Page 64 - Reference framework for integrated management of an SSC - A U4SSC deliverable on city platforms

on multiple technologies and operated by different actors such as communications operators or
external companies, or through the municipal services themselves, typically specific networks for
mobility, lighting, administration, and so on. Additionally, external companies that provide different
services such as, for example, waste collection have communications solutions managed outside
the municipal communications network.

Historically, landline and mobile telephony services, together with private municipal telephony
(PABX), have been managed by infrastructure departments. However, data services such as Internet
access or building interconnection have been managed by IT departments. Finally, departmental
business applications have resorted to specific telecommunication solutions isolated from the
municipal network. The communications network that manages the traffic light system may be
different from that which manages public lighting, irrigation or environmental quality. In addition,
each of them can use different technologies and has exclusive operation, administration and
maintenance resources.

This fragmented scenario also represents an important brake on normal municipal technological
development and the deployment of transversal solutions where networks managed by different
departments are used. For example, the migration of PABXs to IP telephony or the implementation
of unified communications solutions require, in many cases, an updating of the underlying
data infrastructure in order to ensure the necessary speed, delay and jitter parameters. An
interdepartmental project of these characteristics is complex to manage, prevents synergies, causes
excessive delays in the resolution of incidents and breakdowns because its resolution falls on
different departments.

In public tenders managed autonomously by municipal departments, it is not unusual for complete
business solutions, including the supply and commissioning of IoT devices, to be required in
order to ensure the proper functioning of the end-to-end solution. In many cases, the cost of the
IoT device is relevant in the project, and this can lead to the communications technology chosen
depending on the selection of the devices and not the other way around. Poor technical qualification
in telecommunications, the selection of immature technologies, and the use of unlicensed bands
reserved for industrial, scientific, and medical (ISM) purposes other than telecommunications,
or shared technologies, can pose serious problems of compatibility, communications quality or
security.

Last but not least, this inhomogeneous design of the network prevents the design of effective
resilience mechanisms that guarantee the operation of municipal services in crisis situations.

Therefore, the improvement of urban public services requires a user-centric communications
network offering advanced and personalized services at any time and place, a unified infrastructure
that enables synergies to be obtained, guarantees harmonious growth, and facilitates the integration
of new devices. Finally, and of equal importance, unified planning and management that puts the
focus on users and additionally meets departmental needs.

50 Reference framework for integrated management of an SSC | June 2023