and dedicated, purpose-built resilient LTE networks; and diverse endpoints, Dubai Police can develop an advanced operational broadband communication network that helps significantly reduce response time (Figure 2).

Figure 2.

Small Cells(Cisco UCS®)

Commercial Terminal(Smartphone, Tablet)

Commercial Mobile Network(3G, LTE, Trusted Wi-Fi)

Backhaul(Satellite, Wireless)

Standalone or IntegratedMobile Router (Cisco 819 ISR,

Cisco 5900 ESR)

SP MobilePacket Core

Private MobileNetwork

(LTE or Wi-Fi)

HLR/HSS

MSP Data Center

Commercial (Roamed-To) Network

Private Data Center

Roam

ing

PCRF

Private EPC

NMS/OSS

vEPC(Quantum vPC)

Tactical LTEAutonomous System

Local Apps

Policy andUser DB

LTE Core(Quantum vPC)

SP App

SP App

SP App

Critical Voice(PTT)

Ent App(Collab)

Vertical App(Mining)

The LTE Purpose-Built Deployment for Safety and Emergency ServicesA resilient LTE service requires a dedicated deployment that is defined by architecture requirements. A fully distributed radio and mobile packet core need to be considered in order to achieve the proper level of resilience. Hierarchical networks of the type found in existing consumer service provider networks cannot handle threats such as natural disasters or malicious attacks.

The objective of a dedicated LTE network should not be just isolation or privacy but site security, power redundancy, and distributed Mobile Packet Core (MPC) to avoid any single point of failure common in hierarchical networks. First-responder organizations may have particular instances that call for temporary or standalone deployments. This type of deployment can be achieved for tactical deployments only if the architecture provides the ability to scale down to a single radio site with its associated core features. A dedicated deployment requires dedicated spectrum. The government of UAE has just allocated through TRA a relevant LTE spectrum for this purpose; this allocation should accelerate the overall process.

The Mobile Communication PlatformConsidering a purpose-built LTE infrastructure is just one aspect of a best-in-class Emergency Services Network. The network should also work with other existing infrastructures on a best-effort basis, possibly meaning that it benefits from a secured over-the-top service even if the ground infrastructure cannot be made resilient. Or perhaps it might interface with partner end devices on a secured and resilient purpose-built infrastructure, for example, those used by officials, officers, or onsite managers during crisis events. This cross-infrastructure cooperation would likely rely on national roaming rights and require cooperation among the organizations involved including local service providers, government regulators, and the agency managing the Emergency Services Network.


The Emergency Service Network should also be architected to handle any kind of isolated extensions such as public Wi-Fi networks available at airports, shopping malls, and other public spaces. Allowing safety and emergency services organizations smooth connectivity and authentication access on these networks can enhance security in a smart, connected city. For example, a safety-agency responder could temporarily connect a video camera securely and transparently to a shopping-mall Wi-Fi network if the mall offers an SSID that is recognized and mapped to the security network and uses strong and automated connectivity schemes such as EAP-SIM; e.g., SIM-based automated authentication and encryption.

For the greatest benefit, access to the Emergency Service Network could be granted to multiple safety, emergency response, and public health and welfare organizations including police, fire, and healthcare providers. Access could even be extended to organizations managing sensitive sites such as oil and gas facilities, ports of entry, and transportation hubs. In order to support this shared access, the mobile communication platform should be set up to connect users to various data center environments and offer dedicated connectivity or end-to-end encryption schemes (Figure 3).

Figure 3.

