Microsoft unites with former exec in building a ‘smart city’ in Portugal

If you want better cities, goes the theory herein, you’ll have to start at their very foundations. Steve Lewis, ex-Microsoftie and current CEO of Living PlanIT, has a vision for how to make our cities smarter and more sustainable, and it starts literally at ground level, with the installation of smart sensors into buildings as they’re being built . The appeal of his company’s ideas has already attracted some tech luminaries as partners, Cisco being among them, and now Microsoft has also been signed up — to provide the cloud framework required to keep all those sensors talking with its Azure platform. Paredes, a Portuguese municipality, will play host to one of the first such projects, eventually providing homes for nearly a quarter of a million people and costing a staggering €10 billion ($14.1b) to complete. To understand the synergistic benefits of having your life monitored by an omniscient Urban Operating System sentinel, skip past the break for a press release and explanatory video. Continue reading Microsoft unites with former exec in building a ‘smart city’ in Portugal Microsoft unites with former exec in building a ‘smart city’ in Portugal originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 25 Mar 2011 04:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink

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