Microsoft Citynext Microsoft’S People-First, Partner-Led Strategy Is Enabling Leaders to Harness Technology to Build Sustainable Cities

“We’re not just here to sell technology; we’re looking at the bigger picture. We’re helping cities see how everything fits together” Joel Cherkis, Microsoft TOUCHMICROSOFT TECHNOLOGY IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR ONWINDOWS.COM

Microsoft CityNext Microsoft’s people-first, partner-led strategy is enabling leaders to harness technology to build sustainable cities

Microsoft A collection of articles that have appeared in Touch magazine issues CityNext SPECIALSPECIAL EDITIONEDITION from Summer 2013 to Autumn 2014

Welcome Microsoft CityNext Special Edition

Building sustainable cities

Welcome to this Microsoft CityNext Special Edition of Touch magazine, which has been specially prepared for the Smart City Expo World Congress. Today, cities generate around 80% of global economic output, and 70% of global energy use and energy-related GHG emissions. How the world’s largest and fastest-growing cities develop will be critical to the future of sustainability and managing climate change. Only cities that find ways to manage their resources more efficiently and bridge their disparate systems to optimise performance and value creation will lead the way. Investing in information and data as a resource will allow cities to service increasing populations more efficiently and with less waste. Leveraging data to better manage cities’ infrastructures will assist in providing higher quality services while at the same time offering greater cost certainty. It’s just over a year since we launched our public sector initiative, Microsoft CityNext – a strategy that is seeing Microsoft and its worldwide partner network work with cities to modernise and provide safer, healthier and more educated communities where citizens can thrive. With more than 220 CityNext partners providing over 800 city solutions, many on Microsoft Azure, we couldn’t be more pleased with the progress we’ve made so far together. However, as smart cities and sustainability become more interdependent, we have realised the importance of harnessing our expertise and commitment to both of these issues, and bringing them closer together. In order to better address the challenges and opportunities that both cities and our partners face in the increasingly systemic areas of sustainability and cities, my sustainability team and I have joined forces with the CityNext team to drive greater synergies and opportunities for enabling impact at scale. This team will allow us to bring together the expertise across Microsoft and drive a more holistic approach to this challenge. We hope the combination of our work with cities and sustainability will help us and our partners to better explore the linkages between the two – to deliver creative solutions that help cities use technology to their optimal benefit. We are excited about the future opportunities that will result, and look forward to working with our partners and cities around the world to help accelerate the positive impact that IT can have on societal and cities’ challenges. I know we’ll have even more to talk about in the coming months as our strategy continues to gather momentum.

I hope you enjoy the issue.

Rob Bernard Chief Environmental and Cities Strategist Microsoft

Executive insight

Jörn Riedel

Amber Stokes spoke with Hamburg CIO Jörn Riedel to find out his perspective on driving innovative digital agendas and the importance of working with other cities from across the globe

Cover story A roundup of some of the most recent stories related to Microsoft Smart buildings and infrastructures significantly increase productivity. working, while getting the work done at the executives today. CityNext, including more on a revolutionary project that is helping 10 the visually impaired, plus an interview about a Dynamics CRM implementation at Sunderland City Council in the UK

Viewpoint 13 26 16 “Microsoft CityNext has been Thought leadership from Russ Agrusa at ICONICS and Genetec’s Pervez Siddiqui a very good opportunity for us Executive insight 16 to meet and interact with other Jörn Riedel, CIO of the City of Hamburg, offers his perspective on driving innovative digital agendas partners and cities“ Cover story Cover story Driving momentum 18 Microsoft CityNext Joel Cherkis speaks with Rebecca Lambert about the impact the Microsoft CityNext initiative has had so far, and how the company is Jörn Riedel planning on working with cities going forward www.onwindows.com Features Out with the old, in with the new 26 ICONICS is helping Washington Athletic Club save more than US$200,000 per year on its energy bills

A healthy trust 32 Jacqui Griffiths finds out how the cloud can give healthcare providers the confidence to be patient centric, cost efficient and compliant Smart and sustainable 36 18 As leaders do what they can to reduce their cities’ carbon footprints, Microsoft believes that it is IT innovation that will help to build truly sustainable places to work and live

Helping to make cities safer 40 Discover how public safety and justice organisations can get better and timelier access to information to deliver improved services to their growing cities

Windows 8: reflecting public sector needs 46 Public sector organisations are searching for mobile solutions that meet the demands of their empowered workers and citizens without compromising security. We explain how Windows 8 can help 40 In practice 52 We highlight successful technology implementations at City of 54 Barcelona, City of Buenos Aires, Seattle Children’s Hospital, Helse Vest,

Mashrek International School, Brighton Grammar School, Shanghai management, intelligence and analysis, and But it also extends more broadly to citizen Minhang District and Orange County Sheriff’s Department www.onwindows.com court and judicial management. and public collaboration and communication “Multiple public safety, government and too: a neighbourhood watch group can share health organisations55 work hard to improve information with schools, police and fire 52 citizen safety – from first response, law stations; social services can share information Sign out 56 enforcement, to criminal justice – and the key is with the housing department; and the police Amber Stokes talks to Simudyne CEO Justin Lyon about the benefits allowing these agencies to work together, share can share information with the prosecution information, collaborate and communicate in and probation services. A great example of simulation can bring to the public sector real time,” says Hawkins. “If cities can achieve community-police collaboration is the cloud- “Public sector this, they can enable fire and rescue, police and based citizen portal set-up by the New Delhi justice officers and officials to have access to Police to help people find their local police important information at all times. This allows stations and know who to talk too. organisations them to make informed decisions, which will But the collaboration shouldn’t be ultimately allow them to respond quicker and contained in the city or within a single and citizens3 can more effectively to mitigate natural and man- nation. In the same way that Interpol made emergencies, combat crimes and prevent works, police can provide other forces or work together to acts of terrorism – often preventing such organisations in different countries with disasters to occur in the first place.” digital evidence, sharing fingerprints, DNA make cities safer” Hawkins explains that law enforcement information, photographs and details of officers can gather and collectively assess offences to assist with international crime existing and new information to prevent crime, fighting. If wider real-time collaboration is which requires better collaboration within and made easier, then organisations and citizens Andrew Hawkins between police, fire and justice organisations. can work together to make cities safer. Microsoft

31 Executive insight

Rob Bernard Microsoft’s chief environmental and cities strategist explains what he’s looking forward to at this year’s Smart City Expo World Congress in Barcelona

Smart City Expo World Congress is what Classification Framework (PCF) for city many call ‘the’ smart city event of the “City leaders governments offering a complete listing of year. And it happens to be hosted by a what cities do – the actual work performed city which prides itself on creating many challenge day-to-day and for future planning. This smart city best practices, Barcelona. provides a common language and format The momentum around this event us to deliver to enable benchmarking, identify process mirrors the enthusiasm I am seeing improvement opportunities, and facilitate globally in the smart city space. Last year communication between city workers, there were 9,000 visitors, 3,000 delegates, a simplified constituents, and vendors. The City PCF 300 speakers and 293 cities represented. can be downloaded at www.apqc.org/pcf. This year, 400 speakers, 400 cities and 200 approach that Microsoft has also worked with one of companies have been confirmed and are our partners, which has created a tool to on the programme. And for Microsoft, last enables them to try to help cities. The Microsoft CityNext year we exhibited with nine partners; this Assessment from TrustedGov helps city year we are participating with 30 partners innovate at their leaders understand and identify priorities on our booth. through the use of the ISO18091:2014 We’ve seen similar momentum with own pace” (Annex B) self-assessment tool. With this Microsoft CityNext. Today, we have over tool, city leaders can determine how well 220 official Microsoft CityNext partners they are addressing the minimum needs of delivering over 800 city solutions and a their citizens, and incorporate the insights growing number of customer stories on into the development of more efficient the impact. I look forward to meeting with policies and enhanced citizen service our partners and the leaders from many delivery. A free assessment app is available of the cities we’ve had the opportunity they face. Whether it is helping them to to download if you are interested. to work with as they apply technology deliver better citizen services, managing I also invite you to visit our Microsoft to drive transformation. While customer energy use in buildings, working with CityNext Partner and Solutions site, where feedback has been very positive, city communities to make them safer, helping you can search more than 800 city solutions leaders challenge us to work with our the elderly get access to the healthcare across 220 partners that are enabling partners to deliver a simplified approach they require, or ensuring students have governments, businesses and citizens to that enables them to leverage their existing access to quality education, technology create more sustainable, prosperous and IT investments and innovate at their own and cloud computing are transforming the economically competitive cities. pace. My team and I are committed to possibilities for cities to transform. The Smart City Expo provides a great doing just that! But the question of where to start opportunity to listen and learn, and be We’ve also been asked to deliver is difficult. The good news is that the inspired by committed city leaders driving resources, guidance and best practices to number of tools and resources for cities is great change. I hope if you are in Barcelona help cities understand what is available growing. For example, APQC, the nonprofit you’ll have a chance to come and speak to them today and how technology can leader in benchmarking and best practice to us and our partners. I look forward to help them address the many issues research, has released a business Process sharing more progress in the future.

www.onwindows.com 5 Find your perfect city solution Accendo has extensive experience implementing Microsoft is joined by 31 CityNext Partners at this year’s Smart City Expo. services and solutions. It specialises in Microsoft ERP Together, we are showcasing a wide variety of solutions designed to make and CRM systems, as well as Microsoft tools and infrastructure development solutions. cities more modern, safer, healthier and better educated places to live. Solutions: KPI Analytics Citizen Service Platform, Mobile Citizen Service Platform, Web Application for Citizen Service Platform CityNext solution area: Healthier cities Scytl Shaping CGI Software Genetec [email protected] www.accendoit.com Cloud Innovation

OSIsoft ETT ETIC- AvePoint MIC Innovation Tourism Center

Accenture’s Safe City solution harnesses Video Analytics to derive safety, security and operational insights from CCTV cameras, thus enabling enhanced public safety solutions for digital cities. Microsoft Solutions: Accenture Digital City Solution CityNext solution area: Safer cities

The Accenture Fare Management Solution (AFMS) IEG4 Stratsys CaveDigital manages fare collection and customer service for CityNext multi-modal transit authorities and operators. It accepts virtually any fare payment media, including smartcards, contactless and mobile, helping authorities and operators to offer a consistent Bismart COPA-DATA Altran Booth Guide customer experience and better inform, respond to and anticipate customer needs. Smart City Expo World Congress Solutions: Accenture Fare Management Solutions, Ticketing-as-a-Service, Enterprise Asset Management for Public Transit, Tolling and Road Charging, Accenture Dynamic Transport Solution CityNext solution area: Modern cities [email protected] www.accenture.com

AvePoint is a leader in enterprise-class big data Brisa Innovation builds mobility through management, governance and compliance software technology. Its activities include researching, Windows Devices solutions for next-generation social collaboration designing, developing, producing, installing and As a leader in innovation and high‐tech engineering platforms. Founded in 2001, it enables public sector supporting solutions in the fields of intelligent consulting, Altran helps clients develop new organisations to collaborate with confidence. transport systems, tolling and mobility. products and services. It has been serving the Solutions: AvePoint Citizen Connect, AvePoint E311 Solutions: Smart Cities and Mobility, Atlas for Cities aerospace, automotive, energy, railway, finance, - Citizen Services, AvePoint Town Hall, AvePoint healthcare and telecoms sectors for 30 years. CityNext solution area: Modern cities Project Transparency, AvePoint Mobile Workforce [email protected] Solutions: VueForge Sense, VueForge Think Lenovo, the number one PC maker worldwide is a CityNext solution area: Safer cities www.brisainnovation.com US$34 billion personal technology company dedicated CityNext solution area: Modern cities [email protected] to exceptionally engineered PCs and mobile internet [email protected] www.avepoint.com devices. Its Windows devices range in size and function www.altran.es from tablets to ultrabooks to all-in-ones. www.lenovo.com/government/us/en/state_local

Bismart is the Microsoft Business Intelligence and CaveDigital is a software development company based Atos delivers the expertise, insight and technology Big Data Partner of the Year. Its smart cities bigov in Portugal, which focuses on innovative software that governments and organisations need to create solutions cover city dashboards, transparency, open solutions for smart governance, paperless board, council services that bring them closer to citizens, and data and social analytics. meetings and digital decision-making processes. Panasonic delivers game-changing technology solutions help them achieve greater transparency, complete that deliver a customised experience to drive better Solutions: bigov OpenData, bigov Transparency, Solutions: Board Meeting Enterprise, security, cost reductions and efficiency. bigov Better City Indicators, bigov Better City Board Meeting Cloud outcomes. Panasonic has worked with Microsoft to bring Solutions: xRM Solutions platform Windows-powered Toughpad rugged enterprise mobile Indicators for Windows 8, Mobile Phone Positioning CityNext solution area: Modern cities (CrowdSensing and IoT) computers to market running Windows 8.1 Pro. CityNext solution area: Modern cities [email protected] CityNext solution area: Modern cities www.panasonic.com/business/toughpad/us www.atos.net www.boardmeeting.pt [email protected] www.bismart.com COPA-DATA is an ergonomic and dynamic process solutions leader. Its zenOn software helps organisations increase productivity and performance in numerous areas such as smart grids, renewable energy, water management and more. Solutions: Smart City CityNext solution area: Modern cities Genetec Atos Welfare Polycom Accenture [email protected] Denmark AFMS www.copadata.com

MIC Brisa Swan Accendo Accenture Island Tourism Innovation Safety ETT is a software development and consulting Network company which applies a project philosophy in close partnership with its customers, and defines its product as the exploitation of IT tools to create and consolidate innovative solutions. Solutions: Portofino Cornershop, Web-portal Microsoft Marche Tourism, EMODnet Physics CityNext solution area: Modern Cities [email protected] www.ettsolutions.com CityNext Unisys iBabs VORTAL

Booth Guide ICONICS CIPAL Itron ETIC-Innovation Center is a non-profit small company located in the north of Spain. ETIC Smart City Expo World Congress develops solutions, apps, products and services based on IT technologies in the Smart Cities model. Solutions: KulturKlik, TownRoutes, CitySense, eContract CityNext solution area: Modern cities [email protected] www.smart-cities.es

Founded in 1976, CGI is a global IT and business Windows Devices process services provider. It builds solutions for cities and local governments, promoting economic growth and sustainability through innovation and Located in the Smart City Plaza better citizen services. Eurotech solutions combine hardware, firmware, Solutions: CGI Future Cities, IBOR, CiMS, CEMS, operating systems, M2M middleware and device Participation Next, CGI Internet of Things, PragmaCAD cloud services that drive business success. It is a Mobile Workforce Management Solution global leader in connecting distributed devices that Lenovo, the number one PC maker worldwide is a make up the internet of things. US$34 billion personal technology company dedicated CityNext solution area: Modern Cities Solutions: Environmental Monitoring to exceptionally engineered PCs and mobile internet [email protected] devices. Its Windows devices range in size and function www.cgi.com CityNext solution area: Modern Cities from tablets to ultrabooks to all-in-ones. [email protected] www.lenovo.com/government/us/en/state_local www.eurotech.com

Genetec develops open-platform software, hardware CIPAL helps government institutions improve and and cloud-based services for the physical security and automate their service and support processes. More public safety industry. Its flagship product, Security recently, it has begun offering content-oriented Panasonic delivers game-changing technology solutions Center, unifies IP-based video surveillance, access support in the form of specialised services, advisory that deliver a customised experience to drive better control and automated number plate recognition. outcomes. Panasonic has worked with Microsoft to bring services, support and training. Solutions: Security Center, Omnicast, Stratocast, Windows-powered Toughpad rugged enterprise mobile Solutions: Mid-office for government with Dynamics Plan Manager, AutoVu computers to market running Windows 8.1 Pro. CRM, administration for abandoned buildings CityNext solution area: Safer Cities www.panasonic.com/business/toughpad/us CityNext solution area: Modern cities [email protected] [email protected] www.genetec.com www.cipal.be MSI has a large number of specialists in the fields Since 1980, OSIsoft has delivered the PI System – the Stratsys launched stratsys.com 15 years ago with a of software development, IT consulting, e-business, industry standard infrastructure for the management vision to reinvent performance management in the SharePoint, web design, content management and of operational data and events – which is used in cloud. Its mission is to change the way organisations CRM. MSI’s iBabs app enables paperless meetings manufacturing and asset intensive industries. align people and plans to reach their goals faster. on tablets. Solutions: OSIsoft: Donald's Smart City with the Solutions: Stratsys RunYourCity, Stratsys Solutions: iBabs PI System and MS Azure, Smart Cities: San Diego RunYourMeeting, Stratsys City Dashboard, Stratsys - Airport Demo, PI Integrator for Esri ArcGIS - Cities, Sharepoint CityNext solution area: Modern cities PI Integrator for Esri ArcGIS - Facilities CityNext solution area: Modern cities [email protected] CityNext solution area: Modern cities www.ibabs.eu [email protected] [email protected] www.stratsys.com www.osisoft.com

Founded in 1986, ICONICS is the 2014 Microsoft CityNext Partner of the Year and software developer Swan Island Networks specialises in agile situational offering real-time visualisation, HMI/SCADA, energy Polycom offers the broadest portfolio of solutions that intelligence and risk management solutions. TIES management, fault detection and analytics solutions. are standards-based, work natively with Microsoft for Microsoft CityNext is a new service designed to Lync, and are intuitive and familiar to use. support governments’ situational intelligence needs. Solutions: Energy Management, Sustainability, CityNext, Building Automation, Fault Detection and Solutions: Polycom VVX 600 Business Media Solutions: TIES for Microsoft CityNext, TIES for Diagnostics Phone, Polycom CX5500 Unified Conference Microsoft CityNext - Leaders Edition, Disaster Response Station, Polycom RealConnect™ for Microsoft Edition, Safe Schools Edition, Cyber Edition CityNext solution area: Modern cities Lync, Polycom RealPresence Collaboration Server, CityNext solution area: Safer cities, educated cities [email protected] Polycom RealPresence Content Sharing Suite www.iconics.com [email protected] CityNext solution area: All www.swanisland.net [email protected] www.polycom.com

IEG4 provides cutting-edge applications that are Unisys solves complex IT challenges at the intersection of optimised for all devices and use the power of the modern and mission critical. It works with government cloud to deliver unrivalled productivity software organisations to streamline and transform their data with great user experiences and automation. Backed by more than 18 years of R&D and centres and modernise their enterprise applications. implementations in over 35 countries, Scytl is the Solutions: Semitae, Online forms, Smarter Welfare Solutions: Citizen Interaction Solution, Unisys global leader in secure electronic voting, election Services - Awards & Grants, Social Care Assessments, Secure Image Management Solution, Unisys Law management and election modernisation solutions. Smarter Contract Management - Contract Pro Enforcement Application Framework, Ensemble Solutions: Scytl eConsultations, Scytl eParticipation, Scytl Unified Communication, Unisys Cloud Advisory CityNext solution area: Modern cities Social Media Monitoring, Scytl eDemocracy portal Services, Unisys Justice Connect Framework [email protected] CityNext solution area: Modern cities CityNext solution area: Safer cities www.ieg4.com [email protected] www.unisys.com www.scytl.com

Itron is a leading technology and services company dedicated to the resourceful use of energy and VORTAL is one of the largest e-marketplace water. Its products include electricity, gas, water A software company born in the cloud, Shaping operators, with a proven e-procurement and and thermal energy measurement and control Cloud enables the public sector to do new with e-sourcing platform, connecting public and private technology, and communications systems. less. It builds modern, robust APIs, and empowers sector buyers with qualified suppliers. developers to innovate solutions. Solutions: Itron Analytics, Itron Insights, Smart Cities Solutions: VORTAL ePublic Procurement Platform Solutions: SmartAir, SmartMarket, SC:Connect, API-365 (VORTALgov) CityNext solution area: Modern cities CityNext solution area: Modern cities CityNext solution area: Modern cities [email protected] www.itron.com [email protected] [email protected] www.shapingcloud.com www.vortal.biz

Microsoft Innovation Center Tourism Technologies seeks Software Innovation is a Scandinavian software Welfare Denmark offers fully tested e-health to be a link between the tourism industry, technology company with a growing international presence. Its solutions, which have been developed in close companies, entrepreneurs and students, contributing to mission is to help organisations manage, share and use cooperation with Danish Healthcare and have been improving their productivity, generating new business information – turning it into their most valuable asset. used by physiotherapists for almost three years. opportunities and enhancing competitiveness. Solutions: Public 360°, Public 360° Online Solutions: Virtual Rehabilitation Solutions: Virtual Tourist Office, Phototour CityNext solution area: Modern cities CityNext solution area: Healthier cities CityNext solution area: Modern cities [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] www.software-innovation.com www.welfaredenmark.com www.mictt.com

Marketwatch Microsoft CityNext Special Edition

Cities Unlocked headset helps visually impaired

Microsoft, Guide Dogs and Future Cities handset and uses cloud-based location and additional journey details. Catapult have partnered to develop the navigation data and a network of information Microsoft will help to develop the Cities Unlocked headset, a revolutionary beacons placed in urban locations to create technology over the second and third phases piece of 3D audio technology that helps a personalised 3D-soundscape transmitted of the project, while it is hoped that more people with sight loss navigate their through the wearer’s jaw bone. This aids organisations and local authorities from surroundings more easily. orientation, navigation and provides across the UK will join Cities Unlocked and Built in partnership with AfterShokz, the enhanced contextual information such make their services more accessible for people headset is paired with a Windows Phone as nearby shops, points of interest and living with sight loss.