Older Ran Transport

UTRAN/E-UTRAN

EPC or GGSN or APN

TetraSwitch

AAA

VoIP GW

Wi-Fi

ESPO Core

DedicatedE-UTRAN

WiFiFemto

Older Safety Radio

Commercial 3G/4G

Public Safety LTE

Public Safety Wi-Fi, Femto, Others

The Safety Ecosystem for Dubai Expo 2020Only a broad and open mobile platform can handle dedicated and nondedicated RANs and connect diverse organizations. Developing and orchestrating an Emergency Service Network requires both administrative oversight and a service provider telecommunication network. To build this infrastructure, the lead organization should work with:

• Safety and defense system integrators that offer suitable architectures, applications (including voice), and security frameworks

• Equipment manufacturers that offer a full range of safety and emergency-responder hardware that works interchangeably with consumer networks and technologies

Using technology that shares standards with more mainstream global consumer technologies will help ensure economies of scale, interoperability, and a baseline set of features and services at least on par with consumer networks. It will also help ensure that the network will be compatible with future versions. Collaboration with mobile service providers will encourage collaboration through roaming and Mobile Virtual Network Operator agreements in association with dedicated services.

BenefitsThe ultimate goal of mobile broadband in the realm of safety and emergency services is to enable rapid response by bringing the right information at the right time to the right person at the right place. The Dubai Police Force can meet this goal and be positioned to create a state-of-the-art Emergency Service Network that serves citizens and visitors now and for a long time to come.

Travel and Tourism


Travel and TourismTravel and tourism industries consist of a complex ecosystem made up of many different stakeholders, each with differing objectives and business models. There is constant friction as airlines operating on very low margins in a highly volatile environment encounter organizations that impose fees on travelers. Airlines see themselves as the primary “owner” of the passenger, an opinion that holds some merit because, after all, the airline provides the primary service that the passenger has booked and paid for. Airports, however, see the passenger as a potential source of revenue. Airline performance is often measured by the length of stop-overs, the shorter the better. But airports want the passenger to spend as much time in the retail areas as possible. Civil Aviation Authorities and ANSPs want as many flights as possible to increase their revenue from Air Traffic Management (ATM) fees. Beyond the airport, tourism authorities are focused on hotel occupancy rates and increasing tourism spend, whereas governments look at the economic benefits of higher tourism spend and the employment it can promote. In many cases, each organization operates virtually independently of the others even though they all share common goals including the primary one: more passengers spending more money.


TrendsJust a few years ago, passengers would typically purchase a ticket from an airline or a local travel agency, travel to the airport, board their flight, and arrive at their destination. Since then, passenger behavior has changed significantly. This change is largely a direct result of access to information and services available over the Internet, and, more recently, the ability to access the Internet from almost anywhere using mobile devices. This access to information is behind many of the trends in travel and tourism, including the fact that the flight has become just one aspect of the journey, part of the much broader experience.

Whether choosing a destination, an airline, a restaurant, or a souvenir shop, the traveler is now in the position to make informed choices. It is these choices that directly affect the ability of the travel and tourism ecosystems to attract more travelers. Here are a few examples of current trends in tourism and travel:

• Passenger adoption of mobile devices gives real-time access to flight and travel information, social media, and communications. Examples include in-flight entertainment and Internet access as well as destination services.

• Adoption of mobile devices by cabin and flight crew provides access to information that improves operational efficiency and passenger service. Examples include Google glasses for cabin crew and electronic flight bags for pilots.

• Introduction of “Location-aware services” provides real-time visibility into passenger location. Examples include dwell-time analysis to improve transit through the airport, augmented reality to improve retail experiences, and RFID tags for automated luggage tracking and way finding.

• The application of analytics offers the ability to gather and process more and increasingly varied data. This ability is bringing about changes in the relationship between travelers and the airline and other stakeholders.

• Greater intimacy. As airlines try to get closer to passengers, they are offering services and enticements to conduct business directly, giving airlines the opportunity to up-sell and cross-sell, maximize their wallet share, and differentiate themselves. An example is waived baggage fees if travel is booked directly with the airline.

• “Death of Distance.” Factors besides the flight itself play a role in airline choice and traveler loyalty. Examples include airport lounges and other perks.

