Cisco, AGT partnership puts focus on city security

Cisco and the security technology company AGT International are teaming up to roll out new analytics-based products and services for cities.

Rather than putting the emphasis on “smart,” the partnership’s initial offerings show a strong focus on security. The companies’ first two solutions, set to become available in mid-2014, will focus on traffic management and urban safety and security.

The traffic solution will be designed to provide real-time “situational awareness” to help cities identify, respond to and resolve traffic incidents. Supporting technologies will include live video with analytics, in-pavement wireless magnetic sensors, license plate readers, social media and traffic modeling prediction.

The safety/security offering will use sensors, software, city data and visual and social media feeds to identify “suspicious activities” more quickly.

“The Cisco and AGT alliance is more than simply an agreement to collaborate,” said Rob Lloyd, Cisco’s president for development and sales. “Cisco and AGT are in the unique position to lead the development of city cloud solutions. By combining advanced technologies with a deep understanding of the changing needs of cities, we can transform the delivery of city services.”

Founded in 2007, AGT International is a privately held company based in Switzerland. It was founded by Mati Kochavi, an Israeli entrepreneur who’s also behind the new, social-media-mining news organization Vokativ and 3i-MIND, which uses data mining to provide governments and businesses with “actionable intelligence”.