DC is Cisco’s first US ‘Lighthouse City’

Mayor Muriel Bowser, D.C. CTO Archana Vemulapalli and Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins announced on Thursday that the District will become the country’s first “Lighthouse City” — a pioneer in Cisco smart-city technologies.
The Lighthouse program “was created to acknowledge the commitment and progressive agenda” of Cisco customer cities, according to an informational video. Lighthouse cities also sign on to participate in various pilot programs — other Lighthouse cities around the world include Barcelona, Hamburg, Adelaide and Jaipur.

Proud to partner with @MayorBowser, @OCTODC and @dccto on our first Lighthouse Smart City project in DC! @Cisco #smarterdc #DCproud pic.twitter.com/3FsxJPOK2B

— Chuck Robbins (@ChuckRobbins) October 20, 2016

Cisco investments via this program will include smart-city infrastructure, tech and entrepreneurship education and “safety and security.” Smart lighting, for example, improves both efficiency ($$) and safety — two birds, one stone. You can see Robbins highlight a few other key examples of the kind of work Cisco and D.C. aim to do together in this video.
Concurrent with the new partnership, Mayor Bowser and team also announced the completion of the first stage of the Pennsylvania 2040 project — another project that leverages a partnership with Cisco. PA 2040, for those unfamiliar, is an “initiative to enhance visitors’ experience on ‘America’s Main Street’ by implementing exciting and practical Internet of Things (IoT) technologies.” Stage one included the installation of smart street lights in the Golden Triangle business improvement district — street lights with sensors and wifi capability. Next up? Smart parking and better waste management.
Both PA 2040 and the new “Lighthouse City” designation are part of D.C.’s larger smart cities commitments — a vision for the future of our city that you can learn more about in this very thorough promo video: