Canadian operator Bell announced an agreement with compatriot firm Esri Canada, a geographic information system (GIS) provider, to create the Bell Integrated Smart City Ecosystem.
This integrated solution will combine Bell’s 5G network and Internet of Things (IoT) solutions with Esri’s real-time analytics and location intelligence capabilities to help cities of all sizes across Canada become connected communities.
“We’re proud to partner with Esri Canada to deliver this enhanced and comprehensive solution for municipal operations management to governments across Canada,” said Jeremy Wubs, SVP, Marketing for Bell Business Markets. “Combined with Bell’s 5G network and our proven IoT capabilities, this agreement with Esri Canada offers cities across the country a holistic platform to help them manage their critical infrastructure and services in real time.”
The partners noted that the Bell Integrated Smart City Ecosystem enables Canadian communities to accelerate their digital transformations. The platform collects, integrates and displays data in one end-to-end experience, enabling multiple stakeholders to make decisions from a shared view that provides broader and clearer context for all involved. Cities can customize the solution, building on top of their existing location intelligence investments, or access multiple pre-integrated IoT solutions with customized reporting and automation of processes.
Bell highlighted that its portfolio of IoT solutions enables the collection of data from multiple sources for a diverse array of applications, including water leak detection, asset management, smart waste management and energy management.
“A city is smartest when it is using accurate and up-to-date geographic data to make decisions that affect people’s lives,” said Alex Miller, president of Esri Canada. “The more timely that information is, the easier it is to make the right decisions. This partnership offers cities the tools they need to do that simply and easily.”
ArcGIS Velocity is Esri’s cloud-native capability for real-time and big data analytics. Cities can use ArcGIS Velocity to monitor and analyze sensors, observations, and IoT data at scale. With ArcGIS Velocity, cities can ingest live event data from multiple sensors, protocols, and formats. In addition to real-time, analytics can also be performed on historical data. Administrators can automatically send alerts and push data in response to triggers, populate dashboards, or publish maps and data services across the organization.
Esri serves 12,000 organizations from 16 offices across Canada and is based in Toronto.
Bell’s 5G services had reached more than 40% of the country’s population in August, the company’s CEO Mirko Bibic, said during a previous conference call with investors.
Bibic said that the carrier aimed to reach a coverage of 70% of the country’s population with 5G by the end of this year.
Bell announced the launch of its commercial 5G service in the country last June. The carrier’s 5G service was initially available in Montréal, the Greater Toronto Area, Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver.
In 2020, Bell Canada selected Ericsson 5G Radio Access Network (RAN) technology to support its nationwide 5G mobile and fixed wireless access deployment. The carrier started the construction of its 5G network last year, using equipment from Finnish vendor Nokia.