• Emergence of “Pay-as-you-go” services that differentiate Low-Cost Carriers. These carriers are bundling unpopular charges such as baggage fees to make the overall offering more appealing and giving access to exclusive services or facilities on a pay-as-you-go basis.

• Counterbalance to “Low-Cost” travel. Money saved on the ticket becomes discretionary spending money for other items while en route, or for a separate all-inclusive holiday.

Impact on Dubai Expo 2020Dubai, Emirates Airlines, and Dubai Airports are key stakeholders in the travel and tourism ecosystem in UAE, and each conducts itself expertly within its sphere, even setting the global standard. Each is actively involved in programs that influence the passenger’s choices, with the short-term opportunity at stake being the 25 million visitors expected for Dubai Expo 2020, 70 percent of whom will come from overseas. These travel and tourism stakeholder organizations are implementing initiatives and technologies to answer the trends discussed earlier.

In-flight Internet access is becoming ubiquitous as Emirates Airlines offers it on its aircraft. Wi-Fi is available throughout Dubai airport facilities, the Road and Transit Authority is installing it in wireless taxis, and the Municipal Government is installing it at beaches and in parks. The ubiquity of Wi-Fi will allow the traveler to access the Internet for information and communications. But each network exists in isolation.

Analytics is not new; organizations have been gathering and analyzing data for a long time. The trend, however, is that there is more data to gather, more ways to gather it, and unprecedented opportunities to process it in (or near) real time. Data sources are expanding beyond the traditional corporate systems such as Customer-Relationship-Management (CRM) databases. Now, with the emergence of the Internet of Things, sensors are generating vast new pools of data. In fact, passengers’ personal devices are becoming a key source of real-time data, and as these devices incorporate more and more sensors, they will become more important in the gathering of real-time data that can be acted upon immediately. As these personal devices become more capable and more “intimate” (such as smart watches, personal fitness tracker devices, and health sensors), the data will become even more granular, to the point of measuring and transmitting the body’s vital statistics. It may not be long before an airline can measure a passenger’s happiness at any point in the journey and adjust the service or situation accordingly.

Travel and Tourism


Context and Current LimitationsAs discussed earlier, stakeholders tend to operate as somewhat independent, isolated players in the larger travel and hospitality ecosystem. Exceptions exist, however. Consider, for example, the cooperative and mutually beneficial relationship between Emirates Airlines and Dubai Airport.

Emirates Airlines owns and operates its own tour and hotel companies, and therefore competes quite effectively in a somewhat crowded market. Dubai has an extremely high profile, hosting everything from world-class sporting events to retail and airshow extravaganzas. Individually, these events influence passengers’ choices.

Dubai is on the leading edge of many of the trends mentioned earlier, quickly introducing technologies and adopting new approaches. However, there does not appear to be a joined-up (unified) proposition for the purpose of significantly influencing passenger choices. Such a unified vision could help leaders in the Dubai travel and hospitality industry entice visitors to make Dubai a holiday or stopover destination.

RecommendationsBy adopting a common shared vision it is possible to uncover a set of shared objectives that align with all the stakeholder business models. After the objectives are agreed upon, a strategy can be developed, followed by a concept and finally a technical solution.

Cisco has been working with airlines, airports, and governments around the world, including in Dubai, to bring exactly such a model to life (Figure 4). The purpose of the concept is to influence passengers to choose a visit to Dubai among the alternative choices available. It is aimed at attracting more passengers to Dubai, thereby increasing tourism and retail spend.

Figure 4. Dubai Airport

Helping passengers enjoy their experience will require the development of an innovative technical infrastructure to manage both the passenger and the experience. To work effectively it requires a unified communication infrastructure and consolidated business model. The existing disparate, disconnected wireless networks will not be adequate. A single, unified network will provide ubiquitous coverage along with location intelligence to pinpoint passengers and ensure that their brief high-impact experience in Dubai is flawless. The following paragraphs expound on this vision and recommendation.

• A joined-up (unified) process. From the first time travelers view any of the websites belonging to tourism industry stakeholders (e.g., Emirates Airlines, Dubai Airport, or Dubai Tourism), they should be encouraged to choose a Dubai experience. Each step of their planning and the subsequent visit should bring the Dubai experience to the top of their mind, reinforcing their choice of Dubai as a first-time and repeat destination. It is this unified experience that promotes the need for the technology behind the concept.

• A joined-up network. When aboard an Emirates flight, travelers are connected to the Dubai experience accessed via an application running on fixed or mobile devices and browsers and available anywhere including on board the aircraft, at the airport, throughout Dubai, at their final destination, and back home.

BenefitsThe common benefit is more passengers traveling through, and stopping to visit, Dubai, bringing increased spend. Individual stakeholders and Dubai as a whole stand to benefit in these ways:

• For Emirates Airlines, a Dubai experience influences the passenger’s choice of airline and encourages travelers to choose Emirates.

• Dubai Airport experiences an increase in passenger count and higher revenue, directly and indirectly derived from air travel.

• Dubai benefits from increased numbers of visitors including hotel occupancy and tourism spend at restaurants, shopping malls, and tour providers.

Notably, the unique and memorable experience provides a sample of what Dubai offers, enticing the passenger to stay longer and view Dubai as a repeat destination, even returning with friends and family. Ultimately, implementing a Dubai experience establishes a test case for the tourism infrastructure that will be needed to make Dubai 2020 a total success.


RetailDubai Expo 2020 can be looked at from two perspectives: that of the resident and that of the visitor. Although the Expo will deliver amazing opportunities and experiences for locals, the prime consumers of what Dubai Expo 2020 offers will be the millions of visitors that the Expo attracts to the Emirate. For visitors to Dubai, the retail experience will be just one phase of the journey, part of the much broader adventure.

Retail



Business and Technology TrendsMany trends are affecting retail and its sub-sectors. The following paragraphs discuss a few trends likely to have a direct impact on Dubai leading up to Dubai Expo 2020, in particular, those that are technology-related.

• Omnichannel retailing. Most retailers already realize that they need to connect with customers through multiple channels and touch points simultaneously or even interchangeably. In a traditional retail situation, the “Omnichannel” discussion relates to online and physical presence. However, the visitor to Dubai has opportunities to use the channels in very different ways. The traveler will almost certainly have a mobile device, providing information, connectivity, and the opportunity for retailers to interact. Unlike the traditional retail environment where limited customer information is available, a significant amount of additional data is potentially available on a visitor to Dubai 2020. This data can potentially be shared; combined with other data, including real-time information (such as location); analyzed, and used to enhance the customer interaction.

Emerging technology-enabled advancements such as the Internet of Everything (IoE) and Big Data analytics promise to disrupt how—and how well—retailers will be able to deliver to a new generation of shoppers and travelers. Although pervasive IoE connectivity generates a deluge of data, new analytics tools are helping to turn this raw data into actionable insights. New operational benchmarks centered around “The Four P’s of Retail Performance” are emerging.

Precision At Cisco, we estimate that by 2020, 50 billion things will be connected to the Internet. These things could include RFID; website cookies; sensors on trucks, shopping carts, and fixtures. A flood of new data makes possible advanced analytics—including machine learning—to better understand what is happening and why it happens. Retailers will be able to deploy assets more efficiently and effectively than ever before, creating improvements in important performance measures, including return on inventory, employee productivity, and customer satisfaction.

Personalization The quality of insights derived from data will increase alongside the variety and volume of data. For customers who are willing to share their data, retailers will create increasingly personalized interactions, unlocking a much richer view of the relationship, and further enhancing retailers’ ability to attract and retain their most profitable customers. Even without access to specific personal data, data from anonymous sensing will bring about a next generation of segmentation, consumer insights, and loyalty programs.

Prediction Perhaps the most advanced capability at the intersection of omnichannel, IoE, and Big Data is the ability to create new algorithms that can more accurately make predictions. Analytics across numerous data sources—in some cases, in real time—will be the fuel for new predictive algorithms that will be used to promote efficiency and effectiveness in retail operations from product conception to point of sale. This level of foresight will contribute to improvements in time to market, revenue, return on inventory investment, supply-chain costs, and labor efficiency.

Platforms Hardware and software choices continue to grow; sensor and other technologies become more sophisticated; and analytics and database platforms gain new capabilities. A well-thought-out platform architecture that integrates sensors and analytics in a way that provides flexibility to adjust to the optimal set of capabilities is critical to success.


Behavioral and Social TrendsBehavior of travelers and shoppers is also changing. Today’s travelers are much more informed and therefore more discriminating than in the past. They have immediate access to information and to communications tools, which are bringing about various changes.

• Emergence of the “Millennials” and their mindset of exploration, interaction, and experience. They have access to information and are not afraid to verbalize their concerns. For this group, social media provides interaction and the opportunity to vocalize their thoughts and share their experiences.

• Speed and Precision. Speed of access to information and speed of delivery of services as well as mobility and access to the Web fuel expectations.

• Mobile evolution. Considering the nearly ubiquity of the smartphone, it is likely that almost every traveler will be carrying one by Dubai Expo 2020. Tablets are becoming commonplace as well, and many visitors will bring one with them.

By keeping the traveler connected everywhere, smartphone evolution and adoption offers a number of new possibilities:

• A mobile wallet allowing cashless transactions will merge with applications that allow the customer to select, book, and pay for goods and services on their mobile device.

• Bluetooth Low Energy (BTL) is emerging on many smart devices along with technology such as Apple iBeacon that allows intimate connectivity with the customer in the store. Wi-Fi-enabled devices have allowed retailers to accurately track and communicate with customers for some time. With the renewed focus on these capabilities, applications that use them will become increasingly common. Ubiquitous wireless access across Dubai and the locating capabilities it brings will allow these applications to deliver services, not just in the store but across the city.

• Satisfying the travelers’ “need for speed” by adopting new and innovative ways to use their mobile devices. Whether it is faster check-in at the airport or rapidly finding a retailer or product, mobile devices and the connectivity provided will allow travelers to do things more quickly. Location data and context awareness will allow these new applications to help the traveler get the right product or service right away.

• Better use of big data through the augmentation of data originating from the mobile device and stored data. Whether the data from the mobile device is automatically available such as location or sensor information or manually entered, such as social media comments, this data can be merged with loyalty and other stored data to change the interaction with the customer, making it more personalized and relevant.

• Social media is dependent on the immediacy provided by the connected mobile device. The visitor can use social media to share experiences— whether positive or negative—with services, products, and prices. This “double-edged sword” has the ability to enhance or degrade reputations, and retailers need to monitor and use social media to respond or react to customer feedback. Social media and the visitors’ mobile device offer the perfect media to respond.

Impact on Dubai Expo 2020Dubai Expo 2020 will attract visitors looking for a unique experience, one that will be self-determined. Although travelers’ primary purpose for being in Dubai may not be shopping, the Expo experience and travel to Dubai certainly have the potential to promote a mind-set and opportunity to buy in Dubai. Two goals for retailers and the tourism industry related to Dubai Expo 2020 are (1) get more people to come to Dubai for Expo 2020 and (2) while they are here, get them to spend more on retail.

Dubai already has a reputation as an international shopping destination, attracting many visitors whose personal experience is retail-based. For travelers seeking a personal experience that is culture-, adventure-, or lifestyle-based, it will be important to influence their decisions so that they choose to come to Dubai for that experience. The government, industry bodies, and individual organizations are doing a good job of influencing these decisions, as discussed in the section “Travel and Tourism” earlier in this document.

The retail industry already contributes to influencing these choices. For example, the industry uses marketing and events aimed at increasing Dubai’s attractiveness as a shopping destination. Cisco believes that the right technology could help further these efforts (Figure 5).

Figure 5. Shopping in Dubai

Retail


Context and Current LimitationsThe tourism industry is competitive, with each organization vying for its share of the available pool of travelers and revenue. Retailers, hotels, restaurants, attractions, airlines, and airports work hard to differentiate themselves and to maximize their share of visitor spend. In Dubai a lot of work has been done to increase interest in what the city has to offer, including sponsoring world-class events such as sports contests, retail conferences, and airshow extravaganzas, giving Dubai an extremely high profile in the region and the world.

Dubai is on the leading edge of many of the trends mentioned earlier, quickly introducing technologies and adopting new approaches. However, there does not appear to be a joined-up (unified) proposition for the purpose of implementing the underlying capabilities that will allow all stakeholders to significantly influence the traveler’s choices.

Although the majority of Dubai Expo 2020 visitors will be carrying smartphones, the primary connectivity medium is GSM, making roaming charges a hurdle to keeping visitors connected. To avoid high charges, many visitors will switch off data roaming. Promoting retail as part of the Dubai experience is predicated on keeping visitors connected during much of their visit.

RecommendationsJust as service providers in the travel and tourism industry have to raise their game to meet these emerging expectations, so do retailers. So today, whether travelers are choosing a destination, a hotel, a restaurant, or an experience, they are now in the position to make informed choices. It is these choices that directly affect the ability of the tourism ecosystem to attract more travelers. The retail experience will play a major role in travelers’ decisions to visit Dubai for Dubai Expo 2020 or at any other time. Moreover, Dubai Expo 2020 creates an opportunity to create a “whole-journey” experience that includes a significant retail element.

What if Dubai retailers could give customers the ability to shop and complete transactions at any point in their journey? For example, if customers wanted to view an item online, purchase it using their phone, and pick it up in the store, they could do so smoothly and easily.

By working with other stakeholders involved in the Dubai hospitality and retail “journey”, it would be possible for the merchant to give customers the flexibility to virtually browse the store, and make a purchase while they are on board the flight to Dubai, or during any step in the trip—from their hotel room, beside the pool, or even before they leave home. Shoppers could have their merchandise waiting for them on arrival in Dubai at the airport, at their hotel, or any place between, or even have it shipped home.

By adopting a joined-up approach, all stakeholders can benefit. If the retail experience can help influence a visitor’s choice of Dubai as a destination, other stakeholders in the travel and hospitality value chain benefit as well: airlines, airports, hotels, restaurants, and all the other organizations involved in tourism.

The technology exists today to bring this vision to life. On the device, virtual shopping applications make it possible. In terms of connectivity, Emirates Airlines is rolling out in-flight passenger Internet access. A common, shared Dubai experience that allows all stakeholders to share and access information and to communicate with the traveler could completely change not just the visitors’ retail experience, but their whole journey. At the same time it could significantly change the face of retail in Dubai for residents and visitors alike.

The key to success is a shared vision and the willingness to recognize and act on the opportunity that a joined-up (unified) ecosystem can deliver. By adopting a common, shared vision, it is possible to uncover a set of shared objectives that align with all the stakeholder business models. When the objectives are agreed-upon, a strategy can be developed, and then a concept, and finally a technical solution.

Cisco has been working with retailers, hospitality providers, airlines, airports, and governments around the world to bring exactly such a model to life. The purpose of the concept is to influence travelers to choose a visit to Dubai among the alternative choices available.

It is aimed at attracting more travelers to Dubai, thereby increasing tourism and retail spend. It positions Dubai as a unique cultural and lifestyle destination that can give a passenger something extraordinary.


Helping travelers enjoy their experience will require the development of an innovative technical infrastructure to manage both the passenger and the experience. To work effectively it requires a unified communication infrastructure and business model. The existing disparate, disconnected wireless networks will not be adequate. A single, unified network will provide ubiquitous coverage along with location intelligence to pinpoint passengers and ensure that their brief high-impact experience in Dubai is flawless. The following paragraphs expound on this vision and recommendation.

