Starting with Smart Foundations, with Adam Davis

In this episode of the Smart Community Podcast, I spoke with Adam Davis, the Director of TPL Connect, and a consultant in the design and delivery of Wired and Wireless Networks in Smart Cities, Data Centres, IoT, Telecommunications and Enterprise sectors. Adam shares with us his background as a cabling technician and project manager, and how working with local councils in ICT design and strategy really sparked his interest in the Smart City space. Adam tells us how he sees Australia currently embracing the Smart City or Smart Region concept, and some of the mistakes he's seen Councils make when adopting new technology. We discuss the importance of having an overarching vision or roadmap when undertaking any kind of Smart City planning, and what some of the key components of such a framework are. Adam shares some of the projects he's currently working on, primarily focusing on the foundation layer such as fibre infrastructure to support wireless and sensor networks, and the amount of that foundation layer technology that is needed before the 5G network can be usable. Adam says that boring foundation layer of infrastructure is something that's often overlooked in the Smart arena, and how it's an emerging trend/problem we should all be talking about more. We also cover the need for interoperability of new tech so that legacy systems don't hinder progress, why councils need multidisciplinary teams in order for integration to be successful, and finish our chat discussing the emerging trend of skillset gaps in both city and regional teams, such as lack of data analysts, integration and systems thinking. As always I hope you enjoy listening to this episode as much as I enjoyed making it. Find the full show notes as: www.mysmart.community Connect with Adam via LinkedIn or email adam.davis@tplconnect.com.au Connect with me via email: hello@mysmart.community Connect via LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook @smartcommpod