Smart bets: How Japan’s NEC is building its smart cities profile in LatAm

Japanese ICT company NEC is aiming to gain ground in the Latin American smart city segment.

Among its most recent wins, the company closed a broad contract for the implementation of a command center and remote surveillance system in Santiago's Padre Hurtado district. Other initiatives are in the pipeline in Brazil, Colombia and Peru.

NEC's main competitors for these projects, particularly those related to public security, include companies like Motorola Solutions and smaller local firms.

In this interview, NEC head of smart cities in Latin America, Maximiliano Maffei, talks about the Chilean contract, opportunities in the segment, countries where expansions are planned and focuses to grow in the smart cities segment.

BNamericas: How did NEC get this contract in Chile?

Maffei: This opportunity was part of a regional government initiative in Santiago, where there are investments with public security funds. In Padre Hurtado district, in particular, there was a need to improve the issue of security.

They had a small monitoring center. What we proposed was to migrate to a smart command center that would allow them to improve the overseeing and management of what is somewhat a common denominator throughout Latin America: security.

From that perspective, what was worked on was a comprehensive solution that initially comprised 50 camera points that allow a 360-degree view from their positions, robotized and commanded from the command and control center.

The project also includes deploying six vehicle license plate reading porticos. With them, we can basically read the plates and compare with a list of wanted vehicles. And when that happens, an alert is received in the system that it is a stolen vehicle or that there is an arrest warrant.

BNamericas: What other items are involved in the project?

Maffei: We will also implement – because this project is in the implementation phase, it is not finished yet – the entire connectivity, network, etc.

We also installed 10 mobile cameras inside the municipal patrol cars, which allow video operators to remotely monitor vehicles. We are also installing 20 smart poles.

These are posts that basically have an intercom system integrated. That intercom allows for two-way communication with citizens. These posts are generally installed in public spaces, in pedestrian areas, in plazas, near schools.

Also, as part of this opportunity, a drone is being adopted to help monitor in case of specific actions. And finally, 1,500 physical panic buttons were installed, or will be installed. These physical panic buttons are little boxes that have… 4G communication.

There is a final component, let's say, that also allows us to reach citizens in a massive way, which is a mobile application to allow interaction with the command center and allows us to send alerts and events related to medical emergencies or related to civil defense.

On top of all that is our City SensAI platform, which is a bit of an orchestrator, an umbrella, that allows the integration of all these subsystems, of all these components that I was telling you about.

BNamericas: When was the contract awarded and for what value?

Maffei: The contract was awarded on October 13. NEC prefers not to disclose the amount.

BNamericas: How much has been implemented and what is left to implement in terms of components, platforms?

Maffei: By the end of November, a large part of the components should be operational. That is the objective.

Keep in mind that what is being done now is mostly the networking phase. That is, the first thing you have to deploy is the entire communication network part. That is, the revamp of the monitoring center and everything that is the connectivity phase.

We are putting out a distributed antenna system that allows for much faster deployment because if one has to sell fiber optics, the project could take, I don't know, eight months, nine months. And all of this is being done in almost three months; it has to be finished.

We are also moving forward with the civil infrastructure, such as the poles, network infrastructure and command center, putting in the video boards, the workstations, etc.

BNamericas: Which companies are part of this project with NEC? Who are your suppliers?

Maffei: We work with different technological partners and service partners. On the technological side, we are working with Hanwha, a South Korean company that is the camera supplier. We are working on a video management point with Milestone.

Neuralabs is another partner. They are working on the artificial intelligence for license plate recognition. We are also working with a local partner, which is the one that provides us with all the services and maintenance.

BNamericas: How many other projects like this do you have in Chile or in other countries across the region?

Maffei: Well, in 2020, 2021, we started to work hard in Chile. We won a project involving 4,000 cameras in La Florida district.

This one would be the second project we are working on in Chile. The idea is being able to continue expanding there.

Basically, today we are in Argentina and Chile [focused on smart cities and security], and we are working on opportunities in Brazil, Colombia and Peru, which are a bit of the focus for development this year.

BNamericas: How are you structuring this expansion strategy?

Maffei: We divide it into three stages: landing, consolidation and expansion. In the landing phase, for us it is, as I was saying, Brazil, Colombia and Peru. They are part of the landing focus.

It is landing because we do not have projects there and that is why we are working on several opportunities. 

From the point of view of consolidation, basically Argentina and Chile, which is where we already are, where we are growing the projects that we currently have. And, as part of expansion, again also in Argentina and Chile, we already have those clients.

Such is the case, for example, of the province of Santa Fe, which we worked on here in Argentina and today we are expanding, almost tripling the number of cameras currently in place. 

BNamericas: And in Brazil, Colombia and Peru, what does landing entail? Are you participating in tenders, requests for quotes?

Maffei: Exactly. We are in a process of working together with some states and some mayors. Obviously, everything requires its maturation phase when you deal with government. The sales cycles are often long, so one has to work in different phases.

We are working on some opportunities that we hope will arise after the [municipal] runoff election in Brazil. We are waiting for some tenders and notices being published.

There are opportunities in Goiás [state], in São José dos Campos [São Paulo municipality]... We are also working on opportunities for Muralha Paulista, which is a public security project by São Paulo state. 

BNamericas: How relevant is the sector for NEC's operations in Latin America?

Maffei: There is a very important transformation in the organization and this comes from a corporate policy, up from headquarters.

NEC was and is a telecommunications company, but it is looking to go into more complex projects that require, for example, the solutions that we deploy in cities.

So, within the focus of the organization, smart city opportunities are the ones that are being given the most attention.

We have been working within the cities under three very specific verticals. One is the security vertical, but also mobility verticals and everything related to sensorization and IoT.

NEC creates a long-term relationship with cities, where it can propose everything in a service model. That has been a bit of a success story in Argentina and Chile, of being able to contribute to the cities with those business formats.