• A joined-up (unified) process. From the first time travelers view any of the websites belonging to tourism industry stakeholders (e.g., retailers, Emirates Airlines, Dubai Airport, Hotels, or Dubai tourism), they should be influenced to choose a Dubai experience. Each step of their planning and the subsequent visit should bring the Dubai experience to the top of their mind, reinforcing their experience of Dubai as a first-time and repeat destination. It is this unified experience that promotes the need for the technology behind the concept.

• A joined-up network. From the time passengers begin considering travel to Dubai, they will be connected to the “Dubai experience” accessed via an application running on fixed or mobile devices smoothly across browser or mobile device and from anywhere including during their flight, at the airport, in their hotel, in a mall, and throughout Dubai. This application will give travelers the information and connectivity they need. Ubiquitous wireless technology, with Wi-Fi access points located throughout the city, will avoid roaming charges, allowing visitors to remain connected 24 hours a day. These access points will also introduce other capabilities including location information and other “Data in Motion” that can be merged with stored information to improve the personalization of the experience.

BenefitsThe ultimate common benefit is more travelers visiting Dubai, bringing increased spend throughout the travel, hospitality and retail ecosystem. For Emirates Airlines, a unique retail experience in Dubai influences the traveler’s choice of destination and directs passengers toward Emirates Airlines. Dubai Airport experiences increased passenger count and higher aviation and nonaviation revenue.

The broader Hospitality industry and Dubai itself benefits from increased numbers of visitors, hotel occupancy, and tourism spend in restaurants, shopping malls, and tour providers. Notably, it provides a sample of what Dubai offers, enticing travelers to stay longer and view Dubai as a repeat destination. Hopefully, the unique and memorable experience is one that travelers will want to share with friends and family. Finally, implementing a Dubai experience establishes a test case for the tourism and retail infrastructure that will be needed to make Dubai Expo 2020 a total success.

Retail

Internet of EverythingCisco Smart City Partner Ecosystem


Cisco Smart City Partner EcosystemCisco develops and works with an ecosystem of global and local solution provider partners to deliver innovative services in a wide range of industrial markets, from smart buildings to smart grid and urban transport. We integrate Cisco technology with solutions from key global partners that use the network as a utility to provide integrated management of buildings, power, public safety, transportation, healthcare, and education.

In selecting partners, we focus on companies that have significant market presence and demonstrable success with government agencies, property developers, and infrastructure providers. Typically these partners are industrial systems integrators, consulting and software providers, and providers of related products. The following are traits typical of our strongest partners:

• Catalyze market transition in mass urbanization

• Provide scale, geographic coverage, and financial strength

• Recognize the value of a converged network for cities

• Have a strong smart-city internal organization

• Have a strong desire to partner with Cisco for the long term

• Have a variety of skills that fulfil client needs and have the relationships to deliver

• Have the infrastructure, expertise, and staffing to support large-scale projects that span several solution areas

Together with our traditional IT and telco service provider partners, the Cisco Smart City partner ecosystem is uniquely positioned to deliver value to our local government customers.

Conclusion

ConclusionThe Internet of Everything holds amazing promise for everyone; in fact, its success will be measured by the extent to which we’re all able to harness it to benefit humanity. For cities like Dubai that embrace it early, we believe the Internet of Everything offers a sustainable competitive advantage and the ability to better serve constituents. For these reasons and others, we couldn’t be more excited to see what the future holds. That’s why it truly is just the beginning.

Americas HeadquartersCisco Systems, Inc.San Jose, CA

Asia Pacific HeadquartersCisco Systems (USA) Pte. Ltd.Singapore

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cisco dubai expo 2020 internet of everything vision paper

Technology

internet of everythinginternet

internetconnected things

internet of things iot

exponential opportunity

networked connections

trillions of connections

number of connections

connections creat