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The comprehensive report looks at smart cities as a mega trend set to drive urban development for the next decade. Smart cities are anticipated to create huge business opportunities with a market value of $1.565 USD trillion by 2020, according to the report.

A comparative analysis of the competitive smart city landscape states that IBM is a game-changer in the market, leading the way with integrated solutions combining state-of-the-art hardware, software, and services. It also examines the complexity of the smart city value chain and the multiple roles key strategic partners can take within the eco-system.

"Smart cities will be measured on the level of intelligence and integration of infrastructure. What makes a Smart City differ is its emphasis on creating connections and systems, not only between millions of smart devices, but also between businesses, public sector, knowledge institutions, and inhabitants of the city. Deployment of these smart city solutions will depend on how quickly companies converge and tap into each other's industry value chains and assume multiple roles in the eco-system," says Ms. Archana Amarnath, Program Manager, Visionary Innovation Research Group, Frost & Sullivan.  "Large integrators such as IBM with their expertise in big data analytics, cloud-based services, and mobile technologies will be best equipped to offer intelligent real-time solutions or services for smart cities."

The report also predicts that more than 26 global cities will be considered smart cities in 2025, more than 50% of which will be from Europe and North America. It also states that cities will increasingly consider new funding mechanisms such as public/private partnerships essential. Cities will also find partnering crucial to their success and interconnectedness between departments, cities and citizens will serve as the crux of smart cities.

"Frost and Sullivan points out the massive opportunity for cities who choose to take bold steps toward becoming smarter," said Michael J Dixon, PhD, general manager, IBM Smarter Cities. "IBM's proven experience in helping cities adopt cloud-based connectivity and industry solutions specific to water, public safety, transportation, sustainability and healthcare is helping cities reinvent themselves and change the way they work."

With deep expertise in helping cities, IBM has worked with thousands of cities globally to help transform their systems and provide better service to citizens.

To learn more about the Frost and Sullivan report, Strategic Opportunity Analysis of the Global Smart City Market visit http://www.frost.com/sublib/display-report.do?searchQuery=smart+city&ctxixpLink=FcmCtx1&ctxixpLabel=FcmCtx2&id=M920-01-00-00-00.

About IBM  
For more information on IBM Smarter Cities, visit www.ibm.com/press/smartercities.

Contact: 
Holli Haswell 
hhaswell@us.ibm.com 
720-396-5485 

SOURCE IBM