Microsoft launches health platform and smart band

Microsoft has unveiled a new wearable smart band and health platform that aims to make the process of tracking personal fitness easier. Microsoft Band is designed to be worn 24 hours a day and features ten smart sensors that monitor wearers’ heart rate, calorie intake and sleep quality. It also keeps wearers connected with smart notifications. The band is powered by a new open cloud platform called Microsoft Health, which stores, organises and learns from wearers’ fitness information in order to give specific prompts to help improve their fitness. The platform allows users to sync their band with a range of devices, and also integrates with other apps such as Jawbone, MapMyFitness, MyFitnessPal and RunKeeper.

www.onwindows.com Viewpoint UN commits to scaling up Making the climate resilience efforts in cities most of data

At the recent UN Climate Summit 2014, change and preparing their cities for which was held in New York City, its devastating impacts,” said Rio de mayors from cities around the world Janeiro Mayor Eduardo Paes. “These announced that they will expand their announcements show the world that Gary Wachowicz at commitments to scale up climate resilience we are committed to transparent, easily Microsoft explains how governments can use efforts through an initiative that aims to accessible, emissions reporting.” data to protect citizens reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 454 Other announcements including the and deliver more megatons by 2020. City Climate Finance Leadership Alliance efficient services The plan, known as the ‘Compact of and a City Creditworthiness Partnership Mayors’, brings together over 2,000 cities, will also help the world’s cities to reduce Although your police chief, transportation director including over 200 with specific targets and annual greenhouse gas emissions by 8 or wastewater manager may not be fluent in strategies for greenhouse gas reductions. gigatons annually in 2050 – the equivalent concepts such as the internet of things, chances are “From Rio to Seoul, mayors are already of 50% of global coal use. they already have the data and the tools they need making great progress in fighting climate to begin taking advantage of the technology. This is what Microsoft’s CityNext vision is about. Together with our partners and customers, our goal is to enable safer cities, deliver city services, Carnegie Mellon cuts and drive sustainable economic development using productivity tools already in the enterprise portfolio. energy use with Azure Your police department might not have the money for a video surveillance system, but there is likely much more information than they realise already at their fingertips to help police identify and even predict problems. Sources can include traffic cameras and private security cameras as well as less obvious sources such as information on street lighting, which can be used with other data such as crime statistics and emergency calls to 911. A first step in taking advantage of this is to understand what data already is available to you. If you are not already using it, the odds are that it is housed in silos. Some of the data you might own, some that belongs to other departments you might already have access to – such as data from the private sector or other sources outside of your A university in Pittsburgh, US, has found configuration using Microsoft Azure, and government. Once you know it is there, you can a way to cut its energy use by 20% using a added real-time predictive analytics using find ways to use it. cloud machine learning solution built using Azure Machine Learning to manage fault As you become more experienced, more Microsoft Azure and OSIsoft’s PI System. detection and diagnostics. sophisticated analysis can help you move from Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) Tests carried out by CMU researchers awareness to prediction, and you can become first began using the PI System in 2011 to estimate the solution could significantly more proactive in protecting your citizens and connect sensors, data and people, helping reduce energy and operational costs. more efficient in delivering services. deliver real-time insights into facility Discussions are now underway to implement performance. It has since migrated the it campus-wide, where it could save several Gary Wachowicz is industry managing director of solution to a hybrid on-premises/cloud hundred thousand dollars annually. Worldwide Public Sector at Microsoft

11 Marketwatch The latestlatest news news in in government, discrete and health, process education manufacturing and public safety The latest news in retail, consumer industries and hospitality The latest news in banking, capital markets and insurance The latest news in government, health, education and public safety Award cements Sunderland’s position as leading UK digital city

In the Summer 2014 issue of Touch we covered how Sunderland City Council is improving the experience of its citizens and reducing costs through Microsoft Dynamics CRM. Sunderland has recently been honoured at the UK Digital City of the Year awards, and we spoke to Optevia’s managing director to fi nd out how citizens are reaping the benefi ts of the implementation.

The UK Digital City of the Year awards the council, which is a consequence of them looked at a city that most improved the centralising what they do. lives of their citizens, developed their potential and met their changing needs What does this award mean for integrated, digital public services. to Sunderland City Council? How do you think your implementation To put it simply, it means a huge amount of Microsoft Dynamics CRM has enabled to the council as a whole and a massive Sunderland City Council to do this? amount to those who have supported the Sunderland has become a 24-hour city. For initiative, as they’ve put in a lot hard work. example, parents are now able to do things Importantly for the finance director, it “Every citizen like register a child for a school online, which justifies the investment in the Optevia Local saves time and the effort of phoning the Essentials solution. Local Government gets a consistent council office. It’s been proven that most of Essentials makes Dynamics CRM do for these school admission requests happen late at Sunderland what it wouldn’t normally be response from night. It’s not just enabling people to do things able to do on its own. The key benefit is it more easily, but also more conveniently. enables them to deploy more services within the system more quickly. the council” In what other ways is Microsoft Dynamics CRM helping? Do you think the award may help to Microsoft Dynamics CRM enables the inspire other UK councils to implement Tim Vernon council to fulfil its promises. Citizens are a digital strategy, and do you think it’s able to book a waste collection or report important that they do? an abandoned vehicle and then, having Genuinely, it’s easier than ever for Sunderland received that report or request, the council to do what it needs to, and that’s because can follow the process. This results in the of technology. If there are organisations out waste being collected efficiently and when there in the local government space that they say it will be collected, or investigate or face the same challenges as Sunderland – remove a vehicle to the person’s satisfaction. providing better services at reduced costs – What’s more, work can be done in a then Sunderland is a beacon for them to gain consistent way irrespective of the channel the inspiration from. citizen is using. A school admissions request Optevia has been doing this for ten may be initiated over the web, and the next years and we only do it for organisations day be completed over the phone. From in one of six key markets – it’s always Sunderland City Council’s point of view, it’s an public sector. We love promoting what end-to-end process. This process is common we do through our customers as it’s more but the channels are variable. This means powerful that way. That’s why this award is every citizen gets a consistent response from important to us as well.

www.onwindows.com Viewpoint Smart buildings

Solutions smart enough for Microsoft

Russ Agrusa describes how ICONICS has developed a model smart building solution for public sector organisations, following an implementation across 125 Microsoft buildings

Being a software company itself, it should be energy industries. And the common thread hard to sell software to Microsoft. But that is through all of this is Microsoft technology. We exactly what ICONICS recently did. Last year, have been a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner we were involved in a pilot that aimed to use for many years. In fact, our company has grown technology to improve the energy efficiency up supporting Microsoft technology. From the of the buildings on Microsoft’s campus in early beginnings of the PC, through to today’s Redmond, Washington. As part of the project, business-ready mobile devices such as Microsoft we were given the opportunity to illustrate Surface and cloud technologies like Windows the value of our AnalytiX energy monitoring Azure, ICONICS has been one of the first to “Being a software solutions. The pilot turned out to be so embrace Microsoft’s developments and deliver its successful that our products are now helping innovative solutions to our customers worldwide. company itself, it to run more than 100 buildings, improving Our recently launched MobileHMI app, for energy consumption and saving the company example, enables users to connect directly to should be hard millions annually. their company’s operations and management Microsoft had multiple disparate building processes from a wide range of devices, such as to sell software management systems that manage more than Surface and other Windows 8 tablets. 35,000 pieces of mechanical equipment, which The energy-smart building project at were creating vast amounts of unutilised data. Microsoft has allowed ICONICS to develop a to Microsoft. But The company realised it would cost upward of template infrastructure for future deployments. US$70 million to rip and replace enough control This has been so successful that Microsoft and that is exactly systems in order to gain tangible insight from its partners are now helping building managers the 35,000 pieces of equipment. But, with the across the world deploy the same solution what ICONICS help of ICONICS, Microsoft applied an analytical through its CityNext initiative. As a CityNext layer on top of all the diverse systems it was partner, ICONICS is delivering smart solutions recently did” using to manage the buildings. This enabled to public sector organisations worldwide, equipment and buildings to talk to each other including the water utility system for Scotland and provided the ability to extract a wealth of and upcoming city-scale projects in Genoa, Italy data for building managers and engineers. and Cologne in Germany. Russ Agrusa Since ICONICS was founded in 1986, we ICONICS remains committed to developing ICONICS have been committed to developing solutions strategies that help public sect or organisations built on the Microsoft platform that help run a more energy efficient and cost effective organisations improve sustainability and operation. With 58,000 housed personnel across operational efficiency through human-machine its 500-acre headquarters, ICONICS is helping interface, energy and analytics solutions. Microsoft turn this into a smart campus. Now, Today, our products are used by 70% of the we look forward to enabling other organisations Fortune 500 companies around the world, and cities to achieve the same thing. spanning oil and gas, water and utilities, discrete manufacturing, pharmaceutical and Russ Agrusa is ICONICS’ president and CEO www.onwindows.com 13 Viewpoint Public safety

Unifying city-wide surveillance systems

Pervez Siddiqui explains how cities can take a collaborative approach to improve the safety and security of their citizens

Thousands, if not millions, of citizens Meanwhile, fixed or mobile ALPR cameras can rely on local and national governments be attached to intersection lights, buildings or to keep them safe. Protecting the public law enforcement vehicles to track stolen cars, from crime, safeguarding buildings from wanted felons, or amber alerts around the city. vandalism, or simply ensuring a city is In addition, cities can use Security Center running smoothly requires multiple public to implement a phased growth plan as each sector agencies to collaborate, consult with new budget cycle is launched, enabling cities citizens and secure buy-in from private to start by upgrading video surveillance enterprises. By combining resources and and unify other key systems over time. For standardising public safety efforts using example, the solution can be used to improve “Security Center Genetec’s unified security platform Security access control for enhanced security and Center, cities can break down silos across centralised personnel management; enhance helps cities to agencies, cost effectively enhance city-wide licence plate recognition, hot lists and reads operations, expand surveillance coverage, systems; and develop video analytics to expand their and improve emergency preparedness and identify misplaced objects or trip wires, and response times. count people. Security Center can also be surveillance Genetec Security Center combines used to unify evidence management systems Omnicast internet protocol (IP) video hosted in Microsoft Azure for Government, as surveillance, Synergis IP access control and well as Microsoft Aware Consoles for threat, systems AutoVu automatic license plate recognition investigation and intelligence management. (ALPR) systems to deliver greater situational Furthermore, Genetec’s platform can be to include awareness to security and law enforcement deployed to establish a multi-stakeholder personnel. It standardises common security model that brings together publicly and thousands of operations from multiple systems – such as privately funded security systems in one monitoring, reporting, alarm management centrally managed, cost-effective system devices ” and configuration – and makes all tasks easily via the solution’s Federation feature. This accessible via a single intuitive application. allows cities to extend security coverage by Using Omnicast’s IP video management accessing video streams from private entities system, cities can identify threats and manage in emergencies, while retaining the autonomy Pervez Siddiqui hundreds or thousands of high-definition, of each individual system. megapixel cameras, while reducing bandwidth The Federation model also enables public costs. The Synergis IP access control system organisations – such as educational institutions, enables cities to leverage existing network utilities services and municipal buildings – to and hardware investments to extend security provide police departments with full control of coverage to municipal and historical buildings. their security systems at the click of a button. The solution also provides efficient workflows Police departments can then view cameras, lock and greater automation, which allows down facilities and respond to threats in an users to focus on monitoring critical tasks. effective, efficient and timely manner. www.onwindows.com Viewpoint Public safety

Unifying city-wide surveillance systems

Pervez Siddiqui explains how cities can take a collaborative approach to improve the safety and security of their citizens

Thousands, if not millions, of citizens Meanwhile, fixed or mobile ALPR cameras can rely on local and national governments be attached to intersection lights, buildings or What Genetec’s customers are saying about Security Center to keep them safe. Protecting the public law enforcement vehicles to track stolen cars, from crime, safeguarding buildings from wanted felons, or amber alerts around the city. Ville de Forbach Sanford Public Safety Complex vandalism, or simply ensuring a city is In addition, cities can use Security Center Located in France, the city of Forbach chose Security Center has also been implemented in running smoothly requires multiple public to implement a phased growth plan as each Security Center to protect more than 100,000 the US city of Sanford in Florida as part of a major sector agencies to collaborate, consult with new budget cycle is launched, enabling cities citizens from local crime. Using Omnicast, the city upgrade at a new state-of-the-art public safety citizens and secure buy-in from private to start by upgrading video surveillance manages a combination of fixed and multi-lens complex. The system comprises more than 80 enterprises. By combining resources and and unify other key systems over time. For IP cameras suited for different environmental cameras managed by Omnicast and over 78 standardising public safety efforts using example, the solution can be used to improve “Security Center conditions, while Synergis controls access to the access control points controlled by Synergis. Genetec’s unified security platform Security access control for enhanced security and command centre. Plus, the map-based interface As Sanford has several municipal facilities with Center, cities can break down silos across centralised personnel management; enhance helps cities to enables police officers to easily search for and Genetec solutions, it also used the Federation agencies, cost effectively enhance city-wide licence plate recognition, hot lists and reads retrieve video evidence, which has helped to feature to ensure it can centrally manage all operations, expand surveillance coverage, systems; and develop video analytics to expand their justify the future expansion of the system. systems from the complex. and improve emergency preparedness and identify misplaced objects or trip wires, and response times. count people. Security Center can also be surveillance “The ease of use and the speed at which we can “Security Center is a platform that can address Genetec Security Center combines used to unify evidence management systems retrieve information is extremely impressive,” says all of Sanford’s needs, allowing us to create a Omnicast internet protocol (IP) video hosted in Microsoft Azure for Government, as Michel Fersing, the city of Forbach’s municipal federated system that serves several types of surveillance, Synergis IP access control and well as Microsoft Aware Consoles for threat, systems police chief. “Today, I can say with full confidence facilities simultaneously,” says Nicholas McRay, AutoVu automatic license plate recognition investigation and intelligence management. that every national police officer leaves our senior project manager at the city of Sanford. (ALPR) systems to deliver greater situational Furthermore, Genetec’s platform can be to include department with video evidence, within minutes. “We never need to cross-reference information awareness to security and law enforcement deployed to establish a multi-stakeholder Security Center has been an instrumental addition between discrete solutions across the city because personnel. It standardises common security model that brings together publicly and thousands of to our city’s security and we could not be more it’s all tied in. It works well for us, and it suits the Sanford is able to manage all its security systems operations from multiple systems – such as privately funded security systems in one from a central public safety complex pleased with our new unified platform.” widely varied needs of a municipality.” monitoring, reporting, alarm management centrally managed, cost-effective system devices ” and configuration – and makes all tasks easily via the solution’s Federation feature. This accessible via a single intuitive application. allows cities to extend security coverage by Using Omnicast’s IP video management accessing video streams from private entities To protect citizens’ privacy, the Federation wearable cameras into mobile monitoring to upgrade analogue technology over time. system, cities can identify threats and manage in emergencies, while retaining the autonomy Pervez Siddiqui model ensures video evidence is managed stations, which are linked back to the central Solutions like Genetec’s Security Center help hundreds or thousands of high-definition, of each individual system. responsibly by providing both broad and control centre via mobile apps. Meanwhile, cities to expand their surveillance systems megapixel cameras, while reducing bandwidth The Federation model also enables public granular system privileges, audit trails, officers on the road can also tap into the city’s to include thousands of devices with ease costs. The Synergis IP access control system organisations – such as educational institutions, customisable user access rights for cameras systems from their vehicle-based laptops to – potentially reaching up to 300 cameras enables cities to leverage existing network utilities services and municipal buildings – to or files and monitoring document incident enable them to proactively assess and prepare per server – and expand with cloud camera and hardware investments to extend security provide police departments with full control of handling. Digital signatures can also be for emergency situations and improve response connections, while eliminating the cost of coverage to municipal and historical buildings. their security systems at the click of a button. added to video to ensure authentic evidence times, while ensuring they remain safe. on-site storage hardware and servers. The solution also provides efficient workflows Police departments can then view cameras, lock is used in court. In essence, cities wanting to capitalise and greater automation, which allows down facilities and respond to threats in an What’s more, Genetec’s security platform on their existing hardware and multiple Pervez Siddiqui is director users to focus on monitoring critical tasks. effective, efficient and timely manner. helps to transform officer smartphones or networks can use unified security platforms of strategic markets at Genetec www.onwindows.com 15 Executive insight

Jörn Riedel

Amber Stokes spoke with Hamburg CIO Jörn Riedel to find out his perspective on driving innovative digital agendas and the importance of working with other cities from across the globe

“Microsoft CityNext has been a very good opportunity for us to meet and interact with other partners and cities“

Jörn Riedel www.onwindows.com Executive insight

Jörn Riedel

Amber Stokes spoke with Hamburg CIO Jörn Riedel to find out his perspective on driving innovative digital agendas and the importance of working with other cities from across the globe

