Ubiquitous and embedded communication services lie at the heart of the innovations in energy, transportation, and the efficient delivery of public services associated with smart cities.  Without the underlying communication infrastructure, the smart city vision cannot be realized.  According to a recent report from Navigant Research, worldwide shipments of communications nodes for smart city networks will grow from 16.3 million annually in 2014 to 54.8 million in 2020.

“Growth in smart city communications systems is being driven largely by innovations in the core elements of the urban environment, including energy, water, transportation, buildings, and public services,” says Eric Woods, research director with Navigant Research.  “The grand vision is of a multi-layered, multi-application network that will support rapid innovation at the edge while also providing a robust and scalable backend infrastructure for data transmission and overall network management.”

While some common communications technologies are used across sectors and departments, there is significant variation in ownership of the communications infrastructure.  Municipalities and other public agencies, utilities, private contractors, and communications service providers all have a role to play.  The diversity of ownership is a major factor leading to fragmentation in the communication infrastructure.  That fragmentation must be overcome, according to the report, for smart cities to achieve their full potential.

The report, “Smart City Communication Networks”, analyzes the challenges and opportunities for smart city communication networks, with a focus on the five main sectors: smart energy, smart transportation, smart water, smart buildings, and smart government.  The report explores the market issues and dynamics associated with smart city communications and covers the viewpoint of communication service providers, communication infrastructure vendors, IT vendors, and city governments.  Global market forecasts for communication node shipments, infrastructure revenue, and service revenue, segmented by region, sector, communication type, and network layer, extend through 2020.  The report also examines the key communication technologies related to smart city communication infrastructure, as well as the competitive landscape.  An Executive Summary of the report is available for free download on the Navigant Research website.

About Navigant Research

Navigant Research, the dedicated research arm of Navigant, provides market research and benchmarking services for rapidly changing and often highly regulated industries.  In the energy sector, Navigant Research focuses on in-depth analysis and reporting about global clean technology markets.  The team’s research methodology combines supply-side industry analysis, end-user primary research and demand assessment, and deep examination of technology trends to provide a comprehensive view of the Smart Energy, Smart Utilities, Smart Transportation, and Smart Buildings sectors.