Southern university goes ‘Smart’
Cisco and Prince of Songkhla University (PSU) have announced the joint development of a smart-city model at the university’s Hat Yai campus on the concept: “PSU Smart and Green Campus 2022 for Lifelong Learning and a Happy Workplace”.
The Cisco-PSU initiative provides a blueprint for cities in Thailand that are planning urban innovation through the novel application of technologies, partnerships, funding models, and community involvement.
PSU has implemented Cisco’s core network technology and its IoT platform with an end-to-end secure connection. This provides a strong foundation for digital transformation at PSU, enabling the university to build a smart-city model that can be replicated elsewhere in Thailand.
Vatsun Thirapatarapong, Cisco’s managing director for Thailand said that Cisco is behind the success of smart-city projects in several countries. “We have provided our core network technology and AI–ready data centre to support smart solutions and applications, along with end-to-end security, to help build smart cities,” he explained.
“A smart-city project has to be driven by professionals who truly understand technology and innovation. Cisco is therefore committed to providing the necessary skills and expertise to PSU staff through the Cisco Network Academy, including foundational knowledge about IoT and DevNet, which delivers networking knowledge from software developers who specialise in Cisco’s networking technology. Cisco will provide training, knowledge and skills to the PSU workforce to address future demands in the digital world. This collaboration is part of our ‘Co-Innovation’ initiative which aims to embrace meaningful and innovative solutions for sustainable development by collaborating with public and private organisations.”
Niwat Keawpradub, President, Prince of Songkla University (PSU), said that PSU acts as an advisor for 14 southern provinces, and each city in those provinces will learn how to leverage technology for city development and follow this model.
“The partnership with Cisco helps PSU to build smart solutions and an IoT platform, while enhancing the digital skills of our professionals, enabling us to implement our smart-city initiative more effectively and successfully. We aim to continue developing our smart-city model and share proven best practices with other cities looking to replicate such initiatives within their own communities,” he said.