An interesting story to come out of this With many more projects like this in the same time! And so one of my missions is year’s Major Cities of Europe Annual pipeline, it is no coincidence that Hamburg to create the right space, time and culture Conference, which took place in June has been selected to be a Microsoft CityNext to inspire people to have discussions about in Zurich, Switzerland, is how the city showcase city. Hamburg’s chief information innovation. Out of this thinking, we have of Hamburg in Germany is embracing officer (CIO) Jörn Riedel explains what the created our digital agenda for Hamburg. IT. As part of an effort to transform the secret is to the city’s successful IT strategy way it delivers services and interacts and how the Microsoft CityNext initiative As populations continue to grow, how with its approximately 1.8 million has helped so far. important is it that the world’s major citizens, the city has rolled out various cities develop innovative IT initiatives innovative digital projects. For example, What kinds of challenges are you faced such as yours? it has reduced its paper consumption with in terms of driving innovation and I think it’s imperative in order to continue When did you first decide to drive a down. An example of this is an offering we How important is it that city leaders and shortened approval cycles by delivering better services to growing to provide services to citizens. They will digital agenda? have run for several years for quick and easy share best practices and ideas? implementing an automated Microsoft city populations? not accept being made to interact with We started our journey for innovation many access to information on government services When we share ideas we can help each other SharePoint-based workflow. And just As CIO, I’m responsible for Hamburg’s their government in a different way to years ago and it is something that we now by telephone – 115. This was inspired by New to resolve worldwide government issues and last year, the city’s Port Authority IT strategy and budget. I would say that how they interact in the business arena continue to build on. We made our first York’s 311 service. As part of a nationwide sharing best practices will also help reduce implemented new mobile devices the biggest challenge I experience is the or in their personal lives, so we have to move towards digitising the interaction project, Hamburg was the first city in costs of projects. But also it means we can and software, allowing around 1,800 pressure to innovate with the same number keep up with demand. Plus, IT innovation with our customers with the launch of our Germany to implement the service. share our insight and knowledge with the workers to collaborate from anywhere of employees. And, in many cases, there’s is also a key way to cut costs, which is a government gateway in 2003, but as new world’s city leaders to help influence not in the 7,000-hectare port, helping to just not enough time to find new ways of challenge that is top of mind for all city technologies and ways of communication Do you incorporate feedback from only wider IT adoption, but also a positive significantly increase productivity. working, while getting the work done at the executives today. have emerged, we too have introduced citizens when you develop projects? impact on the economy and society. different ways of interacting with citizens. It’s We regularly receive feedback from citizens important to note that we are not particularly on our website and we find it a useful How has Microsoft CityNext helped you technology driven. Instead, we are more way to understand how we can improve to do this? driven by problem solving, and then we look our services and make them easier for Microsoft CityNext has been a very good “Microsoft CityNext has been at which technology fits best. citizens. But often the feedback isn’t opportunity for us to meet and interact about IT issues, and is instead regarding with other partners and cities. Having a very good opportunity for us Do you take any inspiration from the stringent regulations that we have in access to a new, worldwide perspective projects carried out in other cities? Germany around citizen identification. has been extremely interesting for us to meet and interact with other Yes, in most of our IT projects we will take We also sometimes receive feedback and offers the opportunity for us to learn inspiration from other initiatives and also from citizens that don’t like the move more from other successes – we’re now partners and cities“ work with other communities, local and towards digitisation. In these cases, able to see how other nations develop state governments and corporations. For us, we simply communicate to them why innovative IT strategies successfully and working with and learning from corporations change is important and give them a little learn from them, and hopefully we can is a key resource during a project and it can more support to help them through that help inspire them too by demonstrating Jörn Riedel also be a great opportunity to keep the costs particular process via the 115-service. the successes we have had. www.onwindows.com 2117 Cover story Microsoft CityNext

www.onwindows.com Driving momentum

Now in its second year, It’s been a momentous twelve months for Joel Cherkis and his team at the Microsoft CityNext Microsoft. In July 2013, Microsoft initiative is going from launched CityNext – a global initiative set up to enable leaders to harness strength to strength. technology to build sustainable cities. Rebecca Lambert spoke Since then, the general manager of Worldwide Government and Defense with Joel Cherkis to get could not be more pleased with the his perspective on its progress they’ve made. “In the first year, we’ve received a great impact so far, and how deal of attention in the industry, launched Microsoft is capitalising our 14 showcase cities, gone from having zero to over 700 solutions and over 200 on its early success to partners, so we’re gaining significant traction achieve even more with in the market,” he says. “It’s really exciting.” The so-called “smart cities” concept is cities in the future not entirely new, but what Cherkis says is

2319 Cover story Microsoft CityNext

different about Microsoft’s approach is how he talked about his conviction and belief “It’s examples like this that show the the company is applying its mobile-first, that technology would be a force multiplier power of sharing information effectively,” cloud-first strategy, and making it relevant and how much he believes that Microsoft is says Cherkis. “Cities can use these apps at a time when cities are going through a going to play a bigger role in cities, not only to better understand citizens’ commuting new wave of how they are managing and in Atlanta but around the world.” patterns and, in turn, decide where new optimising their resources to be smarter. According to Cherkis, one way of roads should be constructed, which roads “I think the message around ‘do more with building a sustainable future for cities should be fixed first and so on. It’s the less and new with less’ is resonating with is by having information solutions that correlations and insights that the cities many city leaders too,” he adds. “They are cloud-based, so that workers and make from these apps that will provide know that they need to achieve more and institutions are not tied to a physical them with a new understanding and help help their cities be more productive, all location. “We need to be mobile and them make better decisions around their while the population continues to grow at recognise that a city pulses 24/7 – it own investments.” an unprecedented rate.” isn’t open normal business hours,” The good news is that cities and city he explains. “Through its mobile-first, leaders are learning more about the Microsoft technology making a difference cloud-first strategy, Microsoft is uniquely power of collaboration with citizens, and This summer, Mayor Kasim Reed of Atlanta positioned to help cities become smarter businesses. “One of the new examples was invited to speak at MGX, Microsoft’s and better engage with citizens.” that we have is in New Zealand, where annual global employee event. One thing the police are using Microsoft Azure and Reed said that resonated with Cherkis was Big impact SharePoint as a collaboration platform how he has to optimise and make sense Over the course of the last year, Microsoft and leveraging social media to improve of all the investments that Atlanta has CityNext has established an impressive responses times,” adds Cherkis. “With previously made. “He made a comment list of customer references. In Buenos these new tools at their disposal, local that it felt like things were duct-taped Aires, for instance, a mobile app has forces can better monitor situations, send together and he doesn’t see that as being been developed to help citizens view and appropriate help and even warn citizens sustainable,” he says. “But, at the same time, monitor local traffic. of events that are happening.”

Singapore

AvePoint implements Citizen Services Solution at Singapore government agency

As is the case in many government CityNext, the Citizen Services Solution institutions today, a government agency in unifies core Microsoft systems, including Singapore was challenged with having too SharePoint, Dynamics CRM, SQL Server much data stored in numerous software and Active Directory. Using these systems that were not connected to one technologies, the agency is able to another. Ultimately, this led to inefficiencies improve its information sharing and case and duplication of work, essentially slowing tracking capabilities. down the agency’s ability to provide quality AvePoint’s integrated platform services to its citizens. approach allows the agency to better Founded in 2001 and headquartered To improve efficiency around its health serve and care for the citizens it in Jersey City, US, AvePoint is an and human service delivery, the agency supports. Cases for the health and established leader in enterprise-class set out to bring together disparate data, human services it provides are now cloud, compliance, data governance systems and people across its organisation. handled with greater efficiency, and and management software Working with AvePoint, the agency the valuable analytics gained from solutions for next-generation social implemented a case and resource centralised dashboards and monitoring collaboration platforms. management system. Part of AvePoint’s will support intelligent planning and www.avepoint.com/citynext- Citizen Connect Platform for Microsoft agency management in the future. solutions

www.onwindows.com Cover story Microsoft CityNext

different about Microsoft’s approach is how he talked about his conviction and belief “It’s examples like this that show the Partners adding value to CityNext improve safety, and boost collaboration the company is applying its mobile-first, that technology would be a force multiplier power of sharing information effectively,” Of course, Microsoft is not achieving this with its citizens and businesses. “Bismart “We all need to cloud-first strategy, and making it relevant and how much he believes that Microsoft is says Cherkis. “Cities can use these apps success by itself. More than 200 solutions is a great example of a partner that at a time when cities are going through a going to play a bigger role in cities, not only to better understand citizens’ commuting and services providers are now recognised created something specific for one city but consider how new wave of how they are managing and in Atlanta but around the world.” patterns and, in turn, decide where new as official Microsoft CityNext partners has provided a smart template that can be optimising their resources to be smarter. According to Cherkis, one way of roads should be constructed, which roads and this is growing by the day. used by other global cities,” he says. we become “I think the message around ‘do more with building a sustainable future for cities should be fixed first and so on. It’s the “I think for our partners, this is really less and new with less’ is resonating with is by having information solutions that correlations and insights that the cities an opportunity for them to engage at a Ongoing problem solving many city leaders too,” he adds. “They are cloud-based, so that workers and make from these apps that will provide different level with us,” says Cherkis. Cherkis’ message to the growing number and stay highly know that they need to achieve more and institutions are not tied to a physical them with a new understanding and help “CityNext is providing a holistic view of Microsoft CityNext partners is to really help their cities be more productive, all location. “We need to be mobile and them make better decisions around their of a very large market. Our partners focus on delivering what cities need as a relevant to the while the population continues to grow at recognise that a city pulses 24/7 – it own investments.” have different focus areas and combined priority, so they can be more relevant in an unprecedented rate.” isn’t open normal business hours,” The good news is that cities and city with our CEO Satya Nadella’s vision to helping them solve their biggest challenges needs of city he explains. “Through its mobile-first, leaders are learning more about the integrate our digital work and digital lives, – whether that’s traffic management, energy Microsoft technology making a difference cloud-first strategy, Microsoft is uniquely power of collaboration with citizens, and we have a very powerful offering. Today, optimisation or water issues. “We all need leadership” This summer, Mayor Kasim Reed of Atlanta positioned to help cities become smarter businesses. “One of the new examples our partners – big and small – have new to consider how we become and stay highly was invited to speak at MGX, Microsoft’s and better engage with citizens.” that we have is in New Zealand, where opportunities to work with us that they relevant to the needs of city leadership and annual global employee event. One thing the police are using Microsoft Azure and haven’t had before.” more embedded into cities,” he explains. Reed said that resonated with Cherkis was Big impact SharePoint as a collaboration platform Cherkis references partners such as “It goes back to what Mayor Reed said. Joel Cherkis how he has to optimise and make sense Over the course of the last year, Microsoft and leveraging social media to improve Bismart, which deployed a city dashboard He wants to know how, during his term of all the investments that Atlanta has CityNext has established an impressive responses times,” adds Cherkis. “With and big data analytics platform in as mayor, he can put measures in place to previously made. “He made a comment list of customer references. In Buenos these new tools at their disposal, local Barcelona, Spain, last year, giving the city look after the city for the long run. After all, that it felt like things were duct-taped Aires, for instance, a mobile app has forces can better monitor situations, send near real-time insight into structured and cities can’t reboot every time there’s a new together and he doesn’t see that as being been developed to help citizens view and appropriate help and even warn citizens unstructured data so that it can enhance election. So I think if we and the partners sustainable,” he says. “But, at the same time, monitor local traffic. of events that are happening.” services and business opportunities, working with us become more embedded

Singapore Barcelona

AvePoint implements Citizen Services Solution at Bismart helps Barcelona boost data analysis Singapore government agency with hybrid cloud

As is the case in many government CityNext, the Citizen Services Solution The City of Barcelona wanted better insight to store and analyse big data using institutions today, a government agency in unifies core Microsoft systems, including into its government effectiveness, and business intelligence and services based on Singapore was challenged with having too SharePoint, Dynamics CRM, SQL Server required a solution that could collect and Microsoft Azure, Azure HDInsight Service, much data stored in numerous software and Active Directory. Using these analyse data from its systems and new public SQL Server and Microsoft Excel. systems that were not connected to one technologies, the agency is able to sources such as social media, software log The city also worked with Bismart to another. Ultimately, this led to inefficiencies improve its information sharing and case files and geo-positioning signals. create three new services: Open Data, and duplication of work, essentially slowing tracking capabilities. Working with Microsoft partner Bismart, bigov Better City Indicators and La Merce. down the agency’s ability to provide quality AvePoint’s integrated platform the city decided to build a hybrid cloud These services help the city achieve its services to its citizens. approach allows the agency to better Founded in 2001 and headquartered goals by providing better services and Bismart is a business intelligence To improve efficiency around its health serve and care for the citizens it in Jersey City, US, AvePoint is an government transparency. specialist that enables decision- and human service delivery, the agency supports. Cases for the health and established leader in enterprise-class Thanks to Microsoft technologies, making through the analysis of data set out to bring together disparate data, human services it provides are now cloud, compliance, data governance Barcelona created a pilot big data solution to help empower its customers. systems and people across its organisation. handled with greater efficiency, and and management software that provides valuable insight into massive Based in Barcelona, it also has Working with AvePoint, the agency the valuable analytics gained from solutions for next-generation social amounts of data and helps the city locations in Madrid and Buenos implemented a case and resource centralised dashboards and monitoring collaboration platforms. improve the lives of its citizens, create Aires, and plans to open more management system. Part of AvePoint’s will support intelligent planning and business opportunities, and increase overseas offices soon. www.avepoint.com/citynext- Citizen Connect Platform for Microsoft agency management in the future. public safety and health. solutions www.bismart.com

www.onwindows.com 2521 Cover story Microsoft CityNext

and really follow the progress of a city and and solutions, and to grow either in their become proactive in solving problems and enterprise commercial business or their showing how the Microsoft platform and public sector business, because it’s a their solutions will help the city optimise for bridge – something that ties all of these the long run, then that’s really valuable.” opportunities together. That’s one of the key business strategies that we have as we Broadening the strategy invest in the future of cities and realise the Over the next couple of years, Microsoft’s vision that Nadella has for digital work and “We’re helping intention is to continue building on the digital life. This initiative brings business momentum it has achieved so far with communities together, because cities are cities see how CityNext, and then expand it out further run by governments but they live because into other sectors. of the interaction between consumers, the “I recall a joint session with our private sector and the public sector.” everything fi ts Enterprise Partner Group leaders and our public sector leaders at MGX,” says A stand-out approach together” Cherkis. “Just as many of the commercial When asked what makes CityNext stand leaders as public sector ones said they out compared to other public sector were engaged in CityNext. What we want strategies delivered by competitors, to have happen is that CityNext becomes Cherkis explains that Microsoft has Joel Cherkis not just a public sector approach; it needs a longer term view on how it impacts to be something that is about public cities. “I think the vision we had from sector, commercial and consumer. After the beginning that set us apart was to all, citizens are consumers too. This speaks have a people-first, partner-led approach, to the opportunities for partners to bring which means that we listen to the leaders together some of their business models of cities to understand what citizens are

London

Esri UK develops GIS strategy with London council

Despite only covering an area of 6.3 enterprise-wide GIS strategy that could be square miles, the London Borough of used as standard by its 7,000 employees and Hammersmith and Fulham contains help to modernise processes, drive effi ciency 180,000 residents, 105,000 properties, and improve service. 1,030 streets and 22,000 road signs. Esri UK helped the council create a central Previously, the council used a number of database of spatial information, integrated geographic information systems (GIS) and with its land and property gazetteer. computer aided design (CAD) drawing tools, Employees were given intranet access to data which were only of benefi t to a small number and a broad range of mapping capabilities, of staff. The council decided to develop an meaning users could view accurate data. Esri has been the world leader in Residents were then given access to the GIS software industry for over geographic data via online applications. 40 years. The company offers With the new GIS as a platform strategy, innovative solutions that help staff are able to more easily access and check organisations create, visualise, information regarding parking suspensions analyse and present information and skip licences, planning applications, better and more clearly. highway maintenance, emergency planning and environment enquiries. www.esri.com

www.onwindows.com Cover story Microsoft CityNext

and really follow the progress of a city and and solutions, and to grow either in their Forbach become proactive in solving problems and enterprise commercial business or their showing how the Microsoft platform and public sector business, because it’s a their solutions will help the city optimise for bridge – something that ties all of these Ville de Forbach implements Genetec’s unified the long run, then that’s really valuable.” opportunities together. That’s one of the platform Security Center key business strategies that we have as we Broadening the strategy invest in the future of cities and realise the A historic French city near the German security platform Security Center to help Over the next couple of years, Microsoft’s vision that Nadella has for digital work and border, Forbach has a population of expand and increase the flexibility of its video “We’re helping intention is to continue building on the digital life. This initiative brings business around 20,000, with 80,000 more living in surveillance network. momentum it has achieved so far with communities together, because cities are its suburbs. Like most small cities around The system manages more than 38 CityNext, and then expand it out further run by governments but they live because world, Forbach was challenged by petty internet protocol cameras located in cities see how crimes, such as vandalism and theft. important locations, the majority of which into other sectors. of the interaction between consumers, the The city was limited in its ability to place are connected to a central server in the “I recall a joint session with our private sector and the public sector.” cameras in vulnerable areas, and turned city hall via a robust, custom-designed everything fi ts Enterprise Partner Group leaders and to Sigma IP to integrate Genetec’s unified wireless network. The city has around Genetec is a global provider of IP our public sector leaders at MGX,” says A stand-out approach 18TB of storage, enabling it to keep video surveillance, access control together” Cherkis. “Just as many of the commercial When asked what makes CityNext stand recordings for 15 days. and license plate recognition leaders as public sector ones said they out compared to other public sector Managed by Forbach’s municipal police solutions, working with partners were engaged in CityNext. What we want strategies delivered by competitors, organisation, the system is primarily used on six continents to help provide to have happen is that CityNext becomes Cherkis explains that Microsoft has to conduct investigations after an incident safer, more secure environments Joel Cherkis not just a public sector approach; it needs a longer term view on how it impacts has been reported. The city’s police force for small to medium-sized and enterprise-class businesses. to be something that is about public cities. “I think the vision we had from is now able to retrieve crime-related sector, commercial and consumer. After the beginning that set us apart was to information more quickly and easily. www.genetec.com all, citizens are consumers too. This speaks have a people-first, partner-led approach, to the opportunities for partners to bring which means that we listen to the leaders together some of their business models of cities to understand what citizens are

London Scotland

Esri UK develops GIS strategy with London council ICONICS’ situational awareness drives intelligent water management in Scotland Despite only covering an area of 6.3 enterprise-wide GIS strategy that could be square miles, the London Borough of used as standard by its 7,000 employees and Scottish Water provides clean, safe and of all operations and water quality data. All Hammersmith and Fulham contains help to modernise processes, drive effi ciency high quality drinking water to 2.45 million water collection, processing, and distribution 180,000 residents, 105,000 properties, and improve service. households and 154,000 business premises systems are integrated into a single system 1,030 streets and 22,000 road signs. Esri UK helped the council create a central across Scotland. for analysis of the real time situation, Previously, the council used a number of database of spatial information, integrated Last year, the organisation established an fact-based decision making, coordinated geographic information systems (GIS) and with its land and property gazetteer. Intelligent Control Centre (ICC) to serve as monitoring and control. The selection of computer aided design (CAD) drawing tools, Employees were given intranet access to data its central hub for all operational activities. ICONICS was driven by its ability to provide which were only of benefi t to a small number and a broad range of mapping capabilities, One of the ICC’s goals was to proactively real-time data overlaid with geographical of staff. The council decided to develop an meaning users could view accurate data. Esri has been the world leader in prevent operational issues. As part of that, coordinates on Bing Maps, and actionable ICONICS is an award-winning Residents were then given access to the GIS software industry for over it needed a solution that could provide information within rich, intuitive graphics on software developer and Microsoft geographic data via online applications. 40 years. The company offers intuitive visual displays that incorporated all Windows 8. By rationalising its data, Scottish Gold Certified Partner offering With the new GIS as a platform strategy, innovative solutions that help the information and applications needed Water is now able to reduce incident and real-time visualisation, HMI/ staff are able to more easily access and check organisations create, visualise, to identify problem areas, determine root response times, prioritise tasks based on SCADA, energy, fault detection, information regarding parking suspensions analyse and present information causes and take rapid remedial action. financial implications, respond to live weather manufacturing intelligence, and skip licences, planning applications, better and more clearly. ICONICS’ GENESIS64 and Hyper Historian forecasts, and proactively inform customers MES and analytics solutions for highway maintenance, emergency planning were chosen to maintain a big data store of potential service disruptions. operational excellence. and environment enquiries. www.esri.com www.iconics.com

www.onwindows.com 2327 Cover story Microsoft CityNext

demanding,” he says. “Many cities are so this is a very meaningful time for us and creating open standards to expand also still trying to figure out how they to become more relevant and work with on the great work being done through become relevant in the conversations that them to create jobs, develop education CityNext. “Something I heard many businesses are having with each other so programmes and deliver healthcare, energy people saying at the Smart City Expo that they can tap into that potential and and sustainability solutions across all World Congress in Barcelona last year create value and opportunities to grow provincial governments.” was that if something’s really working their economy, jobs and become more then they don’t want to have to recreate efficient. I think the other thing is that Future plans the wheel. So the question is, how do we work to weave all of the assets and Looking to the future, Cherkis is excited we learn from cities all over the world? programmes that we’ve been developing by Microsoft’s vision and momentum How do we standardise on the successes over the years. We’re not just here to sell for CityNext. “We’re taking what we’ve they’re having so that resources aren’t technology; we’re looking at the bigger done up a notch and gearing up for what wasted on solutions that don’t work? picture. We’re helping cities see how I think is going to be an explosive year We’ve been working on what we call a everything fits together.” for us,” he adds. Cherkis also indicated City Process Classification Framework China is just one country where that Microsoft would be making future in partnership with the American Microsoft is taking its people-first approach organisational changes to further Productivity and Quality Center to help to build strategic partnerships and be part reinforce the growth and success of its build a more comprehensive process of the infrastructure from the ground up, strategy. “These investments will fuel for cities. Creating standards like this rather than being just part of the retrofit. CityNext to the next level across all around city processes, frameworks, “Getting the model right in China is really departments in Microsoft, not just the business models and architecture is important to us as more cities are being public sector, and that can only be good really important, so we will continue to built there than anywhere else in the for our city customers and partners.” work with other industry leaders and world,” says Cherkis. “Leaders are having Cherkis is also excited about organisations around this issue too. This to do more with less and new with less, developing more strategic partnerships is how the flywheel will really get going.”

