I’m one of the fortunate few who was given VIP access to get to see what goes on behind the scene in creating a ‘Smart and Connected Community’ or S+CC in short. For those who have yet to visit the Cisco Pavilion, here is a summary of what you can see at the US$45million facility.
You will be shown 2 short video clips:
First video clip
In the second clip, it’s like a little afternoon soap-opera (with suspense, dispute, love-element), featuring a family living a modernised world, where everything works seamlessly together ala StarTrek. Everything is connected to everything! From a granny tracking her grandchild’s location in the comfort of her home, to an expectant mother having a remote diagnosis of her pregnancy, a young boy making use of public-kiosks services to purchase tickets and a man having his car trip routed, planned with traffic events optimization etc.
It shows what is it like to live in a perfectly connected community, leading a connected life.
Leaving the Pavilion, the propeller-head in me started to envisage how far are we from such a lifestyle, and what does it take to make it happen. As I reviewed each StarTrek moment in the video clip, I realized that the technology is already here today! I’ve already got semi-home-automation – my home lights are governed by X10 and I can ‘peep’ at my kids via the Internet cameras set up in my living hall and kitchen.
So, what’s the next hurdle to get to the ‘Connected Life’ stage as depicted in the video clip?
Surprisingly, it’s not technology! Technology is what helps to transport and transact the data/information from point to point quickly but on its own, it plays only a small part to ‘Connected Life’, albeit an important one.
It’s the eco-partnership between government agencies, public utilities (electricity, water, gas), communication service providers, law enforcers, private/public transport, health agencies like hospitals. These are the enablers of a Connected Life.
These parties need to agree to a standard mechanism for communication, exchange of information, transactions, etc. We have the technology (Web 2.0, XML, Bonjour, etc), but the agencies need to agree to inter-operate in an eco-system that makes sense for all. Without the interoperability of these agencies, all you will get is silo point solutions. We will not achieve Connected Life Nirvana.
We are not that far off actually. Currently, we already have e-Government web applications in certain countries and some municipals are automating their public services. But, this is still a far cry from what can be achieved if there is standardisation for all. Take a look at how HTTP and HTML standard has revolutionised the Internet.
In a nutshell, perhaps we need some form of standardisation body that looks at this interoperability and to lobby the agencies (private, government, municipals) for the betterment of mankind.
Until we have a catalyst to quicken this process, we can only depend on StarTrek movies for a vision of Connected Life nirvana.
Francis Lee joined Datacraft-Asia in April 2007 as the Solutions Head for Media & Communications and is responsible for leading the solutions for this vertical. Prior to joining Datacraft-Asia, Francis has held both Service Provider and Vendor portfolios and has garnered more than 18 years experience in the IT and Telecommunication industry.
