I.B.M. Intelligent Operations Center

 The New York Times provides a focus in an article today on the mission control center of our future (Mission Control, Built for Cities - In the Chaos That Is Rio, An I.B.M. System Seeks Order).  By 2050, 75% of the world's population is expected to live in cities - - I.B.M. has built the NASA version of the command center for the city of the future.

Key points in the article on the project in Rio de Janerio:

• This is the first project in the world in which data integration has been completed on a city this large.  Data flowing in under one roof from 30 different departments.
• One goal is take all the incoming data and produce usable information with the help of algorithms - - a process I.B.M. calls "sense-making software." (great way to describe it!).
• The market for "smart systems" is expected to be $57 billion by 2014.
• The Rio project was completed in 2010.
• "Smart is all about information."
• "Once you have the information and understand it, you are halfway to smart."  As the article pointed out, Rio is hugely complex on many different levels.  If you are not careful, you are also probably halfway to stupid.
• "We used to have all of this information.  But we could not put it together to use in a smart, intelligent way."
• From Cisco provided network infrastructure and telecommunications and video conferencing to Samsung digital screens in the mayor's house - - I.B.M. played the role of "master integrator."
• Problems were divided into four categories for city employees - - events, incidents, emergencies, and crises.  From floods to landslides - - step-by-step procedures and manuals were developed.
• The system has a virtual operations platform that acts as a Web-based clearinghouse - - phone, radio, e-mail, text, etc.
• Information is collected for historical analysis - - for example, which intersections have the most accidents.
• "The system the mayor created will resolve a problem when it happens, but it does not resolve infrastructure problems."  The balance between the forces of reactionary and preventive is fundamentally a balance between the needs of bits and bytes and concrete and steel.  The discussions on urban management and infrastructure improvement must include the word "and" and not just the word "or".
• "Can you think of a system that is more complex than a city?"