ATLANTA and HENDERSON, Nev. – Cox Communications announced today its continued Smart City initiative with the City of Henderson, Nevada. The two organizations share a vision of the future city, where a resilient and forward-looking infrastructure supports next-generation services and improves the quality of life for residents and visitors alike.
Building on the success of their 2020 Smart Streetlight Management project in which the City realized energy and operational cost savings, Cox2M – the Internet of Things digital transformation engine within Cox Communications – is further expanding its project into Smart Water Meters and Smart Parking.
Smart Water Meters can help create a more resilient infrastructure, and just like Smart Street Management, can generate cost savings in the form of early leak detection, preventing main breaks through early freeze detection, and reducing truck rolls by providing the ability to remotely actuate the water valve. Given ongoing drought conditions, it was vitally important to evaluate the City’s current water management system and implement solutions to manage this critical resource.
With a resilient infrastructure in hand, the City is focused on delivering improved customer experiences such as a Smart Parking solution to help guide residents and visitors to its revitalized downtown Water Street District, including the new Lifeguard Arena and exciting new bars, restaurants and shops.
Cox2M brought an ecosystem of best-in-class Smart Water Meter and Smart Parking solutions to find the optimal fit for the City’s needs. In Henderson, Cox tested water meters that communicated on both LTE and LoRA networks to determine which was more scalable and financially sustainable for the City. Additionally, two types of hardware were deployed to gauge the accuracy of meter reads, the quality of data generated, and the impact of remotely controlling the water meter. Through this project, the City will be armed with the data necessary to decide if, when, and how a scaled deployment could take place.
These questions of impact and scalability are ones that Cox validates with partners like Henderson in every solution it brings. To enhance parking downtown, Cox2M focused on implementing the best Smart Parking solution that struck a balance between generating rich data and being financially scalable. The resulting solution was deployed at the City’s Water Street parking structure at 235 S. Water Street and could detect and monitor multiple parking spots using a single sensor, thereby saving on hardware and installation costs – all while generating real-time data on occupancy, utilization, and turnover down to a per-spot level.
The data from both solutions is integrated into Cox2M’s Smart Communities Platform, allowing the City to draw operational insights and use that data to plan and create new policies to support future activities.
The Smart Water insights not only enable the city to monitor its water infrastructure, but it also allows the city to accurately measure and display water usage back to its residents, helping with billing and reconciliation. The Smart Parking insights tell the City how different events may attract different volumes of visitors and when peak usage days or hours are to determine if the parking capacity is enough. Additionally, this data can be integrated into third-party applications to provide easy wayfinding for residents and visitors to open spots.
“Our ongoing partnership with Cox continues to be a welcomed benefit for our community,” said Robert Herr, chief infrastructure officer and assistant city manager for the City of Henderson. “We look forward to seeing the results of these newly established efforts focused on water conservation and parking enhancements within the Water Street District and the potential this will have to improve quality of life in our community.”
Efficient management of the City’s infrastructure and parking assets creates a better human experience and promotes economic development in the area as more people journey to the Water Street District to live, work, and play.
“We place great value on our strategic partnerships with local governments,” said Cox Vice President and Market Leader Michael F. Bolognini. “Smart Parking enhances the experience for guests to the Water Street District, home to Lifeguard Arena, City Hall, the Henderson Justice Facility, restaurants and retail while the Smart Water Meters are of key significance as our region continues to navigate the long-term effects of drought.”
“Successful smart community innovation requires robust and reliable data. That is why we invest tremendous effort testing and integrating the best IoT solutions into our platform,” said Barak Weinisman, Vice President, Cox Communications Cox 2M and Smart Communities. “This pilot program will allow Cox to get real-time data that can be utilized by the city to improve efficiency in water conservation and parking resources.”
Together, Cox and the City will continue innovating and implementing Smart City solutions to build a stronger and more vibrant community.
For more information about Cox2M and its solutions, please visit cox2m.com
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