Based on its recent analysis of the smart city market, Frost & Sullivan has recognises Huawei Technologies with the 2015 Kenyan Frost & Sullivan Competitive Strategy Innovation and Leadership Award.

Huawei’s smart city solution provides comprehensive on-site information with visual command and intelligent analysis functions for 360-degree security. By utilising a web of interconnected devices, software, and cloud storage systems, the company enables the public and private service sectors to work together more effectively.

Huawei’s deployment of a new communications network, which links over 1 800 surveillance cameras with 195 bureaus and 7 600 police officers in Nairobi, is of strategic importance in terms of national and economic security. The National Police Service Commission of Kenya, for example, has a high-speed private broadband network that partly relies on the company’s propriety wireless enhanced long-term evolution (eLTE) solution.

“The wireless infrastructure links the National Police Service Commission’s command centres with over 1 500 high-definition cameras in downtown Nairobi. Furthermore, it supports more than 200 cameras that are installed at city checkpoints and several wireless devices distributed to officers in the field,” says Frost & Sullivan industry analyst Joanita Roos. “Thus, authorities can conduct panoramic video surveillance of Nairobi’s urban centre, as well as maintain a highly-agile command and dispatch setup that runs on satellite-based global positioning system (GPS) and software-based geographic information system (GIS).”

Additionally, with the video cloud storage platform that Huawei offers, cross-agency video sharing is possible. Through comprehensive security-video linkage, the platform meets multiple service needs, including real-time surveillance, video browsing and evidence collection.

Over and above the video cloud storage platform, Huawei provides sophisticated analytics tools to improve authorities’ ability to identify, classify and match stored video data. The company has also secured its safe city solution against cyber-attacks and ensured it is cost-effective.

“The recent restructuring and alignment of the executive team’s objectives, with the changing external market, has enabled Huawei to deliver focused, innovative, differentiated and market-leading solutions tailored to its customer groups – carrier, enterprise and consumers,” adds Roos. “For example; the change in operational model from ‘issuing order’ to ‘delegating authority’ has enabled the company to respond to customer needs more flexibly and promptly, as authority is given to field units that have direct contact with end users.”

Since Huawei is a global company, it is able to leverage its global value chain and combine it with local innovation capabilities. Along with this, the company’s commitment to being a collaborative industry contributor and constant communication with external stakeholders has been central to its success.

Moreover, Huawei’s efforts to proactively look for opportunities to contribute to the socioeconomic development in countries in which it operates, has enabled it to survive in the competitive smart city market.