According to a recent announcement, Tech Data has joined the Smart Cities Council as a North American Lead Member. The company said it is the first and only IT distributor and solutions aggregator to partner with the Smart Cities Council, a global coalition of companies, universities, laboratories and standards bodies. The council is dedicated to making communities more livable, workable and sustainable with the power of smart technologies.
“Communities across North America are seeing growing demand for sustainable infrastructure, which is supported by technologies such as Internet of Things (IoT), cloud computing, big data and advanced analytics,” said Jason Nelson, executive director, partner engagement, Smart Cities Council. “The depth and breadth of Tech Data's (News - Alert) IoT and analytics portfolio and smart cities solutions catalog, as well as its expertise in public sector, healthcare, retail, and industrial verticals, is highly valued by the Smart Cities Council and is why we chose to partner with the company.”
As a North American Lead Member, Tech Data reportedly will sponsor and serve on the selection committee for the fourth annual 2020 Smart Cities Readiness Challenge designed to help cities, towns and municipalities of all sizes throughout the U.S., Canada and Mexico improve local conditions. The winning communities will be announced during the Smart Cities Week Conference in late September in Washington, D.C. In addition to participating in planning workshops with the winners, Tech Data can access the Smart Cities Activator, an online collaboration portal available to all 2020 applicants that allows communities around the world to share information and work together to accomplish common objectives. Both the Smart Cities Week Conference planning workshops and Smart Cities Activator will ensure that Tech Data connects the best-fit technology vendors and solutions with participating communities.
“With Tech Data's membership in the North American Smart Cities Council, we are positioned to help communities address their most pressing digital transformation challenges,” said Colin Blair, VP, IoT and Data Analytics, North America, Tech Data. “This partnership truly embodies our brand essence of 'connecting the world through the power of technology.' We look forward to bringing more opportunities in the nearly $84 billion smart cities market to our expansive ecosystem of partners that can provide the solutions communities need to connect, grow and advance - now and in the future.”
Ken Briodagh is a storyteller, writer and editor with about two decades of experience under his belt. He is in love with technology and if he had his druthers would beta test everything from shoe phones to flying cars.Edited by
Ken Briodagh
