Bristol Is Open Wins IoT Award

“Bristol is Open”, the programmable city initiative in Bristol, England, recently won the Internet of Things award in the The Smart Cities Award category at the World Communications Awards and Internet of Things Awards. The Smart Cities Award recognizes leadership in the new smart cities space, from traffic management, transport and security services to street lighting, parking, waste management, and many other related applications.

A joint venture between the University of Bristol and The Bristol City Council, the initiative offers a number of services to technology companies, enterprises, research organizations and others working towards the creation of the smart city:

  • City Experimentation as a Service (CEaaS) – a ‘software-defined’ urban digital test-bed;
  • Bristol Data Dome – a stereo 3D hemispherical screen with 4K resolution housed at Bristol’s planetarium, it can be utilized for visualizing complex experiments and creating virtual reality environments;
  • IoT Mesh – allows innovators to develop, test and showcase their apps and services in a real-time environment on a real-world, city-wide network;
  • The Wireless Mile – a test-bed for the development of a heterogeneous technology environment – a ‘hetnet’; and,
  • Software Defined Network /Network Function Virtualization, an OpenFlow protocol that enables multiple experiments to be carried-out simultaneously across the network.

Barney Smith, Chief Executive of Bristol Is Open, said: “We are delighted by receiving this award – against very strong competition and in recognition of the value of our unique joint venture. We would particularly like to thank Nokia for their support of our experimental platform and appreciate their support in our successful submission.”