????所謂的智慧城市是指，未來的城市由數(shù)字驅(qū)動，連接無所不在。在那里，從交通燈號到執(zhí)法、再到垃圾收集，一切經(jīng)過最優(yōu)設(shè)計之后都達到了算法的精度。而一談到建設(shè)智慧城市，我們總是想到這個話題和市場的主要驅(qū)動者：IBM公司。但思科公司(Cisco)與瑞士技術(shù)和分析公司AGT國際(AGT International)最新締結(jié)的伙伴關(guān)系顯示，“藍色巨人”(Big Blue )并不是唯一一家認為全球市政基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施蘊含著巨大錢景的公司。

????思科與AGT聯(lián)盟計劃于未來5年內(nèi)在遍及全球的30至50個城市推出獨具一格的智慧城市技術(shù)。他們將充分利用新興的“物聯(lián)網(wǎng)”(Internet of Things)以提高效率，降低成本，同時力爭在2020年之前推動相關(guān)收入達到年均10億美元。這項戰(zhàn)略伙伴關(guān)系將融合多種龐大的思科軟硬件工具和AGT在市政數(shù)據(jù)分析及預(yù)測軟件領(lǐng)域的專長，以創(chuàng)建新奇的架構(gòu)。如果一切順利，這些架構(gòu)將幫助城市催生和管理海量數(shù)據(jù)，最初將用于交通管理和公共安全目的。（更多應(yīng)用，包括智能電網(wǎng)管理，將出現(xiàn)在不同的開發(fā)階段。）

????但另外一個事實也許更有意思，那就是，信息產(chǎn)業(yè)巨頭思科公司正在大舉進軍市政領(lǐng)域。“我們相信，未來的競爭將在城市之間展開，”思科公司產(chǎn)業(yè)解決方案事務(wù)執(zhí)行副總裁兼首席全球化官維姆?埃爾夫林克說。“既是經(jīng)濟競爭，也是社會競爭。年輕人想在哪里生活，在哪里工作？所以，它也是一種人才競爭，環(huán)境競爭。能源消耗、污染程度，人們關(guān)心的標準越來越多。”

????近幾年來，思科其實一直活躍在這個領(lǐng)域，盡管它不像IBM那樣醒目和積極。全世界有不少城市通過IBM的智能運營中心軟件(Intelligent Operations Center)管理自己的市政運營的各個方面。私人持有的AGT是一家相對年輕的公司（僅有7年歷史），但憑借高達12億美元的營業(yè)收入，這家位于蘇黎世的公司已經(jīng)確立了它在城市管理技術(shù)領(lǐng)域的地位。這家公司曾經(jīng)幫助新加坡等資源和空間有限的城市利用數(shù)據(jù)和技術(shù)提升運營效率。埃爾夫林克表示，思科與AGT結(jié)為合作伙伴是為了利用蓬勃興起的“物聯(lián)網(wǎng)”技術(shù)（除電腦和智能手機之外，許許多多的物理實物正在被接入互聯(lián)網(wǎng)，比如各種設(shè)備，家電和汽車）和功能增強的數(shù)據(jù)分析工具，以解決全球各地城市當前和未來面臨的種種挑戰(zhàn)。思科方面透露稱，這些城市正在以每小時新增10,000人的速度急劇擴張。

????When it comes to building so-called smart cities -- the data-driven, ubiquitously connected cities of the future where everything from traffic signals to law enforcement to trash collection is optimized to algorithmic precision -- IBM has largely driven both the narrative and the marketplace. But a new partnership between Cisco and Swiss technology and analytics firm AGT International suggests Big Blue isn't the only one that thinks there's big money in making over the world's civic infrastructure.

????The Cisco/AGT alliance plans to roll out its own flavor of smart city technologies across 30-50 cities worldwide over the next five years, leveraging the emerging "Internet of Things" to drive efficiency up, costs down, and associated revenues to $1 billion annually by 2020. The strategic partnership will meld a range of Cisco's vast hardware and software tools with AGT's expertise in civic data analytics and predictive software to create novel architectures that, if all goes to plan, will help cities both generate and manage huge amounts of data, initially for traffic management and public safety purposes. (More applications, including smart grid management, are in various phases of development.)

????But perhaps more interesting is the fact that IT powerhouse Cisco (CSCO) is making a concerted push into the municipal space in the first place. "We believe the future of competition is going to be between cities," say Wim Elfrink, Cisco's executive vice president for industry solutions and chief globalization officer. "Economically, but also socially. Where do young people want to live, to work? So it's also a competition for talent, and for environment. Energy consumption, pollution -- there are more and more criteria that people care about."

????Cisco has actually been active in this space for several years now, though not as visibly or actively as IBM (IBM), whose Intelligent Operations Center software is deployed in cities across the globe to help manage various aspects of civic operations. For its part privately held AGT is a relatively young company (just seven years old), but with revenues of $1.2 billion the Zurich-based company has established itself as a presence in the city management technology space, helping cities like resource- and space-constrained Singapore leverage data and technology into greater efficiency. The aim of the Cisco/AGT partnership, Elfrink says, is to take advantage of the growing Internet of Things -- the explosion of devices, appliances, automobiles, and other physical objects beyond computers and smartphones that are plugged into the Internet -- and enhanced data analytics tools to solve the current and future challenges faced by cities around the globe, which are growing at a rate of 10,000 people per hour according to Cisco.