Peter Murray: Connected Cities Tour Event Summarized
Coral Gables is known as 'The City Beautiful', and that includes technology.
This is part 2 of a two-part series on the Connected Cities event in Miami-Dade County.
During the recent Connected Cities Tour event in Miami-Dade County on February 5, 2025, experts from the South Florida Information Technology Community gathered to discuss how Connected Infrastructure is an essential enabler for innovations that improve public safety, transportation, education and other vital elements of government provided services.
Raimundo Rodulfo, Chief Innovation Officer, Coral Gables hosted the event at the high-tech public safety building which houses the Emergency Operations Center, Police, Fire and Information Technology Departments for Coral Gables.
His keynote addressed the role of Digital Infrastructure as an enabler of core city services. He specifically highlighted the challenges of deploying technology in outdoor and indoor environments and explored the role of poles and towers in driving both the economics and the ability to service all areas of the city. Concerns such as safety, aesthetics and proximity all must be considered when developing a “smart city” plan for a county or city.
Coral Gables is known as “The City Beautiful” and that includes technology. The city has been consistently working with partners to innovate for functionality while considering appearances. Below is an example of one of their “Smart Pole” deployments which incorporates network gear, video surveillance, sound detection and transportation technology.
Fire Chief Marcos De La Rosa, spoke after Mr. Rodulfo. He highly complimented Chief Innovation Officer Rodulfo and his staff for their ability to create solutions to challenges public safety professionals face when deploying in the field. He stressed that seconds mattered and could be the difference between life and death.
He described the valuable role of digital infrastructure in providing technology that allows first responders to respond faster and to gain valuable situational awareness through the use of cameras, traffic signal prioritization and sensors.
The Chief highlighted how important being connected was to his team which was a good transition to the panel discussion that followed on Private Wireless Networks using LTE and 5G transmission technologies. These networks allow governments, universities, hospitals and enterprises to deploy their own cellular networks to provide a high bandwidth coverage canopy on their campuses and in their buildings.
The panel members included Jamaal Smith, vice president, Kajeet, Rory McCabe, Manager, Dejero, Nelson Gonzalez, City of Coral Gables and David Crenshaw, Nokia.
David Crenshaw of Nokia discussed in detail the fundamentals of Private LTE and Private 5G networks and the growing adoption of technology by Institutions such as: Airports, Ports, Universities, Cities and Counties. He specifically described how Miami International Airport has adopted the technology for use throughout the airport. It allows for the deployment of connectivity for everything from sensors to handheld devices. Airlines have an increasing need for connectivity at gates and on the tarmac. This technology enables the airport to expand bandwidth capacity and coverage while maintaining the network security levels and 99.999% uptime required. Rory McCabe added that these networks can be blended with public networks to create seamless uninterruptible network connectivity.
Peter Murray
Jamaal Smith described how his company Kajeet provides a managed service where they own, deploy and manage the network for their clients. Some of the advantages of this approach include 24 x 7 monitoring and cost efficiencies at scale. In some cases, the network acts as a backhaul/fronthaul technology for Wi-Fi. All agreed that this technology should be seen as an enhancement to public networks and Wi-Fi.
These private networks use both licensed and unlicensed technology and can outperform Wi-Fi by providing broader coverage, higher device capacity, and more effective signal penetration. In high density environments private networks can manage multiple devices simultaneously without compromising performance more efficiently than Wi-Fi.
The City of Coral Gables uses multiple network technologies and owns fiber optics throughout its Smart Corridor. Nelson Gonzalez echoed Chief De La Rosa’s comments about the 24 x 7 requirements of the network providing connectivity for critical city services. He related, “we work closely with the departments to understand their needs.” He related that Private 5G had the potential to help dynamically focus connectivity and bandwidth when and where it is needed.
The Connected Cities Tour will stop in Silicon Valley on April 23, 2025.
Peter Murray has 40 years' experience deploying and developing Telecommunications Networks for companies such as Verizon, MCI and Adelphia Cable and as a professor at Temple University and the Community College of Philadelphia.. He is currently the Executive Director of Dense Networks which provides consulting services to governments and ISP's on federal and state funding. Peter Murray produced and moderated the Connected Cities Tour which is in its 10th year highlighting connected and smart innovations in cities and governments using network technology. This Expert Opinion is exclusive to Broadband Breakfast.
Broadband Breakfast accepts commentary from informed observers of the broadband scene. Please send pieces to commentary@breakfast.media. The views reflected in Expert Opinion pieces do not necessarily reflect the views of Broadband Breakfast and Breakfast Media LLC.