Stockport

A digital approach to multi-agency outcome management

Working in partnership with IEG4, outcome reviews can be done in the Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council citizen’s home. in the UK has made the process of Leveraging the power of Microsoft referring, assessing and monitoring Azure ensures that the Semitae case vulnerable citizens a digital one. management application is available Since implementing Semitae – a anywhere, at any time, in a secure holistic digital solution for managing manner. When used in conjunction with referrals, cases and plans through the Casenot.es Windows 8 app, the multiple agencies – Stockport Council overall solution facilitates the delivery of IEG4 is a multi-award winning now has 14 separate support agencies support services in the field. Building on SME based in Cheshire in the accessing case files, which previously the success of this implementation, IEG4 UK. The company specialises in would have required multiple paper has also recently built a new multi-agency championing digital services and forms to be scanned and e-mailed referral online form to facilitate improved maximising uptake of solutions with back and forth between the council collaboration when operating a multi- great user experiences that deliver and agencies. Now, these administrative agency support hub. unparalleled efficiency savings. tasks are completely removed and, www.ieg4.com with Casenot.es, assessments and

www.onwindows.com Cover story Microsoft CityNext

demanding,” he says. “Many cities are so this is a very meaningful time for us and creating open standards to expand Surrey also still trying to figure out how they to become more relevant and work with on the great work being done through become relevant in the conversations that them to create jobs, develop education CityNext. “Something I heard many businesses are having with each other so programmes and deliver healthcare, energy people saying at the Smart City Expo Surrey’s answer to improved citizen safety that they can tap into that potential and and sustainability solutions across all World Congress in Barcelona last year create value and opportunities to grow provincial governments.” was that if something’s really working Surrey Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) stations in the region, as well as with third- their economy, jobs and become more then they don’t want to have to recreate in the UK partnered with public sector party partner agencies such as adult and Microsoft Dynamics CRM specialist Optevia children social services and Age Concern. efficient. I think the other thing is that Future plans the wheel. So the question is, how do to develop a cloud-based Community and Because the solution integrates with the we work to weave all of the assets and Looking to the future, Cherkis is excited we learn from cities all over the world? Risk Information System (CRIS). service’s mobile technology, fire fighters programmes that we’ve been developing by Microsoft’s vision and momentum How do we standardise on the successes CRIS, which harnesses the benefits of are provided with accurate, up-to-date over the years. We’re not just here to sell for CityNext. “We’re taking what we’ve they’re having so that resources aren’t cloud-based technology, allows for the information on individual properties and technology; we’re looking at the bigger done up a notch and gearing up for what wasted on solutions that don’t work? easy sharing of community and premises commercial premises – preparing them in picture. We’re helping cities see how I think is going to be an explosive year We’ve been working on what we call a risk information across the service’s 24 fire advance for any eventuality. In addition, CRIS everything fits together.” for us,” he adds. Cherkis also indicated City Process Classification Framework has significantly reduced the time it takes Optevia is a specialist provider of China is just one country where that Microsoft would be making future in partnership with the American to carry out administration tasks related to Microsoft Dynamics CRM-based home fire safety checks. Microsoft is taking its people-first approach organisational changes to further Productivity and Quality Center to help solutions and associated services to to build strategic partnerships and be part reinforce the growth and success of its build a more comprehensive process To date, SFRS has used the system to the public sector, helping its clients of the infrastructure from the ground up, strategy. “These investments will fuel for cities. Creating standards like this plot high-risk areas and vulnerable people. to increase efficiency, improve Using monthly and quarterly reports, it can rather than being just part of the retrofit. CityNext to the next level across all around city processes, frameworks, customer service and drive business track how many vulnerable people have “Getting the model right in China is really departments in Microsoft, not just the business models and architecture is process change. had home safety visits and see where to important to us as more cities are being public sector, and that can only be good really important, so we will continue to target its community safety activities. www.optevia.com built there than anywhere else in the for our city customers and partners.” work with other industry leaders and world,” says Cherkis. “Leaders are having Cherkis is also excited about organisations around this issue too. This to do more with less and new with less, developing more strategic partnerships is how the flywheel will really get going.”

Stockport Sarpsborg

A digital approach to multi-agency Sarpsborg saves with Public 360° outcome management The municipality of Sarpsborg in Norway computers. Before long, all council has recently abandoned its free software workers were using Outlook calendars to Working in partnership with IEG4, outcome reviews can be done in the and switched to Microsoft and Software book their meetings, and calendars and Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council citizen’s home. Innovation. This decision has saved it e-mail systems were synchronised with in the UK has made the process of Leveraging the power of Microsoft between €1.9m and €2.6m each year. their mobile phones. referring, assessing and monitoring Azure ensures that the Semitae case In 2007, Sarpsborg replaced its With Public 360° now running on the vulnerable citizens a digital one. management application is available document management systems, Microsoft SharePoint platform, Sarpsborg Since implementing Semitae – a anywhere, at any time, in a secure DocuLive and K-sak, with an early version is benefiting from more efficient case holistic digital solution for managing manner. When used in conjunction with of Public 360° from Software Innovation, management processes. Politicians are referrals, cases and plans through the Casenot.es Windows 8 app, the which was integrated with OpenOffice. also able to hold paperless meetings. multiple agencies – Stockport Council overall solution facilitates the delivery of IEG4 is a multi-award winning But in 2009, Sarpsborg decided on a Equipped with their own tablets, they Software Innovation is a now has 14 separate support agencies support services in the field. Building on SME based in Cheshire in the complete turnaround. It got rid of its free can access up-to-date files, documents Scandinavian software company accessing case files, which previously the success of this implementation, IEG4 UK. The company specialises in with a growing international software and established a new system and reports. The solution is proving very would have required multiple paper has also recently built a new multi-agency championing digital services and presence. It delivers market- platform based on Microsoft technology. popular. Each paperless meeting the city forms to be scanned and e-mailed referral online form to facilitate improved maximising uptake of solutions with leading enterprise content To help them get to know the council holds will save Sarpsborg €2,500 back and forth between the council collaboration when operating a multi- great user experiences that deliver management applications that software properly, all council employees in printing costs. and agencies. Now, these administrative agency support hub. unparalleled efficiency savings. help organisations manage, share went into training and everyone was tasks are completely removed and, and use information – turning it www.ieg4.com given Microsoft Office on their home with Casenot.es, assessments and into their most valuable asset.

www.software-innovation.com

www.onwindows.com 2925 Feature Smart buildings and infrastructures Out with the old, in with the new Two years ago, Washington Athletic Club rolled out a cloud-based solution from ICONICS to monitor its energy usage and regulate consumption in real time. The organisation is already saving more than US$200,000 per year on its energy bills. Rebecca Lambert finds out more

As six-time winner of the 5-Star Platinum US$200,000 – 10% above target, amounting covering this kind of scale was always going Club of America award, Washington Athletic to a 25% reduction in total energy use. This to be a massive undertaking, and a costly one. Club (WAC), based in downtown Seattle year, the building expects to save even more. “The building has been expanded twice in the US state of Washington, has a long- “Since it was built in 1930, WAC has been since it was constructed,” says Bill Cohen, standing reputation for being one of the committed to making continuous upgrades to the club’s vice president of operations. “In best athletic clubs in the US. More recently, its facilities to meet the needs of its more than 1955 we added a four-story extension and it has also gained recognition for its energy 12,000 members and retain its prestigious then in the 1970s we built a further eight saving efforts and is now considered to reputation as one of the nation’s top athletic floors on top of that. The result was that we be one of Seattle’s greenest buildings – no clubs,” says Paul Lowber, WAC’s chief financial had three distinct areas of infrastructure and, small feat for an 84-year old construction officer. “One of our ongoing challenges has therefore, three different philosophies for based somewhere that is consistently ranked been how to keep the building contemporary managing the building’s heating, ventilation among the top green cities in the country. and ensure it runs as efficiently as possible. and air conditioning. To put it kindly, we Two years ago, WAC partnered with We’ve always tried to be good stewards; we had a real hybrid energy system to deal with. project contractor MacDonald-Miller Facility were into conservation before conservation None of the subsystems talked to each other Solutions in a bid to optimise energy was cool! But this latest project has really taken very well and we had two separate areas of performance and reduce its carbon footprint. our green credentials to another level.” digital control that really didn’t like each The ambitious project involved overhauling other. So while we knew we could make all of the building’s legacy energy systems Financial sense improvements, we also knew it was going to and replacing them with one digital system At 21 stories high, the club is home to 109 be very costly, and this held us back.” from ICONICS that monitors usage and hotel rooms; five floors of fitness amenities, In fact, when MacDonald-Miller Facility regulates consumption based on real-time including a full-size basketball court and Solutions came up with a proposal that needs. Following the project’s completion, swimming pool; banquet and conference showed WAC just how much money they first year energy savings were in the region of rooms; retail outlets; and more. Any project could save, and how quickly they could realise

2527 FeatureCover story Smart buildings and infrastructures

Recognising success

ICONICS has recently been announced the winner of the 2014 Microsoft CityNext Partner of the Year award. Chosen for its ability to help customers, including WAC, realise tangible benefits from solutions such as the MobileHMI App, ICONICS exemplifies how partners can take advantage of Microsoft technology to address the most pressing challenges for cities and help them do more with less. “ICONICS is extremely honoured to have been selected for this prestigious global award from Microsoft,” says Russ Agrusa, president and CEO of ICONICS. “This award recognises innovation and success at providing software solutions that help customers reduce consumption and environmental impact. Our CityNext involvement reinforces the strength of our relationship with Microsoft, as well as our commitment to providing our customers and partners with cutting-edge energy and sustainability solutions the world over.”

those savings by implementing ICONICS’ “We decided to just go for it,” says “Working hand-in-hand with MacDonald- new building control system, it sounded Lowber. “Now, we’re wrapping up year two Miller, we pretty much tore the building almost too good to be true – so much so that and it looks like we’re going to be saving apart and put it back together in about a the project was shelved for a year. well over US$200,000 again.” year and a half,” says Cohen. “We did a lot “The statistics were compelling, but we “It would probably have taken us ten of the work upfront – we strung the wires, were just going through the recession so we years to complete this project and get to the mounted the hardware and installed a lot were selective about the projects we were stage we’re at now if we’d tried to do this of the equipment – and then went back and going to start,” admits Lowber. “Then some by ourselves,” adds Mike Young, WAC’s started changing everything over a piece at funding came through and MacDonald-Miller building operations manager. “It’s been a time. This approach allowed us to change agreed to offset the rest of the costs of the nothing but a win-win situation.” to the new system relatively seamlessly – we project via actual energy savings over the next never had to turn anything off, so people in seven years. This meant we wouldn’t be out of Smooth transition the building weren’t even aware of what was pocket and that really got our attention!” The project involved replacing and integrating happening. We just switched the controls Alongside MacDonald-Miller’s payment WAC’s legacy control systems with a new from old analogue to new digital – at times scheme, funding from a US Department building automation system from ICONICS, we even did it in the middle of the day and of Energy grant and Seattle City Light converting a three-way, constant-volume chilled nobody noticed.” incentives helped pay for the project upfront. water system to a load-based, variable-volume Both of these initiatives are related to Seattle system, and replacing pneumatic actuation Managing from the Microsoft Azure cloud 2030 District – an interdisciplinary public- with electric, load-based kitchen ventilation The MobileHMI App developed by ICONICS private collaborative working to create a controls. Today, the entire building’s heating, is a cloud-based business and visual groundbreaking high-performance building ventilation and air conditioning are controlled intelligence solution, and is now being used district in downtown Seattle that will by one digital system that monitors usage by the WAC team to monitor energy usage consume 50% less energy by 2030. based on real-time needs. throughout the building. Connected to the

www.onwindows.com Cover story Smart buildings and infrastructures

Recognising success

those savings by implementing ICONICS’ “We decided to just go for it,” says “Working hand-in-hand with MacDonald- Honeywell AX Building Management System new building control system, it sounded Lowber. “Now, we’re wrapping up year two Miller, we pretty much tore the building via BACnet/IP, the solution provides real- almost too good to be true – so much so that and it looks like we’re going to be saving apart and put it back together in about a time access to key operational performance the project was shelved for a year. well over US$200,000 again.” year and a half,” says Cohen. “We did a lot indicators through energy performance “The statistics were compelling, but we “It would probably have taken us ten of the work upfront – we strung the wires, dashboards and analytics reports. This WAC's old analogue energy control system (top) was replaced by were just going through the recession so we years to complete this project and get to the mounted the hardware and installed a lot allows Young and his team of engineers and modern network-based digital controls (bottom) were selective about the projects we were stage we’re at now if we’d tried to do this of the equipment – and then went back and technicians to remain informed at any time. going to start,” admits Lowber. “Then some by ourselves,” adds Mike Young, WAC’s started changing everything over a piece at MacDonald-Miller considered different Running on a single computer at WAC, And because MacDonald-Miller has access funding came through and MacDonald-Miller building operations manager. “It’s been a time. This approach allowed us to change ways of deploying the software at WAC the MobileHMI App aggregates all of the to the same information as the club, in some agreed to offset the rest of the costs of the nothing but a win-win situation.” to the new system relatively seamlessly – we before choosing MobileHMI. “One option building’s data in the cloud and pushes it instances it picks up on issues before WAC project via actual energy savings over the next never had to turn anything off, so people in was to install an on-premise solution,” back down to the computers and devices at does. “Working together, we can diagnose seven years. This meant we wouldn’t be out of Smooth transition the building weren’t even aware of what was explains Jeremy Richmond, building WAC and MacDonald-Miller, allowing both problems much faster,” says Richmond. pocket and that really got our attention!” The project involved replacing and integrating happening. We just switched the controls performance manager at MacDonald- teams to analyse real-time information. Alongside MacDonald-Miller’s payment WAC’s legacy control systems with a new from old analogue to new digital – at times Miller. “But we realised that this would “The ICONICS software is a really Tangible benefits scheme, funding from a US Department building automation system from ICONICS, we even did it in the middle of the day and create a lag getting technology upgrades, valuable tool,” says Richmond. “Because it’s From one dashboard, the WAC team can of Energy grant and Seattle City Light converting a three-way, constant-volume chilled nobody noticed.” and cause issues if we wanted to get data hosted in the cloud, it can be accessed from a track and control every aspect of the building incentives helped pay for the project upfront. water system to a load-based, variable-volume offsite to assist with trouble shooting. range of mobile devices, plus it’s robust and and monitor over 2,000 data points in Both of these initiatives are related to Seattle system, and replacing pneumatic actuation Managing from the Microsoft Azure cloud When ICONICS first started talking about scalable. In this particular deployment, it’s real time. What’s more is that if they find a 2030 District – an interdisciplinary public- with electric, load-based kitchen ventilation The MobileHMI App developed by ICONICS running a solution on the Microsoft Azure handling over 2,000 data points, but it can problem, they can look back at the history of private collaborative working to create a controls. Today, the entire building’s heating, is a cloud-based business and visual cloud computing platform, we were very deal with even more if need be. It also takes a particular set of data points and see where groundbreaking high-performance building ventilation and air conditioning are controlled intelligence solution, and is now being used interested in it. Today, we are extremely some of the guessing out of the equation, in the change occurred. “It’s an invaluable district in downtown Seattle that will by one digital system that monitors usage by the WAC team to monitor energy usage pleased with the results of implementing that it allows you to see where the problems trouble-shooting tool,” says Cohen. “It’s light- consume 50% less energy by 2030. based on real-time needs. throughout the building. Connected to the ICONICS on Microsoft Azure.” may or may not be in a facility.” years from the way we used to do things.”

www.onwindows.com 2927 CoverFeature story Smart buildings and infrastructures

The ICONICS MobileHMI App is also helping to dramatically reduce energy consumption throughout the building. “It’s staggering how much less energy we’re using by having the ability to turn things down or off and only use them when the environment calls for it,” says Young. “We’ve experienced real success in our group exercise spaces, for example. On any given day, our exercise spaces can be used for a whole range of activities including yoga, Pilates and aerobics. Some of those classes like a nice cool room, especially the spinning group, but the yoga class likes a warm environment. With the new system, we have the ability to drive the temperatures up and down at will. And we can schedule those changes with very little time between classes. It’s really handy and, most importantly, it takes the controls off the wall.” The team is achieving similar results in the kitchen area. “We used to turn all the extractor fans on as soon as we fired up the kitchen at 6am,” says Lowber. “Those fans would run all day until we closed at 10pm. Now, with the sensors and a system that measures the air quality in the room, the fans come on automatically when they’re needed. It’s a much smarter system and it allows us to use a third of the energy than we did before.”

