Black & Veatch, Cisco discuss KC's coming 'Smart City'

Enlarge Photo

Andrew Grumke | KCBJ

Black & Veatch unveiled the Rodman Innovation Pavilion as an expansion of its Overland Park headquarters in September.

Bobby Burch

Reporter- Kansas City Business Journal

Email  |  Twitter  |  Google+  |  LinkedIn

Kansas City's coming "Smart City" project may soon employ the skills of an area engineering giant.

Overland Park engineering firm Black & Veatch is now in discussions with Cisco Systems Inc. regarding how it can help with the effort, which was announced in May. Cisco's public-private effort aims to transform central Kansas City into a lab of connectivity through Wi-Fi and telecom sensors transmitting data on anything from traffic and pedestrian flow to the city's infrastructure and public safety.

While there's no set plan, Fred Ellermeier, Black & Veatch's vice president of smart integrated infrastructure, said that the firm is excited to discuss ways to spiff up Kansas City's tech.

"We very much want to be a part of helping Kansas City become a smart city, and that's a part of our vision for the future," Ellermeier said. "We are now talking to (Cisco) about how we might be involved, and the things that Black and Veatch does that can be of benefit."

Ellermeier said that Black & Veatch has worked with the global computer networking company for several years, including longstanding telecommunications and connected-device partnerships across the U.S.

Recently, Black and Veatch joined the Smart Cities Council, an industry coalition that works to advance smart city development. Cisco also is on the council, which is an adviser and accelerator of smart city "values," according to a release.

"Black & Veatch is looking to not just learn about and be involved in this smart cities movement but really to drive the conversation and that's what the participation in the Smart Cities Council was about," Ellermeier said. "It's about defining policy (and) standards, and that's the reason we joined this group."

Kansas City's Smart City project— which is aiming for a January start — will be Cisco's biggest to date in the U.S. Cisco already has submitted a prospective business model to the city, though it still must be finalized.

Bobby reports about technology/telecommunications, entrepreneurship and sustainability.