As municipal needs get more sophisticated, more cities turn to cloud services.

Want a wise city without cloud services? Good luck with that.

The cloud approach, wherein providers outside city government deliver a technological platform for gathering and mining data and producing city applications over the general public Internet or a virtual private network, has become the well-liked means for municipalities to transport to a higher level.

“While it’s possible for cities to enable smart technology without using cloud-based services, it’s unlikely it is possible for you to to take action in any meaningful way,” wrote Brian Robinson on GCN last month.

Why is that this? Why can’t cities just get smarter with none involvement with cloud services? a more in-depth look turns up several reasons.

For something, most city networks aren’t equipped to work with real-time input from sensors, smartphones, electric and water meters, or other sources of input concerning the functions of cities. Doing so requires specialized hardware and software to collect data, in addition to applications to make sense of it. That demands tons of expertise that sometimes isn’t in a city CIO’s bag of tricks.

Cloud suppliers, nonetheless, are usually able to forge the alliances required to get sensors and other real-time data sources to work with city applications. They need to, in any case, to be able to offer services which are widely marketable.

Read the remainder of this text on Future Cities.

Mary Jander is managing editor of UBM’s Future Cities. Previously, she was executive editor of Internet Evolution, site editor of Byte and turn, and an established senior editor of sunshine Reading. She has spent over 27 years reporting and writing on information technology and … View Full Bio

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