A true partnership Key to the project’s success has been WAC’s WAC is now considered to be one of Seattle's greenest buildings partnership with MacDonald-Miller. “They were fundamental to the success of this already, but we can do so much more. Our to give WAC a business model that has project,” says Lowber. “They did all of the next step is to get the team accessing the turned their building into a cash machine.” work and we watched over their shoulders MobileHMI dashboard via mobile devices so For anyone still unsure whether to embark to learn how the system operates. Over the that they can always see what’s going on in on a smart energy saving project, Paul last two years they’ve helped us with the the building no matter where they are.” Lowber, Bill Cohen and Mike Young have fine-tuning and they continue to ensure we’re Based on this project’s success, two words of advice: don’t wait. “Do it now,” using the equipment as effectively as possible. MacDonald-Miller has already rolled the says Lowber. “The technology is already out Because they have access to our system, they ICONICS system out to other buildings. there, so don’t wait for the next big leap. can provide immediate assistance without “Microsoft Azure gives us massive Our financial agreement with MacDonald- having to send out a technician each time.” scalability and makes the MobileHMI App Miller has meant that we haven’t had to pay Even though WAC is already achieving an extremely adaptable solution,” says upfront, but the energy savings we’re making impressive results, the work doesn’t stop England. “We can take what we’ve done so far would have ensured a fast return on there. “We’re working closely with the with WAC and apply it to a small building investment anyway.” WAC team to help them use their data-rich or a large campus – in the most cost- “And whatever you do, make sure that environment to further modify their building effective way. Regardless of the types and the system you install is scalable,” adds practices and become even more energy sizes of buildings we are managing, we can Young. “We have confidence in our solution efficient,” says Perry England, vice president provide them with full business analytics. and know that it will scale and adapt to of building performance at MacDonald- Microsoft Azure has undoubtedly been key our needs. Having access to unlimited Miller. “We’ve achieved impressive savings to this project’s success. We have been able computational horsepower is invaluable.”

www.onwindows.com Cover story Solution profileprofile Smart buildings and infrastructures Smart buildings and infrastructures

The ICONICS MobileHMI App is also helping to dramatically reduce energy Allowing full visibility of consumption throughout the building. “It’s staggering how much less energy we’re using by having the ability to turn things down or off and only use them when the environment buildings’ equipment calls for it,” says Young. “We’ve experienced real success in our group exercise spaces, for example. On any given day, our exercise spaces Melissa Topp, director of global marketing at ICONICS, explains how fault detection and diagnostics is can be used for a whole range of activities influencing a paradigm shift in the way organisations monitor, detect and repair faults within building equipment including yoga, Pilates and aerobics. Some of those classes like a nice cool room, especially Widespread smart city initiatives and government sustainability meaning a facility manager can monitor the status of equipment across the spinning group, but the yoga class likes a incentives are putting pressure on public sector organisations to multiple buildings and campuses while working in another facility. warm environment. With the new system, we reduce consumption and cut energy costs. Because of this, ICONICS Once public sector organisations are successful with monitoring have the ability to drive the temperatures up have seen increasing interest in smart buildings solutions that and repairing faults, they are then able to involve citizens in their and down at will. And we can schedule those improve monitoring of building automation equipment and energy wider sustainability strategy. For example, students could be changes with very little time between classes. systems to identify faults and improve efficiency. given access to data regarding which dormitory is the most energy It’s really handy and, most importantly, it takes A major challenge is getting insight from disparate energy systems efficient, to incentivise them and encourage a wider acceptance of the controls off the wall.” and building automation equipment that span organisations’ campuses the strategy. Likewise, neighbourhoods could compete for the most The team is achieving similar results in or facilities. Facility managers lack a single view of their facility and, efficient energy usage or the lowest water consumption. Involving all the kitchen area. “We used to turn all the without the ability to correlate the data, they’re unable to recognise possible stakeholders in the process is the secret to a truly successful extractor fans on as soon as we fired up the patterns that equate to the loss of millions of dollars in energy costs. deployment, with Facility AnalytiX as its cornerstone. kitchen at 6am,” says Lowber. “Those fans Some organisations are cautious of smart building solutions because of would run all day until we closed at 10pm. a preconception that they will have to rip and replace all the equipment Now, with the sensors and a system that in their buildings. But that’s not the case with ICONICS’ Facility AnalytiX. “Any building automation measures the air quality in the room, the fans Because it is an open integration platform, any building automation come on automatically when they’re needed. equipment or device can be integrated into the solution. equipment or device can It’s a much smarter system and it allows us to ICONICS’ Facility AnalytiX is driving a paradigm shift away from use a third of the energy than we did before.” retro-commissioning to continuous commissioning. Historically, be integrated into the facility managers of large campuses such as universities, government A true partnership organisations, hospitals or airports will follow a maintenance solution” Key to the project’s success has been WAC’s WAC is now considered to be one of Seattle's greenest buildings schedule and work their way through each building to monitor partnership with MacDonald-Miller. “They every piece of equipment and system. In some cases, they may only were fundamental to the success of this already, but we can do so much more. Our to give WAC a business model that has get to some buildings once every five years. And after reviewing and project,” says Lowber. “They did all of the next step is to get the team accessing the turned their building into a cash machine.” repairing the faults, the equipment starts to degrade again as soon Melissa Topp work and we watched over their shoulders MobileHMI dashboard via mobile devices so For anyone still unsure whether to embark as they leave the building. In contrast, Facility AnalytiX allows users ICONICS to learn how the system operates. Over the that they can always see what’s going on in on a smart energy saving project, Paul to have full visibility of their entire facility and continuously casts a last two years they’ve helped us with the the building no matter where they are.” Lowber, Bill Cohen and Mike Young have net for faults. The solution then allows them to dig further into the fine-tuning and they continue to ensure we’re Based on this project’s success, two words of advice: don’t wait. “Do it now,” fault information and make informed decisions about where to spend using the equipment as effectively as possible. MacDonald-Miller has already rolled the says Lowber. “The technology is already out resources based on costs and priorities. Because they have access to our system, they ICONICS system out to other buildings. there, so don’t wait for the next big leap. Based on fault detection and diagnostics (FDD) technology, Facility can provide immediate assistance without “Microsoft Azure gives us massive Our financial agreement with MacDonald- AnalytiX has three main features: customisable rules for detecting having to send out a technician each time.” scalability and makes the MobileHMI App Miller has meant that we haven’t had to pay faults; dynamic cost calculations to help prioritise faults; and Even though WAC is already achieving an extremely adaptable solution,” says upfront, but the energy savings we’re making visualisation to diagnose and repair faults. impressive results, the work doesn’t stop England. “We can take what we’ve done so far would have ensured a fast return on Facility AnalytiX comes with more than 300 tested and there. “We’re working closely with the with WAC and apply it to a small building investment anyway.” preconfigured fault rules for common building automation equipment, WAC team to help them use their data-rich or a large campus – in the most cost- “And whatever you do, make sure that while advanced diagnostics suggest probable causes for faults. Historic environment to further modify their building effective way. Regardless of the types and the system you install is scalable,” adds trends are also provided so users can view how many times the fault practices and become even more energy sizes of buildings we are managing, we can Young. “We have confidence in our solution has occurred over recent weeks, months or even years to determine efficient,” says Perry England, vice president provide them with full business analytics. and know that it will scale and adapt to a recurring problem. All of this is visualised as easy-to-consume text, of building performance at MacDonald- Microsoft Azure has undoubtedly been key our needs. Having access to unlimited graphs or charts. For improved mobility, users can deploy the solution Miller. “We’ve achieved impressive savings to this project’s success. We have been able computational horsepower is invaluable.” on a cloud connector and access the data from anywhere at any time, Facility AnalytiX’s dashboard provides easy access to information

www.onwindows.com 2931 Feature Healthcare

“Patients trust medical advisors with sensitive information and it must be protected“

www.onwindows.com A healthy trust Today’s healthcare services need to be patient centric, cost efficient and compliant. Jacqui Griffiths finds out how the cloud can give healthcare providers the confidence to achieve these goals

Healthcare providers face the challenge says Jordan. “Microsoft has been building of providing up-to-the-minute, patient- robust, enterprise-class security capabilities centric care on increasingly tight budgets. such as data loss protection, legal hold, e-mail They need to make sure sensitive data retention and e-mail encryption into its cloud is secure, compliant and accessible to technologies from the ground up, and the those who need it, wherever they are. great advantage of the cloud environment is Microsoft and its partners are using the that we can do this on a huge scale.” cloud to deliver the trust, compliance and Security is essential, but it’s also crucial flexibility that health professionals – and that control of the data lies solely in the their patients – demand. hands of those who own it. “It’s important “Patients trust medical advisors with to make sure that customers have complete incredibly sensitive information and it must control over permissions, so that only those be protected,” says Neil Jordan, worldwide who are authorised to see a record can general manager for the health industry at actually see it,” says Jordan. “All healthcare Microsoft. “Data breaches do a lot more data in Microsoft cloud solutions is than just harm reputation – they can maintained in the control of the people who actually put patients at risk.” originally create it, whether that’s enterprise For those who think that data stored customers or consumers. Microsoft may in the cloud is more vulnerable, the truth manage the trusted cloud environment, but may come as a shock. “According to data we make sure we never even see the data.” from the US, most breaches of the HIPAA regulations are physical breaches, and almost A question of compliance all the breaches of computing devices occur With a wide variety of laws and regulations on premise, through the loss or theft of a governing data management across the machine that wasn’t adequately secured,” world, a key question raised by many

3331 Feature Healthcare

tablets, PDAs and smartphones. Using the woken during the night unless needed, and trusted cloud, it was able to provide unified tasks can be filtered according to location to communications including telephone, optimise productivity.” e-mail, video and chat, enabling improved The Kinecting Parkinson’s project being collaboration for staff and volunteers. trialled by Softronic and Karolinska University Softronic’s Care Innovation solution, which Hospital sees patients with Parkinson’s disease runs on top of Microsoft Office 365, enables using Kinect for Windows to help them do healthcare organisations to capture ideas rehabilitation exercises at home while enabling from employees, partners and patients, and to physicians to remotely monitor their patients’ process them until they become innovations progress. “Several areas across Europe are that can be deployed. “This is a simple process looking at different ways to use consumer that enables organisations to design their technologies like Kinect for healthcare,” says own innovations,” says Mathias Kjellberg, von Dewall. “When you invade people’s business unit manager for healthcare at homes with medical monitoring equipment, Softronic. “It can be used internally, with they want it to be through things that they partners, externally or with patients. It enables know and trust. Not only are consumer organisations to harvest ideas and work out technologies easy for patients to understand, cross-functional themes, with users viewing they also drive continuous development. We the idea from different angles.” know that Microsoft will continue to develop “It’s no longer a question “One of the greatest advantages of the Kinect, and that we can continue to rely on cloud is that it allows organisations to great technology.” of whether to adopt the cross a lot of the traditional infrastructural barriers which stop them from being patient- Effective data cloud – it’s a question of centric,” says Jordan. “When healthcare data Looking ahead, the cloud is set to play an resides in the cloud, it can move where the increasingly critical role in enabling the data patient needs to move, all with the right management needs of healthcare organisations. when and how fast“ levels of trustworthiness and privacy. Many “Long term, with the right permissions, the organisations that move to Office 365 do so ability of the cloud to aggregate data and allow because they want to coordinate care across both individuals and institutions to make multiple facilities, and on-site solutions can better decisions on immediate and long-term be very limiting in terms of connectivity.” health trends is going to get much more powerful,” says Jordan. “We’ve seen partners health organisations is how the cloud local legislation. “We talked them through Microsoft has been taking the European it’s a live thing that facilitates real-time Familiar and intuitive like Predixion using cloud algorithms to enable affects the compliance of their data – and all the points that we measure and monitor privacy laws seriously, adopting those laws collaboration and communication between A further strength in breaking down people to do predictive business analytics on a it’s a question that Jordan and his team for them and how that complies with their and being approved for compliance with teams. You can actually get to a point where boundaries between healthcare professionals set of patients who are being discharged, and welcome. “We’ve discussed compliance legal standing,” says Jordan. “Not only the relevant EU regulations. That makes it none of the data ever resides on a device, and and patients – and reducing costs into the predicting which are likely to be readmitted with healthcare clients in many different did they move to the cloud, but we’ve easier for Softronic as a partner because we’re the device is effectively only a window into bargain – is Microsoft’s ability to provide a with related issues in the near future. It’s countries, and we look forward to giving now started to see large numbers of other working with a platform that we know is your system. But sometimes you want the data trusted cloud environment through familiar very difficult to do that unless you have large healthcare organisations the confidence to hospitals in Taiwan moving too. In fact compliant – in fact it’s usually more compliant to reside locally – for example, if you haven’t technologies. “The business-to-business (B2B) swathes of data, and that’s why the cloud is move to the trusted cloud,” he says. the minister for health has said that the than the IT department at the hospitals.” got a network or you don’t know whether and business-to-consumer (B2C) sides are such a great place for doing this sort of high For example in Germany, which is government is going to review its legislation you’re going to be able to connect. We support coming together in healthcare as enterprises computing business intelligence.” subject to strict laws about where data to make sure it’s up to date in terms of both Breaking barriers both of those scenarios securely on our own strive to become more patient centric,” says When it comes to sensitive data, trust is a is allowed to reside, the Eye on Health technology and consumer expectations.” While security and compliance are critical and other manufacturers’ devices. This is vital Kjellberg. “Many large technology providers multifaceted concept embracing high levels cloud-based service from KMS brings For partners, this attention to compliance requirements, accessibility is equally to the quality of care that’s delivered and to the have a complete B2C business model, but of usability, security, compliance and cost together constantly updated demographic means they can develop apps that healthcare important. The infinite elasticity of the cloud cost of healthcare delivery.” Microsoft’s interest in B2B clients makes it effectiveness. The cloud is already delivering and clinical information but allows it to institutions feel confident using. “With means that it can support anytime, anywhere For example, Netherlands homecare much easier to create business solutions with those capabilities to some healthcare providers, work on premise. “This is a hybrid cloud Microsoft, we know that we can prove the access to data as well as spikes in demand. provider Florence Zorg has connected some familiar Microsoft technology. For example, and many others look set to join them. “The environment, enabling some of the work technology works, so the devices that we’re “This data is becoming mission-critical for 4,000 employees and 1,500 volunteers Softronic’s Doctor on Duty solution is being technological and financial imperatives for to be done in the cloud while the data using now will be approved by healthcare the operation of hospitals and health systems working in residential homes through its trialled by doctors using their mobile devices. accelerating use of the cloud in healthcare continues to reside on premise,” says Jordan. users,” says Gustaf von Dewall, business in general,” says Jordan. “The cloud provides ‘Floris’ portal based on Office 365. The It uses a Windows 8 app, built on Azure, are unquestionable,” concludes Jordan. “It’s In Taiwan, the Mackay Hospital had development manager of healthcare at the elasticity to support large numbers of organisation needed to connect employees to alert on-call doctors to open tasks. Alert no longer a question of whether to adopt the similar questions over compliance with Softronic in Sweden. “We’re impressed that users. It’s not just about storing information, and volunteers at various locations through levels can be set so that doctors won’t be cloud – it’s a question of when and how fast.”

www.onwindows.com 33 tablets, PDAs and smartphones. Using the woken during the night unless needed, and trusted cloud, it was able to provide unified tasks can be filtered according to location to communications including telephone, optimise productivity.” e-mail, video and chat, enabling improved The Kinecting Parkinson’s project being collaboration for staff and volunteers. trialled by Softronic and Karolinska University Softronic’s Care Innovation solution, which Hospital sees patients with Parkinson’s disease runs on top of Microsoft Office 365, enables using Kinect for Windows to help them do healthcare organisations to capture ideas rehabilitation exercises at home while enabling from employees, partners and patients, and to physicians to remotely monitor their patients’ process them until they become innovations progress. “Several areas across Europe are that can be deployed. “This is a simple process looking at different ways to use consumer that enables organisations to design their technologies like Kinect for healthcare,” says own innovations,” says Mathias Kjellberg, von Dewall. “When you invade people’s business unit manager for healthcare at homes with medical monitoring equipment, Softronic. “It can be used internally, with they want it to be through things that they partners, externally or with patients. It enables know and trust. Not only are consumer organisations to harvest ideas and work out technologies easy for patients to understand, cross-functional themes, with users viewing they also drive continuous development. We the idea from different angles.” know that Microsoft will continue to develop “One of the greatest advantages of the Kinect, and that we can continue to rely on cloud is that it allows organisations to great technology.” cross a lot of the traditional infrastructural barriers which stop them from being patient- Effective data centric,” says Jordan. “When healthcare data Looking ahead, the cloud is set to play an resides in the cloud, it can move where the increasingly critical role in enabling the data patient needs to move, all with the right management needs of healthcare organisations. levels of trustworthiness and privacy. Many “Long term, with the right permissions, the organisations that move to Office 365 do so ability of the cloud to aggregate data and allow because they want to coordinate care across both individuals and institutions to make multiple facilities, and on-site solutions can better decisions on immediate and long-term be very limiting in terms of connectivity.” health trends is going to get much more powerful,” says Jordan. “We’ve seen partners it’s a live thing that facilitates real-time Familiar and intuitive like Predixion using cloud algorithms to enable collaboration and communication between A further strength in breaking down people to do predictive business analytics on a teams. You can actually get to a point where boundaries between healthcare professionals set of patients who are being discharged, and none of the data ever resides on a device, and and patients – and reducing costs into the predicting which are likely to be readmitted the device is effectively only a window into bargain – is Microsoft’s ability to provide a with related issues in the near future. It’s your system. But sometimes you want the data trusted cloud environment through familiar very difficult to do that unless you have large to reside locally – for example, if you haven’t technologies. “The business-to-business (B2B) swathes of data, and that’s why the cloud is got a network or you don’t know whether and business-to-consumer (B2C) sides are such a great place for doing this sort of high you’re going to be able to connect. We support coming together in healthcare as enterprises computing business intelligence.” both of those scenarios securely on our own strive to become more patient centric,” says When it comes to sensitive data, trust is a and other manufacturers’ devices. This is vital Kjellberg. “Many large technology providers multifaceted concept embracing high levels to the quality of care that’s delivered and to the have a complete B2C business model, but of usability, security, compliance and cost cost of healthcare delivery.” Microsoft’s interest in B2B clients makes it effectiveness. The cloud is already delivering For example, Netherlands homecare much easier to create business solutions with those capabilities to some healthcare providers, provider Florence Zorg has connected some familiar Microsoft technology. For example, and many others look set to join them. “The 4,000 employees and 1,500 volunteers Softronic’s Doctor on Duty solution is being technological and financial imperatives for working in residential homes through its trialled by doctors using their mobile devices. accelerating use of the cloud in healthcare ‘Floris’ portal based on Office 365. The It uses a Windows 8 app, built on Azure, are unquestionable,” concludes Jordan. “It’s organisation needed to connect employees to alert on-call doctors to open tasks. Alert no longer a question of whether to adopt the and volunteers at various locations through levels can be set so that doctors won’t be cloud – it’s a question of when and how fast.”

