MOSCOW – September 26, 2014 – Cisco today announced the deployment of a pilot project providing Kazan, the capital of Tatarstan, Russia’s most innovative and ICT developed region, with residential Wi-Fi services and a Situational Surveillance System. The project was implemented in Central Park and in Old Tatar Settlement locations by Cisco, ICL-KME CS, a Cisco® Premier Certified Partner in Russia; Step Logic, a Cisco Gold Certified Partner in Russia; and Tattelecom, Tatarstan’s leading service provider, with the Kazan mayor’s office support.

The Smart and Safe City pilot area was observed by President of the Republic of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov and Kazan Mayor Ilsur Metshin on the City and the Republic of Tatarstan Day.

Establishment of pilot sites in the Central Park and Old Tatar Settlement was another step of the strategic partnership between Cisco and the Republic of Tatarstan, which is aimed at the development of Internet of Everything. As expected, the development of the Smart and Safe Kazan City solution will be completed by the end of 2014, and the result will be reviewed by the Republic of Tatarstan authorities. Implementation of Smart City solutions will enable various services for residents, businesses, and government agencies, such as intelligent transport systems, environmental monitoring, smart utilities, smart street lighting, smart parking, etc. on the basis of Cisco’s network platform, unique domestic developments of ICL-KME CS and Step Logic, and Tattelecom communications networks. There are also plans to deploy an integrated video monitoring infrastructure for ensuring public safety in Kazan.

Implementation of the Smart and Safe Kazan City solutions will reduce the burden on the budget through the cost optimization and will create additional revenue sources for the city treasury. So, this technology is economically self-sufficient and is of considerable interest to the private investment and public-private partnerships. Such approach would fundamentally change the traditional funding of CapEx by the government; it is based on a service model, which gives the city an opportunity to use the infrastructure as a service under contracts with monthly payments.

A Cisco® cutting-edge video surveillance system was deployed by ICL-KME CS, the Tatarstan system integrator with extensive expertise in Cisco equipment. ICL-KME CS’s engineers installed 54 Cisco IP cameras within the Park central area along with the most advanced video analytics system capable to transmit high-resolution quality video stream and store video archives for up to 3 days.

HeadPoint Management system, designed by Step Logic, helps control emerging incidents (near memorial locations and in hazardous locations), and to recognize visitors’ faces using a recurrent database. Some cameras are remotely controlled, allowing changing the vision angle and direction. The solution also allows to:

• Detect unauthorized intrusions on a territory and provide an alarm signal
• Detect unattended items
• Count the number of visitors to the Park

Cisco IP-based cameras deployment allows fulfilling the following objectives of the integrated Safe City solution:

• Improve Park safety
• Reduce number of incidents
• Increase crime detection rate
• Improve restricted-access zones’ safety
• Prevent social unrest by increasing the amount of police officers during significant increase of visitors in the Park, etc.

Additionally, ICL-KME CS’s experts installed in Central Park 24 Cisco’s wireless access points that have been manufactured in Russia since May 2013. They are placed in special anti-vandal boxes to ensure their stable performance under various conditions. Internet access is provided by the Tattelecom’s network.

As part of a comprehensive smart city solution, Cisco’s access points allow administration to implement the following services:

• Providing Park visitors with wireless Internet access
• Estimation of the number of visitors
• Targeted advertising
• Transferring video from surveillance cameras
• Other services, such as smart street lights, smart garbage collection, etc.

Supporting Quotes

Lev Levin, engagement manager, Cisco Russia: 

“Growing use of smart industrial and city solutions in Kazan can help the Republic Tatarstan reach their main objectives – implement economic transformations, diversification, innovations development, increased productivity, and improved quality of life. Cisco actively collaborates with Tatarstan Government and private companies creating unique technological solutions, platforms and business models that help solve challenges of the Government and businesses far beyond the area of information technologies.”

