Governments around the world have long aspired to make their cities smarter, their citizens more connected and their infrastructure more resilient. Both local municipalities and federal governments, however, face a struggle to keep existing infrastructure operational while striving to meet the rising expectations and demands of their communities.

With faster and more reliable network technologies such as 5G to connect and improve infrastructure efficiency, governments now have an opportunity to streamline functions, improve customer experience and reduce costs.

Technologies like Internet of Things (IoT), blockchain, artificial intelligence (AI) and analytics offer opportunities in critical municipal areas. These include: waste management, smart parking, e-governance, electricity and public lighting, education, health, traffic management and smart buildings.

As connected devices continue to generate huge volumes of data, many organisations are grappling with increasing numbers of computing locations, some of which have intermittent connectivity and limited physical access.

All of these connected devices, though, offer a unique way for citizens to report — in real time — what’s actually happening in municipal areas. Using wireless technology, these devices collect and transmit enormous amounts of important data, which can be analysed and then used to improve infrastructure, public utilities and services, while at the same time enhancing the privacy and security of citizen data.

Looking back, early smart-city projects were often constrained by the technology of the time. Wi-Fi and LTE 4G networks, for instance, limited the number of devices that could be deployed. Data from the edge had to be sent to the cloud for processing because servers at the edge lacked the power for analytics and round-trip latency ruled out time-sensitive responses.

An automated, edge-based system, however, can actually be smaller than the datacentres that departments have relied on in the past.

Edge computing to the rescue

Data has traditionally belonged in a central datacentre, but that’s changing since many important decisions need to happen out on the edge. Edge computing of today provides an opportunity to extend the cloud all the way to the data sources and end users, which can then deliver insights and experiences the moment they’re needed.

The intent of edge computing is to bring computing resources, like processing power and storage, closer to the end user or data source to improve the ability to scale, the responsiveness and the overall service experience.

Edge focuses on several small computing sites that reduce network costs, avoid bandwidth constraints, reduce transmission delays, limit service failures, and better control the movement of sensitive data. Effectively, edge computing enables services to be hosted close to the service consumers (e.g., subscribers, machines and devices).

Recent advances make smart city solutions practical at scale:

• Powerful processing at the edge. Off-the-shelf graphics processing units (GPUs) can be embedded in compact edge devices suitable for roadways and parking structures, for example. Processing some data at the edge is faster and it conserves bandwidth.
• Better edge connectivity. Compared to Wi-Fi and 4G networks, 5G networks are faster and connect far more devices—up to one million per square kilometre. 
• Distributed cloud architectures. Applications built as containerised microservices can be distributed across multiple clouds, municipal data centers and the edge. When practical, processing can happen closer to data sources. 
• Fast application development. With DevSecOps methodology, code is continuously deployed and integrated, automated security is built in and new features are available in days—sometimes less than an hour.

Faster response times and more timely services

It’s no secret that government departments don’t always have the budget or resources they need for everything they want to do. An automated, edge-based system, however, can actually be smaller than the datacentres that departments have relied on in the past. This means fewer people are needed to manage the technology, freeing up staff to do higher-value work that benefits citizens.

Edge offers flexibility to choose what data is collected—and for what purpose—allowing departments to decide where that data should be collected from and whether certain edge devices even need to be connected at all times.

Again, with lower latency and less demand on internet bandwidth, edge computing allows governments to collect, process and analyse data faster. These improvements result in more efficient supply chains along with better handling of disruptions and emergencies.

Edge offers flexibility to choose what data is collected—and for what purpose—allowing departments to decide where that data should be collected from and whether certain edge devices even need to be connected at all times.

Whatever the specific workload for edge, the need is the same: faster responses for more timely services. Load times are cut by hundreds of milliseconds and online services deployed closer to users enable both dynamic and static caching capabilities. For end users this means a faster, more consistent user experience. For government organisations, this means low-latency, highly available apps with real-time monitoring.

As Edge continues to evolve, there are several ways cities and utilities can prepare their networks to take advantage of the opportunities the technologies present. For example, Red Hat and NVIDIA recently collaborated on a solution to improve traffic congestion, pedestrian flow, and infrastructure maintenance.

​​The transformative potential of edge analytics is limitless. The speed of 5G networks coupled with the fact that local processing can be offloaded to the edge of the network makes the proposition of edge analytics very strong.

As the technology matures and city governments become more comfortable with it, they can use edge computing to deliver insights about their smart city services faster and more intelligent than ever, providing endless opportunities to communities that harness the power of these emerging technologies.

*Chris Wright, Senior VP and Chief Technology Officer at Red Hat