33 Feature Smart buildings and infrastructures

Microsoft has turned its own 500-acre headquarters into a smart, energy-effi cient campus

Climate change is top of the agenda for Aside from targeting power plants, United States Environmental Protection government leaders today. President as well as the transportation, waste Agency estimates that commercial and Obama recently proposed regulations management and industrial sectors, industrial buildings contribute 45% of the to significantly reduce the greenhouse government leaders are also putting greenhouse gas footprint in the US. And, gases produced by power plants across huge emphasis on the role that cities in 2013, CDP found that, together, the 110 every US state. China has said that it – and specifically cities’ buildings and global cities that took part in its annual will put a cap on its carbon dioxide infrastructures – can play in helping to cities and climate change survey produce emissions by as early as 2016. And in reduce greenhouse gases. Why? Because, just over one billion metric tonnes of Europe, the EU has made a commitment according to the World Business Council greenhouse gas emissions per year. To put to reduce overall greenhouse gas for Sustainable Development, buildings that into context, it puts them on par with emissions from its 28 member states by account for around 40% of global energy Japan – the world’s third largest economy 20% compared to 1990 levels. It plans to consumption. They are also one of the and fourth largest emitter of greenhouse achieve this by 2020. highest producers of greenhouse gases. The gas emissions.

www.onwindows.com Feature Smart buildings and infrastructures Smart and sustainable Buildings are one of the top consumers of energy and produce a vast proportion of the world’s greenhouse gases. As leaders do what they can to reduce their cities’ carbon footprints, Microsoft believes that it is

Microsoft has turned its own 500-acre headquarters IT innovation that will help to build truly sustainable into a smart, energy-effi cient campus places to work and live. Rebecca Lambert reports

Climate change is top of the agenda for Aside from targeting power plants, United States Environmental Protection Meeting targets Sector at Microsoft. “I’ve recently been energy and water. You also have to take into government leaders today. President as well as the transportation, waste Agency estimates that commercial and The good news is that cities the world over speaking with leaders in a large US city on the account things such as the city’s arena, which Obama recently proposed regulations management and industrial sectors, industrial buildings contribute 45% of the are starting to introduce measures to reduce West Coast, for example. They are wrestling hosts local concerts and sporting events. On to significantly reduce the greenhouse government leaders are also putting greenhouse gas footprint in the US. And, their greenhouse gas footprint. According with how to achieve efficiencies across their top of that you have places such as the city zoo, gases produced by power plants across huge emphasis on the role that cities in 2013, CDP found that, together, the 110 to the CDP Cities 2013 report, of the 110 city. They have initiatives to drive sustainability public parking and the city campus. For each every US state. China has said that it – and specifically cities’ buildings and global cities that took part in its annual cities that took part in its survey, more than to help the city grow from an economic of these infrastructures you have a whole host will put a cap on its carbon dioxide infrastructures – can play in helping to cities and climate change survey produce 70% said they have a plan for adapting standpoint, reduce carbon emissions and of issues to manage – energy use, water supply, emissions by as early as 2016. And in reduce greenhouse gases. Why? Because, just over one billion metric tonnes of to the effects of climate change. They also apply clean technologies to improve citizens’ lighting, transportation, parking and so on. Europe, the EU has made a commitment according to the World Business Council greenhouse gas emissions per year. To put highlighted more than 1,000 individual quality of life. But when you start looking at “The interesting thing is there are a lot to reduce overall greenhouse gas for Sustainable Development, buildings that into context, it puts them on par with actions they are taking to cut emissions. the big systems that they are operating, you of point solutions available on the market emissions from its 28 member states by account for around 40% of global energy Japan – the world’s third largest economy “Many of the city leaders I talk to have realise just how much they have to manage. today to help address any one of these 20% compared to 1990 levels. It plans to consumption. They are also one of the and fourth largest emitter of greenhouse carbon footprint targets to meet,” says Bill Their city airport is, in effect, a microcosm of issues,” Mitchel continues. “A city can choose achieve this by 2020. highest producers of greenhouse gases. The gas emissions. Mitchel, senior director of Worldwide Public an entire city and consumes vast amounts of from a portfolio of IT solutions and begin

www.onwindows.com 3721 Feature Smart buildings and infrastructures

to optimise its infrastructure by having the ability to detect issues before they cause major problems, prioritise maintenance, and ensure parts of a building are running at optimum levels to reduce energy use.” The public and private sectors have already made a great deal of progress by using these singular smart building technologies to drive efficiencies and reduce operating costs across individual buildings. According to Mitchel, though, the next step to creating a truly smart city is to integrate all these point solutions and start making sense of all the data they produce to make informed decisions. “When you achieve that, you can really start to understand how everything runs,” he says. “You can begin to detect patterns and determine when there will be peaks in demand for electricity, for example.”

Putting a smart strategy in place Microsoft has already succeeded in demonstrating just how powerful a connected smart building solution can be. Microsoft's 88 acres project in Redmond is saving the company millions of dollars each year Last year it unveiled the results of a pilot project, which has seen the company turn “Give me a little data and I’ll tell you a little,” systems,” says Mitchel. “Our solution identifies its own 500-acre headquarters into a smart, said Smith in Microsoft’s story 88 Acres: How all of the individual components and pulls all energy-efficient campus. Microsoft Quietly Built the City of the Future. of the data they produce to achieve campus- In basic terms, the project involved “Give me a lot of data and I’ll save the world.” wide visual maintenance.” stitching together 35,000 sensors across Today, the team collects around 500 million The plan now is to take Microsoft’s smart the campus to report on everything from data transactions every 24 hours, and the smart buildings approach worldwide and help the ideal time to turn lights on and off, to buildings software presents engineers with governments and businesses turn their monitoring the ongoing battles between prioritised lists of misbehaving equipment. buildings and, eventually, cities into data- air conditioners and heaters. Then, a team “The success of 88 acres is based on the driven brains. “88 acres is an anchor for us,” led by Darrell Smith, Microsoft’s director ability to carry out continuous commissioning says Mitchel. “We’re showing how we can of facilities and energy, with the help of and conditional maintenance – going apply Microsoft and partner solutions, and vendors including ICONICS, applied an through all the systems in a building and underpin them with a state-of-the-art approach ‘internet of things meets big data’ approach ensuring that they are running at optimum to create efficient, smart buildings. It’s applying to invent a data-driven software solution levels,” says Mitchel. “The concept of the process to the technology that delivers the using exclusively off-the-shelf Microsoft conditional maintenance originated with results; the strategy is key.” software such as Microsoft Azure, SQL critical equipment, such as a jet engine on a More recently, as part of the Seattle Server and Office. Today, the solution is commercial aircraft. These types of equipment 2030 District initiative – a public-private slashing the cost of operating over 100 transmit operational data whenever they’re collaborative of downtown Seattle property campus buildings by millions of dollars running so that they can be monitored on an owners and managers that has established each year. ongoing basis to check for faults and general a 50% energy use reduction goal by 2030 As soon as the system was turned on, wear and tear. Ultimately, you don’t want any – Microsoft has been conducting a pilot Microsoft was able to fix a multitude of issues, system or piece of equipment to underperform using Accenture’s Smart Building & Energy some of which had gone unnoticed for months or fail, so this approach significantly reduces Solutions, which identifies and implements and years. For example, Smith and his team the risk of that happening.” energy savings opportunities, alongside found that the exhaust fans in one garage had The Microsoft smart campus project takes Azure cloud technology. been left on mistakenly for a year, amounting this concept and applies it on a larger scale. The energy management software is being to US$66,000 of wasted energy. “Simply put, a building is an aggregation of used in a number of buildings, including the

www.onwindows.com Viewpoint Recreating 88 acres

Since its involvement in the Microsoft 88 acres project, ICONICS has seen a surge Seattle Municipal Tower, Sheraton Hotel, in demand for sustainability, and fault detection and diagnostics solutions. Russ Boeing and the University of Washington Agrusa explains why smart cities are now a close reality School of Medicine’s research building, and will be rolled out to more buildings over the The Microsoft 88 acres project has been a Over the next few years I think that smart coming months and years (you can read more major story for us to point to when talking buildings will be commonplace. Ultimately, about the ICONICS software implementation about smart building implementations with what makes up a smart building/campus/ at Washington Athletic Club in the cover story our customers. Ultimately, the success of this city is connected data and information. The on page 24). The solution collects data from project came down to a small group of people internet of things is really driving this, and the myriad of systems in those buildings and that were willing to think outside the box there are already a lot of connected sensors uses data analytics to provide a prescriptive and create a state-of-the-art ‘brain’ to turn out there today. The next step will be to look approach to how the building management Microsoft’s headquarters into a smart campus. into how we can further extend our analytics systems can be tuned to improve energy Microsoft had the core technologies to power capabilities and think about how we tie in efficiency. The pilot is expected to help Seattle this, but needed the applications we built on people – they’re sensors too, after all. Pretty achieve energy and maintenance savings of top of the stack to deliver specifi c functionality much everybody has a phone or tablet today, between 10% and 25%. such as fault detection and diagnostics. so we need to fi nd a way of integrating these By using the latest IT to make buildings Our teams at ICONICS are now talking to devices with our systems so that people can smarter and more efficient, Microsoft and many cities around the world to help them report issues and provide feedback. We its partners are helping cities such as Seattle build their own 88 acres concept. To make it shouldn’t just be thinking about the internet of reduce their carbon footprint and address clear, this isn’t an out-of-the-box solution, but things, it’s about the internet of people too. climate change. “IT innovation is the there are certain methodologies and core foundation of 21st century smart cities,” says technologies that they can take advantage Russ Agrusa is CEO Mitchel. “Cloud and big data technologies in of to realise the same kinds of benefi ts. We’re of ICONICS. To ﬁ nd particular will help leaders deliver services already working with some early adopters, and out more about what that make cities competitive and sustainable. we look forward to sharing their successes and ICONICS is doing in I believe that we’re only just beginning to tap showing everybody just how much potential this space, read the into the potential of the technology that we this approach has. cover story overleaf have to create truly smart and efficient cities.”

2339 Feature Public safety and justice Helping to make cities safer Public safety and justice organisations need better and timelier access to information to help them deliver improved services to their growing cities. Amber Stokes reports

According to the latest Crime in the United to focus on social media,” says DR Andrew across the globe has made crime mobile and States report published by the FBI, the Hawkins, managing director of public safety increased the need for nations to work together estimated number of violent crimes reported and national security at Microsoft in EMEA. more efficiently,” says Hawkins. . to law enforcement in 2012 increased over “A good example of this is the International Microsoft is committed to supporting 2011 figures. While cities worldwide work Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) which public safety and justice organisations hard to reduce crime rates, the growing has set up a social media centre for its 17,000 in helping to make their borders and threat of cyber attacks also means that new members. Equally, first responders are seeing communities safer. Microsoft demonstrates kinds of crimes are entering their radar. the importance of social media to both warn this through the Microsoft CityNext Plus, with more than 50% of the world’s citizens of disasters and emergencies and seek initiative. Microsoft CityNext aims to population living in urban areas today, the early warnings from citizens about imminent address public safety and justice operational demands on city public safety and justice dangers to safety.” requirements across the life cycle, including organisations are higher than ever. Hawkins explains that this was witnessed inter-relationships with other government As a result, police, judicial and during Hurricane Sandy when over 800,000 organisations and community groups corrections organisations worldwide have Flicker photographs were uploaded and within a city, such as ambulance crews, to rapidly acquire new skills and tools and millions of Twitter messages were sent to the hospitals, academia, civil defence and also form strong public-private partnerships emergency services. Furthermore, as seen in disaster response teams, social services and in order to combat the changing threats to riots, social media can be used both to combat neighbourhood watch groups. This holistic public safety today. crime, and to plan and coordinate unrest by strategy is built on five key pillars upon public order instigators. which Microsoft and its partner community Enabling full collaboration “In addition, we have also witnessed the aim to deliver innovative on-premise, “A paradigm shift is taking place in order to globalisation of crime – which has led to more cloud and mobile solutions and services. conquer these threats, where law enforcement than 3,500 organised crime gangs operating These are: neighbourhood management, organisations are setting up specialist units in Europe alone – where the ease of travel surveillance systems, emergency

www.onwindows.com management, intelligence and analysis, and But it also extends more broadly to citizen court and judicial management. and public collaboration and communication “Multiple public safety, government and too: a neighbourhood watch group can share health organisations work hard to improve information with schools, police and fire citizen safety – from first response, law stations; social services can share information enforcement, to criminal justice – and the key is with the housing department; and the police allowing these agencies to work together, share can share information with the prosecution information, collaborate and communicate in and probation services. A great example of real time,” says Hawkins. “If cities can achieve community-police collaboration is the cloud- “Public sector this, they can enable fire and rescue, police and based citizen portal set-up by the New Delhi justice officers and officials to have access to Police to help people find their local police important information at all times. This allows stations and know who to talk too. organisations them to make informed decisions, which will But the collaboration shouldn’t be ultimately allow them to respond quicker and contained in the city or within a single and citizens can more effectively to mitigate natural and man- nation. In the same way that Interpol made emergencies, combat crimes and prevent works, police can provide other forces or work together to acts of terrorism – often preventing such organisations in different countries with disasters to occur in the first place.” digital evidence, sharing fingerprints, DNA make cities safer” Hawkins explains that law enforcement information, photographs and details of officers can gather and collectively assess offences to assist with international crime existing and new information to prevent crime, fighting. If wider real-time collaboration is which requires better collaboration within and made easier, then organisations and citizens Andrew Hawkins between police, fire and justice organisations. can work together to make cities safer. Microsoft

4131 Feature Public safety and justice

Enabling efficient use of IT safety organisations choose the Venue Mobile devices – whether they’re being 11 Pro for its unique enhanced security used by a member of the community in a features,” says Chris Browne, NATO global neighbourhood watch group, a fire fighter account manager at Dell. “While the en route to an emergency, or a prosecutor Windows 8.1 platform already offers great in court – are undoubtedly transforming security features, the Venue 11 Pro also the public safety and justice landscape and has optional multi-factor authentication paving the way for effective, real-time, multi- features such as a smart card reader and agency collaboration. fingerprint reader that make it an essential A number of OEM devices are an ideal fit tool in public safety.” “Enabling more for the very specific needs of public safety But there is another way that organisations. For example, Dell’s Latitude organisations can improve their efficiency 12 Rugged Extreme convertible notebook and ultimately respond faster to situations, effi cient IT can and Latitude 14 Rugged Extreme notebook which is sometimes initially overlooked, are ideal for first responders that need adds Browne. “In order to ensure that first mean more mobile access while out in the field. Where responders and law enforcement officers historically a police officer, for instance, have access to the right information at all effi cient delivery might have to carry a pen and notebook times, organisations need to optimise their with them and input information on a back-end systems,” he says. “Enabling of information” PC when back in the office, they are now more efficient IT can mean more efficient able to input data in real time on a rugged delivery of information. Organisations mobile device, which can be made available can present a better situational awareness to other people or organisations instantly. picture where everybody sees the same set Chris Browne “In situations where a rugged device of accurate information when it’s needed, Dell isn’t necessary, we’re seeing many public where it’s needed.”

www.onwindows.com Efficient IT

Examples of the ways Dell supports organisations with transforming IT infrastructure include:

Virtualisation: Dell virtualisation services help to simplify activities such as device provisioning, refresh cycle management, and delivery of IT services on demand. Setting up a high-efficiency virtual environment is also the first strategic step towards a successful cloud environment Automated service delivery: Dell helps government agencies define service catalogues, service-level agreements, and costing to serve stakeholders and automate service delivery with flexible solutions Application and infrastructure modernisation: these services help standardise, consolidate, simplify and automate technology platforms. In particular, Dell can work with government organisations on enterprise-scale data centre consolidation projects. For example, consolidating a significant number of data centres to fewer locations Application integration: enhanced integration of software can translate to heightened productivity through information sharing, fast reporting and clear visibility into integrated data First responders are using robust Windows 8 devices that Security: Dell SecureWorks serves provide them with access to information while out in the field government agencies worldwide with a comprehensive range of managed Some public safety organisations might more with their existing infrastructure and security, consulting and counter-threat indeed be aware of the benefits that this can remove any duplication, in order to make intelligence services. provide, but there are preconceptions that it is their IT run more efficiently.” fraught with difficulties, which are preventing Indeed, by improving the efficiency of IT, them from initiating such a project. For public safety organisations can ensure that instance, some organisations might assume vital information is shared more quickly that it requires them to rip and replace and more accurately to the endpoint. But, existing assets. And some organisations Browne explains that there are many more simply don’t like the idea of jeopardising a benefits to this. Not only can organisations mission-critical system that they depend on to enable cost-effective green IT, but they can run their operations. “Dell can demonstrate also reduce operational expenditure, which the many options that are available to allows them to free up further funding organisations,” Browne explains. “Using our that can be put towards other technology extensive solutions portfolio, rip and replace that enables emergency responders or law is often something we can avoid. Often, it is enforcement officers to carry out their work simply a case of enabling organisations to do and drive safer cities.

4333 Feature Public safety and justice QNH helps public

Interview Leaving no place for criminals to hide agencies in achieving

The Bloomington Police Department in the US recently implemented the NC4 Street Smart solution to their ambitions improve information sharing. Amber Stokes finds out how it is helping the organisation fight crime

What tools have police officers been used to? Microsoft based public solutions Chief Mike Diekhoff, Bloomington Police: Previously, we ran time- consuming paper processes that prevented our police officers from seeing all information at all times. Crime is changing and if policing doesn’t change with it, then we’re going to struggle to solve new types of crime. In my agency, we put computers in police cars 20 years ago, but we’ve recently looked at different ways to use technology to allow us to get the right information in the hands of the officers and to make them more efficient. “When the cops are able to collaborate in this way, there’s Why might some organisations be cautious when considering new solutions? no place for criminals to hide” Diekhoff: Security is perhaps the biggest concern. Law enforcement agencies have to work with a lot of confidential data, and the storage and sharing of this is protected by various laws in our state. Also, when you consider that the average police department is not very large, Rob Wolf budgets are limited on how much they can spend on technology. NC4

Tell us about NC4 Street Smart. Explain the implementation at Bloomington Police. Rob Wolf, vice president for public safety and emergency Diekhoff: Two years ago I reviewed our crime statistics closely. management, NC4: Built on Microsoft SharePoint 2013, SQL Server The town is home to 40,000 university students, and where 2012 and Esri’s geospatial technology, NC4 Street Smart allows crime was dropping elsewhere in the country, ours was either frontline officers to better share information across the department. staying the same or increasing. So I started looking at how It acts as a forum for users to share unstructured information and we operated. We built a new dispatch centre and while we ideas that aren’t normally accessible to other people, and that’s implemented a new records management system, we still combined with the structured data, like reports and crime history, struggled to share information. We have over 100 police officers enabling quicker and more efficient crime solving. that work shifts 24/7 and we found they just weren’t getting the same accurate information. I was invited to see how the Tampa Police Department was already using NC4 Street Smart and I instantly knew it was the perfect solution. We’ve had the solution running for around two months now and we have completely eliminated paper processes. For the first time in my 27 years as a police officer, we have everybody accessing the same information, and we’ve already had successes solving some crimes. I haven’t ever QNH provides public solutions that stimulate collaboration, communication and publishing within seen my officers this excited about a piece of software. If a “NC4 Street Smart is a key piece technology isn’t easy to use, cops simply won’t use it! NC4 or beyond the borders of organizations. Our solutions put the citizen, student and patient in the of software that has ultimately Street Smart is a key piece of software that has ultimately made center and ensure an efficient and transparent service. The solutions are ‘state of the art’ tools to crime fighting easier for us. We don’t let anything slip through made crime fighting easier” the cracks anymore. increase efficiency and reduce costs. Choose a cloud solution and you opt for a flexible cost model. Wolf: No other solution combines unstructured and structured data in this way. Plus, we have spent a lot of time understanding our customers and their needs, so the solution is easy to use for Mike Diekhoff police officers while out in the field. When the cops are able to Bloomington Police collaborate in this way, there’s no place for the criminals to hide.

www.qnh.eu www.onwindows.com Feature Public safety and justice QNH helps public

Interview Leaving no place for criminals to hide agencies in achieving

www.qnh.eu www.onwindows.com Feature - Choose colour title and boxouts to be same colour Feature Name Mobility Windows 8: Government

