Nokia's Bristol smart city partnership

Nokia has signed up to contribute to Bristol Is Open, the ‘smart city’ project taking place in the south west of the UK. It is the first major telecoms vendor to become involved with the initiative.

Bristol Is Open, which is run by the University of Bristol and the local authority, is designed to explore how integrated technology can benefit those that live in the city. It does this by turning Bristol into a city-wide ‘test bed’, with featured areas of work including traffic congestion, air pollution, assisted living for the elderly and self-driving car trials.

Nokia is providing a consulting service, with its IP networking division offering network and infrastructure support. The company has also offered the use of its application ecosystem program ngConnect. Via the project, Nokia is aiming to test a range of applications, with the first focusing on video analytics in relation to the city’s 1,700 CCTV cameras.

Speaking of the collaboration, Bristol is Open CEO Barney Smith said: "We are delighted that Nokia has accepted our invitation to join Bristol Is Open. Building on the excellent relationship we already have with Nokia Bell Labs, the skills and experience that Nokia has will enable us to take BIO to the next stage of its development.”