DUBAI Civil Defense and Huawei announced a historic MoU to collaborate on a number of ICT initiatives that will lead to the creation of a next-generation, Smart City infrastructure for the safety, security and happiness of Dubai's inhabitants. The MoU was signed during Huawei's Global Safe City Summit, held in Dubai recently, which brought more than 350 global public safety and security stakeholders to the UAE to share experiences, insights and successes during the two-day event. Huawei will work with Dubai Civil Defense to develop solutions for a next-generation Smart City ICT infrastructure that leverages cloud computing and cloud data centers, software-defined networking (SDN), big data, business continuity and disaster recovery (BCDR), unified communications, intelligent video surveillance and other smart city technologies. "As per the new Smart Dubai 2021 initiative announced by Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, Dubai Civil Defense is collaborating with Huawei to assess its current Smart City readiness and create a road map for accelerating its ICT development to meet the objectives of the Smart Dubai 2021 initiative," said Col. Ali Hassan AlMutawa, assistant general manager for Smart Services, Dubai Civil Defense. Under the new Smart Dubai 2021 initiative, Dubai inhabitants will be able to access hundreds of Dubai government services through a new portal, paving the way for a 100 percent digital future, with Dubai government going completely paperless in its transactions by 2021. "Huawei is proud to build on its ongoing commitment to Dubai government through this MoU with Dubai Civil Defense, which will see both parties collaboratively develop safe and smart city solutions that leverage Huawei's global expertise in smart city deployments," said Alaa ElShimy, managing director and vice president, Huawei Enterprise Business, Middle East. "Smart Dubai 2021 initiative sets a powerful precedent for other governments around the world to follow, and clearly demonstrates the broad vision of Dubai's leadership for the improvement of the quality of life for its people and humanity as a whole." Dubai Civil Defense is turning to innovation for the development of its e-Services which provides online service access to vendors, contractors and business partners to support their efficient operations and provide them with the resources needed to align with Dubai's Fire and Life Safety Code of Practice. "Dubai Civil Defense is committed to delivering service excellence to the leadership and people of Dubai, and we are confident that we will do so with distinction by harnessing the most advanced innovation available, to make Dubai the smartest, safest, happiest city in the world," added Col. AlMutawa. This year's Huawei's Global Safe City Summit theme, ‘Leading new ICT, The Road to Collaborative Public Safety', highlights the importance of collaboration in developing safe city technologies that meet the needs of the numerous stakeholders involved, allowing them to provide a more efficient, coordinated response effort through an open, accessible ICT ecosystem.