“Of the approximately 210 million government workers worldwide, only about reflecting one in six have desk jobs that keep them connected to their city’s IT network. About public sector 175 million government workers – most, if not all, of whom have phones in their pockets – are off the IT grid all day and not receiving employee services,” explains Joel Cherkis, general manager, worldwide Case study government at Microsoft. “By connecting Ashburton District Council needs these employees, governments can increase their day-to-day efficiency, deliver the services they need to thrive in their! jobs – A council in New Zealand found a solution that improves mobility and and help their city thrive as a result.” productivity, without compromising on security through Windows Phone 8 Cherkis says there are four steps that governments should take when considering Ashburton District in the South Island of their mobile strategies: New Zealand covers 6,175 square kilometres 1) Ask workers what they need. Your and has a population of approximately police officers, bus drivers, park rangers 32,000. Approximately 45 of the district’s 120 and garbage collectors may not have employees are mobile, providing services Standfirst - can be your choice of size/font etc. city computers, but I guarantee they such as road, park and forestry maintenance; have cell phones. So ask what you can animal control; and building, health, water, do for them to improve productivity and waste facility inspections. Previously, these and make their jobs better employees, together with many members of 2) Adopt new technologies and services. the executive team, used only basic mobile The goal is to enable employees to work phones for voice communications. console in Windows Intune to run mobile device seamlessly on any device. When you do, Ashburton District Council wanted to management tasks remotely. you also must manage and govern those enable a more modern, flexible workplace but The IT staff chooses Windows Store apps devices to protect private data also wanted a solution that would allow IT to for the Company Portal to improve the work 3) Outfit your office properly. Your office manage these devices and the corporate data experience for mobile staff. For example, building Public sector organisations are searching for mobile solutions that spaces must change to support people stored on them. The council deployed Nokia inspectors use a spirit level app, and the council who rarely spend time in the office. Lumina 620 and Lumina 920 Windows Phone 8 is considering replacing an expensive vehicle meet the demands of their empowered workers and citizens without Enable employees all over your city to smartphones to mobile staff and executives, and tracking solution with a Windows Store app compromising security. Amber Stokes explores how the use of work together by equipping your meeting subscribed to the Windows Intune service. The called FollowMe, so that staff can locate council rooms with big screens, webcams and IT staff can use the cloud-based administration vehicles remotely. Windows 8 devices and apps is helping them to achieve this sound systems so they can host Lync or Skype meetings 4) Talk to your peers. Constantly look at what other cities have achieved, like the Nearly half of the world’s citizens will be using the internet by advantage of Windows 8 for the public sector is how seamlessly it Ashburton District in New Zealand. Government app showcase 2017, and almost two-thirds of that proportion will be using bridges between the desktop and other devices,” says Russ Agrusa, a mobile device, according to Forrester Research World Online ICONICS’ CEO and president. “We want to give our customers a Spotfire Metrics 360° eWorker Casenot.es Population Forecast, 2012 to 2017. With the consumerisation of consistent experience when moving to different devices, and by It provides real-time 360° eWorker is the mobile The remote version of IT, public sector organisations worldwide are starting to consider using a Windows 8 app running on a tablet, for example, they visualisations of a city's data. client for Software Innovation's Semitae Lite developed by mobile solutions that meet the needs of both their ever-mobile don’t have be trained to use it because it has the same look and For example, highlighting the 360° document and case IEG4, this app enables field workforce and empowered citizens. Public sector organisations feel as the applications they are used to – because it’s Microsoft.” location of crime reports or management system. It social workers to review and need a mobile solution that is both flexible and secure, however. Agrusa adds that there is no compromise with Windows 8. disturbance complaints so enables mobile workers update a citizen’s support Windows 8 devices and apps reflect these unique needs, While it is easy to use and offers improved flexibility for mobile emergency responders can be to manage resources on a needs and assessments providing rugged, flexible, secure, yet cost-effective solutions workers, it is still a secure, enterprise-grade platform ideal for sent to the right location. Windows 8 device. within a single screen view. that benefit both the mobile workforce and citizen. “Another public sector organisations.

www.onwindows.com 25 Feature Mobility

Government

“Of the approximately 210 million government workers worldwide, only about one in six have desk jobs that keep them connected to their city’s IT network. About 175 million government workers – most, if not all, of whom have phones in their pockets – are off the IT grid all day and not receiving employee services,” explains Joel Cherkis, general manager, worldwide Case study government at Microsoft. “By connecting Ashburton District Council these employees, governments can increase their day-to-day efficiency, deliver the services they need to thrive in their! jobs – A council in New Zealand found a solution that improves mobility and and help their city thrive as a result.” productivity, without compromising on security through Windows Phone 8 Cherkis says there are four steps that governments should take when considering Ashburton District in the South Island of their mobile strategies: New Zealand covers 6,175 square kilometres 1) Ask workers what they need. Your and has a population of approximately police officers, bus drivers, park rangers 32,000. Approximately 45 of the district’s 120 and garbage collectors may not have employees are mobile, providing services city computers, but I guarantee they such as road, park and forestry maintenance; have cell phones. So ask what you can animal control; and building, health, water, do for them to improve productivity and waste facility inspections. Previously, these and make their jobs better employees, together with many members of 2) Adopt new technologies and services. the executive team, used only basic mobile The goal is to enable employees to work phones for voice communications. console in Windows Intune to run mobile device seamlessly on any device. When you do, Ashburton District Council wanted to management tasks remotely. you also must manage and govern those enable a more modern, flexible workplace but The IT staff chooses Windows Store apps devices to protect private data also wanted a solution that would allow IT to for the Company Portal to improve the work 3) Outfit your office properly. Your office manage these devices and the corporate data experience for mobile staff. For example, building spaces must change to support people stored on them. The council deployed Nokia inspectors use a spirit level app, and the council who rarely spend time in the office. Lumina 620 and Lumina 920 Windows Phone 8 is considering replacing an expensive vehicle Enable employees all over your city to smartphones to mobile staff and executives, and tracking solution with a Windows Store app work together by equipping your meeting subscribed to the Windows Intune service. The called FollowMe, so that staff can locate council rooms with big screens, webcams and IT staff can use the cloud-based administration vehicles remotely. sound systems so they can host Lync or Skype meetings 4) Talk to your peers. Constantly look at what other cities have achieved, like the Ashburton District in New Zealand. Government app showcase

Spotfire Metrics 360° eWorker Casenot.es It provides real-time 360° eWorker is the mobile The remote version of visualisations of a city's data. client for Software Innovation's Semitae Lite developed by For example, highlighting the 360° document and case IEG4, this app enables field location of crime reports or management system. It social workers to review and disturbance complaints so enables mobile workers update a citizen’s support emergency responders can be to manage resources on a needs and assessments sent to the right location. Windows 8 device. within a single screen view.

2547 Feature Mobility

Healthcare

According to Microsoft’s Neil Jordan, three eight-hours shifts, for example, they According to Jordan, through the use of general manager of worldwide health, can all login separately on the same tablet Windows 8 and Windows 8 devices, the tablet use in healthcare is going through a securely. The Surface Pro 2 is also certified healthcare industry can achieve three things: phase shift. “There was previously a lack for cleaning with sanitised cloths, which is 1) A better experience for patients, so that of business-ready mobile devices, so the essential in clinical environments. they’re more engaged and the information first phase was influenced by the trend of “There are also multiple Windows 8 that is given to them is more personalised bring your own device, and was isolated device sizes and types that are perfect for and more relevant – which ultimately to mainly doctors. They would take their different uses,” adds Jordan. “For example, results in better recovery own tablets into the hospital, but the IT a pharmacy worker might prefer to use an 2) Higher efficiency and quality of care in and department would struggle to manage eight-inch device like the Dell Venue Pro, outside of the hospital them and integrate them with the overall which is great for filling in prescriptions and 3) Increasing clinical adoption of healthcare IT. workflow,” Jordan explains. “You would is small enough to fit in a lab coat pocket. often find that doctors would use them for While a doctor, on the other hand, might Dell top five benefits for care providers: reference at a patient’s bedside, but then prefer a Surface.” 1) The Venue 8 Pro and Venue 11 Pro feature would have to go back to a PC to connect to Windows 8 apps integrate seamlessly with embedded security (trusted platform the hospital’s system.” hospital workflows. For example, Avanade’s module 1.2) and comply with Health But we’re now entering a second phase. Home Health app is being used in the home Insurance Portability and Accountability Act Windows 8 and Windows 8 devices enable hospitalisation department at Paris Hospitals. standards. The Venue 11 Pro also includes a clinical-grade environment for any health It provides remote access from patients’ an optional fingerprint and smartcard worker, where not only do applications homes to the information systems used to reader for keeping patient data safe integrate with the overall workflow, but the manage medical records. 2) The Venue 11 Pro comes with a stylus devices themselves are designed specifically Apps are also helping to support care and offers a peripheral ecosystem where to meet the unique requirements of the beyond the borders of the hospital. MedCase, customers have the option of adding a healthcare industry. which was an International Association of dock, keyboard, and a case with rotating Key features of the Microsoft Surface Pro Microsoft Channel Partners 2014 European hand strap, meaning healthcare workers 2, for example, include a digital pen, which App Cup winner in the B2B CityNext category, have the flexibility to do work from a allows clinicians to make patient notes on connects citizens and doctors in remote/rural desk for a traditional PC experience, or the touchscreen, and multiple ID capabilities, areas and ensures a seamless flow of care and as they’re moving from patient to patient which means if three nurses are working cure services and information in the country. both in the hospital or in the community 3) The Venue 8 Pro slides easily into a lab coat, folio or bag so clinicians can have access to information from anywhere they work Healthcare app showcase 4) The Venue 8 Pro and Venue 11 Pro provide over nine hours of battery life to AirStrip ONE NHS Choices Home Health enable a nurse to carry the same tablet AirStrip’s AirStrip ONE app NHS Choices and 3chillies’ app Using a smartphone and/or during an entire shift, while swappable allows cardiologists to access provides information about NHS a tablet, health workers can batteries extend flexibility and reduce total critical clinical data such as services in England and health. manage medical records while cost of ownership patient electrocardiograms with By integrating it with Microsoft staying at patients’ homes 5) The Venue 8 and Venue 11 Pro include handheld devices regardless HealthVault, users can save health synchronising the data with native support for wireless display or of location, including phones, and service information against a the hospital system, using Miracast for wireless full-screen sharing tablets, desktops and laptops. secure personal account. Avanade’s Home Health app. during clinical reviews.

www.onwindows.com Feature Mobility

Healthcare Education

“Mobility is on the increase in every sector. Security remains key as more data ‘lives’ in the cloud and improved all-day battery life allows users to be increasingly mobile,” says Mei-ling Wong, marketing manager for ThinkPad Tablets at Lenovo. “Students are frequently moving from class to class, According to Microsoft’s Neil Jordan, three eight-hours shifts, for example, they According to Jordan, through the use of often campus to campus, with little or Dell top five benefits for educators: Case study general manager of worldwide health, can all login separately on the same tablet Windows 8 and Windows 8 devices, the no access to power outlets. Extended 1) The Dell Venue 11 Pro is essentially three Seton Hall University tablet use in healthcare is going through a securely. The Surface Pro 2 is also certified healthcare industry can achieve three things: battery life allows them to concentrate on devices in one. The 10.8-inch device phase shift. “There was previously a lack for cleaning with sanitised cloths, which is 1) A better experience for patients, so that their studies rather than where their next combines the portability of a tablet, the of business-ready mobile devices, so the essential in clinical environments. they’re more engaged and the information recharge will be.” power of an Ultrabook and! the convenience US university has distributed a multi- first phase was influenced by the trend of “There are also multiple Windows 8 that is given to them is more personalised Seton Hall University, based in New Jersey of keyboard and docking options mode PC to students as part of its bring your own device, and was isolated device sizes and types that are perfect for and more relevant – which ultimately in the US, has circulated more than 2,000 2) Compatible with existing IT environments mobile computing program with to mainly doctors. They would take their different uses,” adds Jordan. “For example, results in better recovery ThinkPad Helix devices running Windows 8 and software, schools won’t have to reinvest Lenovo ThinkPad Helix own tablets into the hospital, but the IT a pharmacy worker might prefer to use an 2) Higher efficiency and quality of care in and to all incoming undergraduate students as part in new infrastructure or software licenses. The department would struggle to manage eight-inch device like the Dell Venue Pro, outside of the hospital of its Mobile Computing Program. “Tablets Venue 11 Pro can be shared among many Seton Hall University, based in New them and integrate them with the overall which is great for filling in prescriptions and 3) Increasing clinical adoption of healthcare IT. are becoming increasingly common in the students to maximise the value of the tablet Jersey in the US, has circulated more workflow,” Jordan explains. “You would is small enough to fit in a lab coat pocket. classroom and at work. With the explosion 3) The Dell Venue 11 Pro can be used by than 2,000 ThinkPad Helix devices often find that doctors would use them for While a doctor, on the other hand, might Dell top five benefits for care providers: of multi-mode devices, users require a single multiple users and configured with their running Windows 8 to all incoming reference at a patient’s bedside, but then prefer a Surface.” 1) The Venue 8 Pro and Venue 11 Pro feature solution that allows them to adapt to their personal settings, delivering flexibility for undergraduate students as part of its would have to go back to a PC to connect to Windows 8 apps integrate seamlessly with embedded security (trusted platform ever changing study or work environment,” budget-conscious schools, and allowing Mobile Computing Program. the hospital’s system.” hospital workflows. For example, Avanade’s module 1.2) and comply with Health says Wong. ”We create solutions that offer students and teachers to collaborate with The ThinkPad Helix is a premium But we’re now entering a second phase. Home Health app is being used in the home Insurance Portability and Accountability Act not only ultra-portability and multi-mode one another throughout the day. hybrid convertible device – a PC and Windows 8 and Windows 8 devices enable hospitalisation department at Paris Hospitals. standards. The Venue 11 Pro also includes versatility, but also the experience of a full 4) With the Venue 11 Pro, schools can decrease a tablet in one. Students can use it a clinical-grade environment for any health It provides remote access from patients’ an optional fingerprint and smartcard PC so that users don’t feel they are having to deployment and device management costs by as a fully functioning laptop when worker, where not only do applications homes to the information systems used to reader for keeping patient data safe compromise on productivity.” leveraging existing solutions for supporting, they need a standard keyboard for integrate with the overall workflow, but the manage medical records. 2) The Venue 11 Pro comes with a stylus “The Lenovo ThinkPad 8 tablet delivers managing and protecting their current content creation; ‘rip and flip’ the tablet devices themselves are designed specifically Apps are also helping to support care and offers a peripheral ecosystem where enterprise-class mobile computing with Windows PCs and laptops 180-degrees and snap it back into the to meet the unique requirements of the beyond the borders of the hospital. MedCase, customers have the option of adding a the ability to offer desktop PC-like usage 5) The Dell Venue 11 Pro has enhanced base for giving presentations; or fully healthcare industry. which was an International Association of dock, keyboard, and a case with rotating with up to eight hours of battery life,” adds productivity features for both students detach the tablet for use in science labs Key features of the Microsoft Surface Pro Microsoft Channel Partners 2014 European hand strap, meaning healthcare workers Alysia Baker, Lenovo’s ThinkPad product and teachers including a stylus for note or field work. Seton Hall expects the 2, for example, include a digital pen, which App Cup winner in the B2B CityNext category, have the flexibility to do work from a marketing manager. “We design devices with taking, a standard-sized USB port and a ThinkPad Helix to be particularly useful allows clinicians to make patient notes on connects citizens and doctors in remote/rural desk for a traditional PC experience, or the end users in mind, which means the Micro-SD card reader for easy file transfer for students in programmes with hands- the touchscreen, and multiple ID capabilities, areas and ensures a seamless flow of care and as they’re moving from patient to patient ThinkPad 8 is the best of both worlds. The and connectivity to existing and common on lab and fieldwork. which means if three nurses are working cure services and information in the country. both in the hospital or in the community device is perfect for at work and at home.” classroom equipment. 3) The Venue 8 Pro slides easily into a lab coat, folio or bag so clinicians can have access to information from anywhere they work Healthcare app showcase 4) The Venue 8 Pro and Venue 11 Pro Education app showcase provide over nine hours of battery life to AirStrip ONE NHS Choices Home Health enable a nurse to carry the same tablet Haiku Learning Khan Academy Stanford University AirStrip’s AirStrip ONE app NHS Choices and 3chillies’ app Using a smartphone and/or during an entire shift, while swappable Haiku Learning Systems’ The Khan Academy apps allows With the Stanford University allows cardiologists to access provides information about NHS a tablet, health workers can batteries extend flexibility and reduce total Windows 8.1 app provides students to view Khan Academy’s Windows 8 App, users have critical clinical data such as services in England and health. manage medical records while cost of ownership quick access to Haiku class complete library of over 4,400 cutting-edge webinars, seminars patient electrocardiograms with By integrating it with Microsoft staying at patients’ homes 5) The Venue 8 and Venue 11 Pro include material. Students can hand in videos on a Windows 8 device, and lectures at their fingertips. handheld devices regardless HealthVault, users can save health synchronising the data with native support for wireless display or assignments; view discussions covering maths, science, and Students can also preview of location, including phones, and service information against a the hospital system, using Miracast for wireless full-screen sharing and assessments; and create even humanities with tutorials on online courses and get to know tablets, desktops and laptops. secure personal account. Avanade’s Home Health app. during clinical reviews. Windows 8 extends learning outside the classroom to-do lists. finance and history. Stanford faculty.

www.onwindows.com 4927 Feature Mobility

Public safety

“The need for police forces to have access to real-time (or near real-time) information is ever increasing with explosive urban growth. At the same time, austere budget climates continually stretch law enforcement resources, causing police organisations to seek new ways to enable effective police operations on duty,” explains Martin Slijkhuis, public safety and national security Solution profi le industry lead, Microsoft Western Europe. “In BoardPacks addition to supporting their expanding daily responsibilities, large worldwide events will require on-demand intelligence for crowd eShare’s! Windows 8 app allows government executives to manage and share their control, counter-terrorism prevention, and board information anywhere and on any device emergency response on the front lines.” Military, law enforcement and first responders In the public sector, good governance practices are increasingly turning to mobile devices to are at the heart of delivering safe, reliable and access the tools they need for better situational responsible services. Technology can play a key awareness and connectivity in theatre and in the role in improving governance and software like field. Many defence organisations are starting to eShare’s BoardPacks helps drive effi ciency and roll out mobile strategies to meet these needs, effectiveness right at the top of the organisation. including the US Department of Defense, which The BoardPacks Windows 8 app gives board unveiled its Mobile Device Strategy in 2012 with members access to meeting papers and all the intention of maximising the productivity and the information they need from wherever they BoardPacks is the only software of its kind that flexibility of its mobile workforce through better are and also improves collaboration with other has modules for each of these activities, making access to mobile devices, wireless infrastructure board members. Online meeting papers also it a complete governance solution. Using the app and mobile applications. reduce the administrative burden of creating and means board members can ensure they are up The New York Police Department is carrying distributing heavy documents. The solution uses to date and well informed. They can read their out a pilot using Windows 8 tablets running two-factor authentication, similar to that used by meeting papers and related documents wherever its Domain Awareness System, to help them banks, and has been independently penetration they are, both before and after meetings. collect relevant data wherever they are prior tested, which makes the app secure. Administrators can amend papers easily and then to responding to a 911 call. Similarly, Iceland While board meetings are the cornerstone distribute them with only a few taps. Police has deployed 70 dockable HP Elite of governance, activities such as managing risk, eShare is also currently working on slates running Windows 8 in 70 of its police decisions and procedures are also important. developing an Offi ce 365 app. cars. Police officers use the devices to manage the reporting of traffic violations while out in the field. By inputting the data in real time and supporting both person and car identity verification, the time to complete the process Public safety app showcase is cut by 30 minutes. Iceland police will be increasing the deployment to 400 of its fleet. Know Your Police Station Dutch Police Politie NL 112 Iceland “Mobile devices of the future – both Citizens can submit threat or The app provides access to The offi cial app for Iceland's commercial-off-the-shelf and ruggedised for crime information from a mobile real-time incident information emergency service 112. The special conditions – will enable real-time, device. Using a cloud-based and encourages crowdsourcing app sends a SMS to the intelligence-driven police forces in the 21st geographical information system techniques, allowing citizens to Icelandic emergency service, century. As mobile policing continues to evolve, via Bing Maps and Google Maps, provide information. The app providing the device's GPS this fast, efficient and reliable back-office police it alerts the nearest police station, also provides insight on missing location before the call is work will serve an even more critical role to providing offi cers with real-time persons as well as geo-tagged made. frontline officers on duty,” concludes Slijkhuis. crime information. incidents in a preferred location.

