It's no secret that cities are trying to get smarter through wireless technologies. Smart cities will use an estimated 1.1 billion connected things this year alone, according to Gartner. That figure is expected to jump to 9.7 billion by 2020.
Healthcare devices, smart commercial buildings, smart homes, transportation systems and utilities are among the items that analysts believe will be connected to networks in smart cities of the future. "A lot of these so-called platforms will require a lot of engineering, IT and knowledge to make it work," said Machina Research analyst Alex Chau. "That's why the big platform vendors are excited about IoT."
Cisco Systems, IBM, Ericsson and Jasper are among those that are coming up with their own platforms to help cities become smarter. For more on the top criteria that define smart cities, check out this FierceWirelessEurope special report.