Cisco, Living PlanIT Partner On Green Tech

Sustainable green development needs technology to make that happen. To that end, Cisco has signed a strategic Letter of Intent (LOI) with Living PlanIT, an urban technology company that enables intelligent sustainable urban development and operations. The LOI sets out the foundation for skills, capabilities, technologies, and solutions to create smart, sustainable communities.

 

The two companies will create a market development plan and other go-to-market strategies. Cisco (News - Alert) will provide routing and switching, application networking, data center, digital media, IP interoperability and communication systems, mobility, security, storage networking, Cisco TelePresence, unified communications, video, virtualization and related services. It will also supply the network infrastructure for Living PlanIT's Xtreme Construction and Urban Operating System platforms. Cisco and Living PlanIT will work together to define their strategic collaboration in detail over the coming months, through a series of discussions and definitive agreements.

 

Cisco Smart+Connected Communities architectures, and Living PlanIT's technology will be applied and advanced in the development and operations of PlanIT Valley, a next generation intelligent sustainable community in the Municipality of Paredes, northern Portugal, and a Portuguese Project of National Importance. PlanIT Valley is the first of a new generation of greenfield cities in the world, says the firms to be built on Living PlanIT's robust, repeatable modular technology and materials platform.

 

PlanIT Valley will be what the two firms believe is also the world's global innovation center for sensor networks. Living PlanIT's PlanIT Valley has been designed, say both firms, "to be a globally respected center of sustainable community innovation and research, and developed and operated in collaboration with some of the world's leading companies, research and educational institutions."

 

In PlanIT Valley, emerging technologies are developed, perfected, experienced and taken to market by Cisco, Living PlanIT and their partners. Living PlanIT's design and manufacturing platforms enable converging computing, network and sensing technologies with the fabric of buildings and places, demonstrated at urban scale in the development and operations of PlanIT Valley. 

 

PlanIT Valley will integrate tens of millions of sensors with Cisco's network and computing platforms and integrate and demonstrate Cisco's Smart+Connected Communities technologies and solutions. Cisco and Living PlanIT will also collaborate to explore new and innovative methodologies, technologies, services and business models for PlanIT Valley.

 

 "Cisco envisions a future where successful communities and cities will run on networked information enabling economic development, better city management and an improved quality of life for citizens," says Wim Elfrink, chief globalization officer and executive vice president, Cisco Services. "By working collaboratively toward a common vision of Smart+Connected Communities at PlanIT Valley, Cisco and Living PlanIT are committed to driving social, economic and environmental sustainability for the residents.

 

"We are honored to collaborate with Living PlanIT to drive social, economic and environmental sustainability at PlanIT Valley. Our collaboration will help develop new business models for managing and delivering urban services using the network as the platform for transforming cities and communities. Everything connected to the network in these Smart+Connected Communities can be greener, more intelligent and more secure."

 

"We have been working with Cisco since the inception of PlanIT Valley and are delighted with both the announcement and the special relationship that has developed between our companies," says Steve Lewis, CEO, Living PlanIT. "Cisco has proven to be the perfect partner -- their collaborative, innovative and entrepreneurial culture coupled with their deep domain expertise and commitment to research and development has proven the essential ingredients in the delivery of our urban computing platforms and environment. Cisco's collaboration with Living PlanIT and their willingness to consider locating a possible innovation centre for sensor networks at PlanIT Valley will further cement this strategic relationship and create greater opportunities for us to develop the city of the future."