Viktor Diachkov, CEO, ICL-KME CS: 

“One of the main Central Park reconstruction goals was to equip its territory with an up-to-date video surveillance system. As a result, the inhabitants have got additional more comfortable and safe recreational place. It should be noted that Central Park is a pilot area, and represents only a first stage of the large-scale Smart and Safe City project developed in cooperation with ICL-KME CS and Cisco engineers. Once the pilot confirms that the solution is a success, such systems will be deployed in other public areas of our city.”

Key Facts:

• For a long time, Cisco has actively participated in various activities related to the informational and communicational development in Tatarstan. Among the Cisco customers are the Office of the President of the Republic of Tatarstan, the Government of the Republic of Tatarstan, the State Council of the Republic of Tatarstan, a number of financial institutions, mobile operators, and such companies as AK BARS Bank, KAMAZ, Nizhnekamskneftekhim, TAIF, Tatneft, Tatenergo, and Tattelecom.
• In 2009, IT-park was opened in Kazan with Cisco’s core support. It is the largest IT business incubator in the Eastern Europe with network infrastructure fully built on Cisco equipment. In addition, the Cisco Networking Academy® program has been available in Tatarstan for many years.
• In January 2012, Cisco and the Government of the Republic of Tatarstan signed a Memorandum of Understanding and Cooperation. On behalf of the Republic Government, the document was signed by Nikolai Nikiforov, then Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Tatarstan, and the Minister of Information and Communications. The parties agreed to cooperate in the following areas:

• E-government, education, health care (telemedicine), and commerce
• Modernization of information and telecommunication infrastructure of the Republic of Tatarstan
• Preparation of international events
• Education
• Technological entrepreneurship
• Development of IT innovations.

• In January 2012, Tattelecom and Cisco opened a Communications Technology Centre on the basis of Kazan electronic and technical professional school, equipped with up-to-date Cisco equipment.
• On September 18-19 2014, in the framework of All-Russian Workshop on overhaul of apartment buildings, Cisco together with its partners ENTELS and BARS Group presented an innovative range of solutions for housing and communal services based on the new version of the intelligent controller, designed for automated control systems. The event was held in Kazan.
• The Tatarstan and Cisco strategic partnership is also aimed at the innovation and technology development and highly skilled IT professionals training. It is expected that in October 2014 a Cisco Innovation Center will be opened at the Kazan Federal University’s Department of autonomous robotic systems, designed to support the creation of an innovation ecosystem in Tatarstan and the Russian Federation as a whole. The Centre will serve as a base for high-tech communication and navigation systems, future antenna technology and other research and development projects aimed at creating complete products and integrated solutions.
• Various initiatives will support the technological developments of the innovation community of the University, such as training seminars, mentoring, and other activities that provide students and post-graduates with direct access to business experts and other members of the global innovation ecosystem. In such a way, Cisco Innovation Center will promote the development of technology education in Tatarstan. It is expected that other universities’ students and post-graduates will also be able to use its resources and technologies.
• Cisco has taken part in a public school system project in the Republic of Tatarstan. Cisco solutions were widely introduced in the Tatarstan educational institutions as part of the e-education program implementation. This project is of particular importance for the further development of Cisco cooperation with the educational institutions of the Russian Federation. Tatarstan authorities decided to create electronic classrooms in almost all schools in the region, giving students and teachers access to e-learning materials. This approach also provided an opportunity to introduce new educational methods, such that a teacher’s computer is used to control the supply of content to the students’ systems. By July 2013, the new computer labs were established in 1,500 educational institutions in Tatarstan, while reliable network design provided an opportunity for its further growth without increasing OpEx.

Tags, Keywords: Russia, Cisco, Tatarstan, Smart+Connected Communities™, Smart and Safe Kazan, Wi-Fi, Situational Surveillance System, IP cameras, wireless access points.

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Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) is the worldwide leader in IT that helps companies seize the opportunities of tomorrow by proving that amazing things can happen when you connect the previously unconnected. For ongoing news, please go to http://thenetwork.cisco.com. Cisco equipment in Russia is supplied through its authorized channel partners by Cisco Systems International BV, a wholly owned subsidiary of Cisco Systems, Inc.