www.onwindows.com Feature Mobility Partner spotlight Public safety The Microsoft partner ecosystem offers innovative apps and devices that are helping to improve mobility and productivity “The need for police forces to have access across the public sector for both workers and citizens alike. Here is a selection of partners delivering innovative solutions to real-time (or near real-time) information to public sector organisations today is ever increasing with explosive urban growth. At the same time, austere budget climates continually stretch law enforcement resources, causing police organisations to seek new ways to enable effective police operations on duty,” explains Martin For more than 26 years, Dell has empowered eShare provides governance and meeting Slijkhuis, public safety and national security Solution profi le countries, communities, customers and people management tools. The solution, BoardPacks, industry lead, Microsoft Western Europe. “In BoardPacks everywhere to use technology to realise enables board members to access and addition to supporting their expanding daily their dreams. Customers trust Dell to deliver annotate their meeting papers anytime, responsibilities, large worldwide events will solutions that help them do and achieve more, anywhere through either a web browser or require on-demand intelligence for crowd eShare’s! Windows 8 app allows government executives to manage and share their whether they’re at home, work, school or app. BoardPacks is flexible and can be tailored anywhere in their world. to different companies’ needs whether local control, counter-terrorism prevention, and board information anywhere and on any device www.dell.com government, NHS hospital trust or school. emergency response on the front lines.” www.boardpacks.com Military, law enforcement and first responders In the public sector, good governance practices are increasingly turning to mobile devices to are at the heart of delivering safe, reliable and access the tools they need for better situational responsible services. Technology can play a key awareness and connectivity in theatre and in the role in improving governance and software like field. Many defence organisations are starting to eShare’s BoardPacks helps drive effi ciency and roll out mobile strategies to meet these needs, effectiveness right at the top of the organisation. including the US Department of Defense, which The BoardPacks Windows 8 app gives board unveiled its Mobile Device Strategy in 2012 with members access to meeting papers and all the intention of maximising the productivity and the information they need from wherever they BoardPacks is the only software of its kind that ICONICS’ MobileHMI is a real-time, business Lenovo is a US$34 billion personal technology and visual intelligence mobile solution for company – the world’s largest PC maker flexibility of its mobile workforce through better are and also improves collaboration with other has modules for each of these activities, making Windows 8 devices. This secure mobile app and an emerging leader in smart connected access to mobile devices, wireless infrastructure board members. Online meeting papers also it a complete governance solution. Using the app allows executives, managers, engineers, devices – serving customers in more than 160 and mobile applications. reduce the administrative burden of creating and means board members can ensure they are up operators and technicians to remain informed countries. The company’s products include The New York Police Department is carrying distributing heavy documents. The solution uses to date and well informed. They can read their from anywhere and to have instant, one- Think-branded commercial PCs and Idea- touch access to key operational performance branded consumer PCs, as well as servers, out a pilot using Windows 8 tablets running two-factor authentication, similar to that used by meeting papers and related documents wherever indicators. workstations, tablets and smartphones. its Domain Awareness System, to help them banks, and has been independently penetration they are, both before and after meetings. www.iconics.com/mobilehmi www.lenovo.com collect relevant data wherever they are prior tested, which makes the app secure. Administrators can amend papers easily and then to responding to a 911 call. Similarly, Iceland While board meetings are the cornerstone distribute them with only a few taps. Police has deployed 70 dockable HP Elite of governance, activities such as managing risk, eShare is also currently working on slates running Windows 8 in 70 of its police decisions and procedures are also important. developing an Offi ce 365 app. cars. Police officers use the devices to manage the reporting of traffic violations while out in the field. By inputting the data in real time and supporting both person and car identity verification, the time to complete the process Public safety app showcase The Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary Reading Trainer is award-winning interactive is cut by 30 minutes. Iceland police will be is a world best seller. As a Windows Phone educational software for smartphones, tablets app it helps people using English for work or and PCs. There are 12 different kinds of playful increasing the deployment to 400 of its fleet. Know Your Police Station Dutch Police Politie NL 112 Iceland study to understand what words mean, and exercises to help increase reading speed and “Mobile devices of the future – both Citizens can submit threat or The app provides access to The offi cial app for Iceland's to learn how to say and how to use them. improve retention rate at the same time. With commercial-off-the-shelf and ruggedised for crime information from a mobile real-time incident information emergency service 112. The It includes real voice audio and My View to its built-in support for ten languages, Reading Trainer is also great to improve foreign special conditions – will enable real-time, device. Using a cloud-based and encourages crowdsourcing app sends a SMS to the customise screens. language skills. intelligence-driven police forces in the 21st geographical information system techniques, allowing citizens to Icelandic emergency service, www.oup.com/elt/ﬁ ngertips www.heku-it.com/reading-trainer century. As mobile policing continues to evolve, via Bing Maps and Google Maps, provide information. The app providing the device's GPS this fast, efficient and reliable back-office police it alerts the nearest police station, also provides insight on missing location before the call is work will serve an even more critical role to providing offi cers with real-time persons as well as geo-tagged made. frontline officers on duty,” concludes Slijkhuis. crime information. incidents in a preferred location.

For more information on Microsoft partners, visit www.onwindows.com/partners and pinpoint.microsoft.com

www.onwindows.com 2951 In practice Government

City of Barcelona Considered a global innovator in trade, tourism, IT and architecture, Barcelona is establishing a repeatable, smart-city infrastructure to streamline civic planning, spur economic growth and improve quality of life

The city of Barcelona in Spain wanted better a possible smart-city template for other areas. insight into government effectiveness. To Barcelona now has an affordable big data solution achieve this, it needed a solution that could that it can use to mash up information multiple collect and analyse data from its systems and sources, without worrying about running out of new public sources such as social media, server capacity or slowing performance. software log files and GPS signals. “Our Windows Azure Big Data and BI Working with Microsoft partner Bismart, the solutions are really international projects,” says city built a hybrid cloud to store and analyse Lluis Sanz Marco, director of information at big data using business intelligence and data the Municipal Institute of Information at the services based on Microsoft Azure, Azure City of Barcelona. “Along with helping our city, HDInsight Service, Microsoft SQL Server 2012 they could be the foundation for a smart-city Solution and Microsoft Excel 2010. infrastructure proposed by the City Protocol Business intelligence As a result of the implementation, the city is Society. If accepted, other cities could use the now able to get useful insight into petabytes of framework to improve services and help people Benefits data anytime and anywhere to improve citizens’ around the globe determine where they want Better insight into data, improved quality of quality of life, uncover investment opportunities, to live and invest by drawing comparisons life for citizens, new investment opportunities, promote public safety and health and provide between locations.” better promotion of public safety and health City of Buenos Aires Through its participation in Microsoft CityNext, Buenos Aires is developing innovative solutions to streamline local government, improve information access and empower the city’s youth to build a better future

The city of Buenos Aires in Argentina places The dashboard is built on top of SUACI, great importance on meeting the needs of its Hexacta's citizen services portal, and uses a citizens, as well as the commuters and tourists Microsoft SharePoint interface that incorporates who come into the city every day. Microsoft Excel with the Power Map and To help achieve its technology goals, Buenos PowerPivot add-ins to dynamically visualise Aires joined the Microsoft CityNext initiative data. The system runs on Microsoft SQL Server to explore ways in which technology can make 2012 database software, with SQL Server the city more efficient, liveable, and sustainable. Analysis Services. Working with local IT consultant Hexacta, “The volume of information processed by the it created the City Dashboard, which brings dashboard is huge,” explains Martin Hojman, together data from the city’s key technology partner at Hexacta. “SUACI has more than three systems – including customer relationship million registered users, and every day it processes Solution management and project management systems more than 70,000 new reports, complaints, and City Dashboard – along with social media channels, into a other items. The system provides real-time data to comprehensive digital summary of everything key city administrators and information analysts Benefits from the current temperature to the status of to help them efficiently and effectively monitor Access to real time data, facilitates better citizen complaints. projects and make informed decisions.” decision making, improves efficiency

www.onwindows.com In practice Health

Seattle Children’s Hospital Staff at Seattle Children's Hospital are using Surface Pro 3 to view more data and take notes from anywhere – improving the experience for both physicians and patients

Seattle Children’s Hospital serves as the record (EMR) management while also allowing paediatric and adolescent academic medical adherence to HIPAA and other strict security referral centre for the largest landmass of any regulations in healthcare. “Surface Pro 3 is going children’s hospital in the country. to be our laptop replacement,” says Wes Wright, The hospital has selected Surface Pro 3 CIO of Seattle Children’s Hospital. “We look to replace its existing laptop devices. From at weight. We look at battery life. Application powerful Intel Core processors to enterprise compatibility. It was kind of a no-brainer for us.” level data security to the ability be sanitised “One of the really attractive features to me between patient encounters, Surface Pro 3 was the pen option. When we have very quickly promises the performance, reliability, and evolving situations with patients, jotting down security that are required to help caregivers be notes is still the way that most clinicians go,” Solution as productive as they can be while ensuring the says Maida Chen, medical director for sleep Surface Pro 3 highest quality of patient care. disorders at the hospital. “The multi-position As a replacement strategy for their existing kickstand really offers a lot of possibilities and Benefits laptops, Surface Pro 3 provides Seattle Children’s opens up communications… I can maintain great Instant access to medical records, allows more Hospital’s clinicians with a modern, touch- eye contact and hence a much better rapport time to be spent with patients, meets all enabled user interface for electronic medical with the families.” required regulations Helse Vest With its new cloud BI solution, Norway’s regional health authority Helse Vest can easily view hospital data, cutting the time it takes to build reports by 93%

Helse Vest is a Norwegian regional health Rannestad, head of innovation for Stavanger authority that operates 50 healthcare facilities. University Hospital, the second-largest The authority needed to find a way to quickly hospital in the Helse Vest system. “We can create analytical reports based on surgery visualise our medical data much more quickly trends and medical data. and easily than before. Our reports are more It implemented Power BI for Office 365, dynamic and more detailed than anything a cloud-based business intelligence (BI) we’ve seen before.” solution that employees use to visualise The Power BI solution also makes it easy combined data from multiple hospitals. to collect, prepare, and report on the safe With the new solution, staff have reduced surgery quality indicators. “We now have real- the time it takes to build reports from 14 time data,” says Rannestad. “This means we Solution days to less than one day. As a result, the get updated data metrics for the staff at each Power BI for Office 365 authority can quickly and easily comply with hospital. This will help us act on those metrics government requirements. much sooner, while the metrics are still valid Benefits “With Power BI, we can combine data from for the staff, and we believe this will have a Better access to information, analytical reports all of our hospitals and easily turn that data significant and positive impact on patient created in less than one day, compliance with into powerful analytical reports,” says Anund safety measures.” national safety programme requirements

53 In practice Education

Mashrek International School The international school in Jordan is using a Microsoft cloud-based collaboration and learning environment to transform learning and save US$30,000 in IT costs

Mashrek International School is at the academic Mashrek International School is impressed forefront of a country-wide focus on technology, with its collaboration and learning environment. which stems from the rapid growth of the The modern platform is engaging students and IT sector in Jordan. The school planned to offering new ways of interacting with teachers implement a new collaboration platform to as well as with each other. “We’re supporting support students in developing 21st-century students to develop a lifelong passion for skills and encourage anytime, anywhere learning with an accessible, dynamic education learning. It deployed Microsoft Office 365, environment,” says Ahmad Malhas, director of which provides a customised environment administration and finance at the school. including Microsoft Exchange Online, Lync What’s more, the school avoided an immediate Online, and SharePoint Online. cost of around US$15,000 for developing its “Office 365 gave us everything we wanted own solution, as well as ongoing costs. Malhas Solution from a functional perspective, and because it’s says: “Before Office 365, we anticipated having Office 365 cloud-based, it provides a strong foundation to purchase three servers for our own email for our goal of anytime, anywhere learning,” system, which would have also involved ongoing Benefits says Ahmad Malhas, director of administration resource costs. We’ve saved around US$30,000 Helped the school avoid US$30,000 in IT costs, and finance. while gaining a better solution.” supports collaboration and learning Brighton Grammar School Using Lenovo Yoga 2 Windows 8 laptops, with intuitive touch screens and interactive stylus computing, the Australian school is transforming learning and driving creativity

In Melbourne, Australia, Brighton Grammar captured students’ imaginations, empowered School (BGS) has embarked on a new chapter teachers with the possibilities of learning in its educational programme by switching from anytime, anywhere, and satisfied parents. tablets running Android to laptops running the “We are using the devices and the Windows 8 operating system. programmes to collaborate in a way that we “We are in a situation where kids need couldn’t before,” says Shelley Turek, coordinator technology because it’s such a part of their world, of teaching and learning for years 7-8. “Because and the world they will be living in when they the boys have so many ways to be engaged in leave school,” says Ross Featherston, headmaster their work, it encourages creation and a higher at BGS. “So at Brighton, we aim to keep pace with order of thinking. Classroom management has the latest technology developments and provide become so much easier.” rich, flexible learning spaces so our students “We have heard feedback from some parents Solution develop the skills and confidence to reach their who are considering the school because of our Windows 8 laptops full potential.” technology programme, which is largely based BGS has chosen flexible Lenovo Yoga 2 around the Microsoft Windows 8 platform and Benefits laptops, with intuitive touch screens and Microsoft software tools,” concludes David Aids collaboration, provides rich and flexible interactive stylus computing, which have Humphreys, ICT director at the school. learning spaces, empowers teachers

www.onwindows.com In practice Public safety

Shanghai Minhang District The Chinese district’s unified information platform is helping it to achieve business synergy and linkage between city administrations, improve the efficiency of urban management and public services

With the rapid development of China's urban covers three segments: urban management, economy and acceleration of urbanisation, urban emergency response management Shanghai urban districts are confronted with a and public security business applications. It number of challenges: a vast jurisdiction area, also has a decision-making assistance centre a large mobile population accompanied by built to provide decision support for regional complicated social security, diverse stakeholders management decision makers, department and a complex social structure. heads and commanding staff. In light of this, Shanghai Minhang Shanghai Minhang City now has improved District City Comprehensive Management awareness of and the ability to address public and Emergency teamed up with Microsoft opinion on urban city issues. It has consolidated Consulting Services to create a ‘Joint Action IT systems and achieved better inter-level Solution Center’ solution – an integrated information integration for monitoring and assessing public Joint Action Center platform which effectively supports services and management. It has also facilitated collaboration, coordination and sharing of better decision making for regional stakeholders Benefits information among district departments. to aid problem resolution and enhanced public Better visibility of urban city issues, improved The City Comprehensive Management service experience with a unified public service access to information, better decision making, and Emergency Joint Action Center solution interface for residents. enhanced public service experience Orange County Sheriff’s Department The OCSD in Los Angeles is using Microsoft Dynamics CRM to support a wide range of departmental processes, including traffic collisions, workers’ compensation and internal affairs

For the Orange County Sheriff's Department Dave Jamriska, admin manager for the (OCSD), protecting more than three million Orange County Sheriff’s Department, says: citizens requires minimising risk. The OCSD “Now that we’ve laid the framework with has historically relied on separate, paper- Microsoft Dynamics CRM, it’s very easy to roll based processes across its management out new components. We are constantly being of commendations and complaints, traffic asked to make more applications because collisions, and other processes. we are able to do it so quickly compared to To unite these silos, the OCSD began looking traditional development.” for a platform that could help aggregate and Insight gleaned from Microsoft Dynamics analyse information. It deployed Microsoft CRM helps the department reduce risk to both Dynamics CRM for its flexibility to support officers and citizens. a wide range of departmental processes with “Microsoft Dynamics CRM is providing us Solution ease, including traffic collisions, workers’ with a better tool to manage our risk,” says Dynamics CRM compensation, internal affairs and use of force. Chris Corn, sergeant for the Orange County In the near future, the department plans to use Sheriff’s Department. “If we notice things that Benefits the solution to track employee training and to aren’t going as well as they could, we know a lot Better management of risk, scalable, collect data related to vehicle pursuits. sooner now and can take care of those issues.” increased efficiency

55 Signing out

Solving the most complex challenges Amber Stokes talks to Simudyne CEO Justin Lyon about the benefits simulation can bring to the public sector

What inspired you to set up Simudyne? We’re different to other simulation make informed decisions based on this. It was the realisation that we now have the technology providers in that we offer the Governments are not just avoiding mistakes, technology to solve some of the world’s most whole package: the simulation is the maths but ultimately, are better protecting and complex challenges. By using computer behind the challenge, which, for example, serving their citizens with our technology. simulations, humans can develop strategies involves finding out the fastest route to that will transform our lives. And that’s our evacuate a building and working out the What interesting projects has Simudyne vision: a world where all decisions and arising human and economic costs should it not recently been involved in? consequences are tested, explored and perfected be successful. But we also provide the We’ve rolled out all kinds of different projects, through simulation technology. visualisation – that’s the 3D map aspect. Many including a simulation of Microsoft’s Redmond companies offer the visualisation without Campus, but one particularly interesting one So what’s unique about Simudyne? providing the maths to support it. We’ve focuses on the US healthcare system. We Our algorithms are special, but it’s the way basically combined simulation using system have simulated the healthcare system within a we apply them, backed by the strength of our dynamics and agent-based modelling with major US city, which, along with simulations experience, that make a simulation really work the detailed imagery to make it accessible to of other markets such as Chicago and Miami, for a client; we’re able to provide a clarity of decision makers in any sector. is used to identify and predict health trends presentation that allows deep understanding of from data analysis, all presented in an easy- complex scenarios. That’s how good decisions How are you working with public sector to-use visualisation package that we call are made. When we begin working in any sector, organisations? ThrIVE2. This project has allowed greater direct we go in-depth; often we emplace our team The science involved in our simulation can engagement with communities, showing them members within an organisation so we gain an cross all industries. We started in the oil and ways to improve their population health, while understanding of how they work, how they see gas industry and have since delivered the delivering routes to lower the insurance costs things and where the issues are. From there, we benefits of simulation technology to many of healthcare per capita. talk to them about unexpected scenarios, be it public sector organisations. All countries in disruption from severe weather to a violent attack, Europe are facing increasing cost pressures How will computer simulation continue to and we ask them: what would be the effect on and simulation is a wonderful way for evolve in the future? your organisation? How would it respond? How identifying the most effective way to cut costs I think we’re at a point now where resilient is it? while maintaining resilience as a country. simulations of complex events or business We provide realistic replications of Through our simulation technology, we problems are no longer the preserve of Join the cloud computing uprising organisations, meaning if people make bad have helped key national organisations big corporations or the public sector. The decisions within the simulation, they will simplify procedures and improve security. technology is constantly evolving and The Servolution means we’ve sparked cloud-based computing right learn from them and prevent it from actually Simudyne’s technology and experience improving, so I can say with confidence that here in the UK. The Servolution will free you at last from the burden happening. In the real world, of course, are helping public sector organisations to soon almost any organisation will be able of expensive in-house servers. you can’t train for every scenario, but in realistically consider the impact of all possible to justify using simulations for all decisions It means an end to worries over obsolete technology and the Simudyne’s ProactIVE2 virtual environment, consequences and decisions. By capturing of any consequence. There’s no doubt these tyranny of IT stress. It also means a fairer system of only paying for you can prepare for any imaginable scenario. the physics of reality and analysing the data, products will be delivered through simulation what you use. In fact, you can be a part of the Servolution from as ProactIVE2 creates an easy-to-use 3D simulated executives can ask: ‘if we did this differently, if apps on mobile devices like the Surface Pro. little as 1p per hour for Cloud Servers and 11p per GB for Cloud Files world that uniquely matches our customers', we applied this decision what are the results? It’s this way we’ll be able push the benefits – all backed up by our legendary Fanatical Support®. with technology that integrates and cooperates Will we save more lives, reduce injuries or simulation technology is capable of bringing, Join the Servolution at www.rackspace.co.uk/cloud-hosting with their existing systems. respond faster doing it this way?’ and actually out to the wider marketplace. www.onwindows.com

Touch_2011_we_demand.indd 1 2/3/11 13:52:53 Signing out

Solving the most complex challenges Amber Stokes talks to Simudyne CEO Justin Lyon about the benefits simulation can bring to the public sector

Touch_2011_we_demand.indd 1 2/3/11 13:52:53