Da Nang, Vietnam Turns to IBM to Transform City Systems

Vietnamese seaport City of Da Nang launches smarter water and transportation initiatives to improve quality of life for citizens

News provided by

IBM

Aug 15, 2013, 05:00 ET

ARMONK, N.Y. and DA NANG, Vietnam, Aug. 15, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced an agreement with the City of Da Nang, Vietnam to transform the city's systems and enhance the quality of life for citizens.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20090416/IBMLOGO )

Da Nang, Vietnam's fourth largest city, has one of the highest population growth rates in the country. Because of the subsequent strain on resources, government leaders in Da Nang are turning to technology to increase the manageability and efficiency of the city's systems.

Using IBM's Intelligent Operations Center, the Da Nang government will address two of the most significant issues impacting life in the city – transportation and water. The solution provides a summary of events and incidents through maps, dashboards and alerts, allowing city personnel to track trends, forecast demand and better manage the city's infrastructure and assets.

"Da Nang is taking bold steps in implementing the most advanced technologies to build and operate the infrastructure of the city to ensure we consistently provide quality services to our citizens, and effectively manage our growth," said Pham Kim Son, Director of Da Nang Department of Information and Communications, and Permanent Deputy Director of the provincial Steering Committee for Information Technology. "Water and transportation are the first two areas where we are applying some of the most advanced technologies available."

Smarter Water
Ensuring access to high quality water for more than 1 millions citizens, tourists and industry is vital to Da Nang's sustained growth. To keep up with increased demand, Da Nang Water Company (DAWACO), the city's water utility provider, is implementing a program of expansion and modernization at its water treatment facility. It will use IBM Smarter Cities technology for real-time analysis and monitoring of the city's water supply.

While water samples used to be manually collected and analyzed, by installing sensors throughout the water treatment process, DAWACO can measure water turbidity, salinity, conductivity, pH and chlorine levels in real time. Using the IBM Intelligent Water Solution, DAWACO workers can instantly visualize operations and receive alerts and notifications when readings stray from norms or when analysis indicates that water quality has changed.

Smarter Transportation
To combat traffic congestion Da Nang is investing in its public transit network and expanding its new Bus Rapid Transit system. At the heart of the operations is a new traffic control center with which city officials can monitor traffic and control the city's traffic light system through a dashboard.

Using IBM's Big Data technologies and predictive analytics, Da Nang's traffic control center will have the tools to forecast and prevent potential congestion and better coordinate city responses to issues like accidents and adverse weather. Data from across multiple systems can be integrated, stored and analyzed for statistics, control and anomalies detection.

With the new system, Da Nang's Department of Transport will have real-time information on its 100 city buses such as driving speed, location and predicted journey times. Via the department's web portal, passengers will be immediately informed of changes to bus routes, time tables and estimated arrival times.

"Da Nang is leading the way among Southeast Asian cites, moving quickly to build plans and adopt technology to create a more sustainable, efficient community for their citizens," said Michael J Dixon, general manager, IBM Smarter Cities. "By starting with focused, practical areas such as water and transportation, city leaders are taking a strategic approach to building a Smarter City."

Da Nang has a long-term plan to become an environmentally and economically sustainable city. In subsequent phases, Da Nang's leaders plan to apply technology to transform other areas such as public safety, flood management and food safety.

About IBM
http://www.ibm.com

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

Contact
Pham Binh Minh
[email protected]
84-4-3946-2034

Holli Haswell
[email protected]
1-720-396-5485

SOURCE IBM