Dubai, UAE, October 15, 2018 –   Juniper Networks, an industry leader in automated, scalable and secure networks, today announced at GITEX Technology Week 2018 new market research* that it conducted with YouGov which suggests that consumers place capabilities like interoperability over technological advances like 5G, cloud, IoT and automation when it comes to which key factors will support the enabling of “smart communities”. The market research is in line with this year’s GITEX theme of driving “future urbanism” and highlights how communities are using information technology to act as a catalyst for transforming life and work, across a wide variety of environments and use cases. Spanning rural villages all the way to the newest megacities, these use cases include innovations in automated infrastructure management, environmental monitoring, autonomous vehicles, social change and population information and protection. 

 

The online survey of over 2,000 adults living in the UAE also reveals that service providers and local authorities are the lynchpin to enabling, securing and educating smart communities. Furthermore, the research highlights that there are high expectations for the potential benefits that smart communities can deliver, but also shows that there is still a need for education on how specific communities can benefit from individual projects.

 

Smart community implementations can deliver a wide range of benefits, but different opportunities exist for different groups. The location, environment and types of available technology will all impact the nature of a given initiative, as highlighted by the variation in responses about what potential benefits smart communities offer and what environments are expected to benefit most. This can lead to confusion when talking about smart communities and reinforces the need for clear education on the benefits to the community, as well as reassurance about privacy and security concerns.

 

 

“Smart community projects and initiatives have the potential to leverage cutting-edge technologies such as IoT, 5G, multicloud and machine learning to enhance, and even transform, people’s daily lives, particularly for those in rural and developing areas. This research shows that consumers recognize this, but want common standards and security to be at their heart. Similarly, the wide scope and variation within any given smart community initiative reinforces the need to inform and reassure constituents about specific benefits and how challenges are addressed. We see there is a great opportunity for service providers in the UAE to become a fundamental part of a community’s fabric, supported by local authorities and government. Implementing, evolving and sustaining these smart community projects are often complex undertakings and Juniper Networks is committed to simplifying that complexity with service providers by delivering a simplified, secure and automated infrastructure.” 

- Yarob Sakhnini, Head of Middle East, Turkey and Africa at Juniper Networks

 

Juniper Networks is currently participating at GITEX Technology Week 2018 where they are showcasing to enterprise customers how simplicity in engineering can reduce operational complexity, secure network infrastructure and innovate services in the organization’s automated multicloud journey.