/ -- Quantela Inc., in collaboration with Erie Innovation District today announced the roll-out of the second phase of Secure Smart City project. The project follows the successful deployment of the pilot project that was implemented on State Street, between 6th and 12th streets in July 2018 and delivered the use cases of smart LED Street Lighting, City Wi-Fi Services and Urban Security around Perry Square.
The second phase of the Secure Smart City project will be implemented by Quantela in the Opportunity Zones of Erie using a Consumption-Based Equity Financing Model supported by Digital Alpha Advisors LLC, a private equity company focused on financing urban innovation projects. This unique, market-disrupting model of project financing helps Cities jump-start their Smart City projects with minimum upfront capital investment and also share in the incremental revenue upside coming from data monetization opportunities. The project scope will involve the installation and operations of Quantela's Atlantis Intelligence Platform with City Wi-Fi Services initially in a 4.54 road mile area of the Opportunity Zones in Erie and then scale gradually to include all of the Opportunity Zones as well as the City.
"Cities worldwide are harnessing the power of technology to reduce traffic congestion, bridge the digital divide, enhance connectivity, promote economic development, fight crime and make local governments more sustainable and resilient," said Mayor Schember. "We are excited to partner with Quantela and Digital Alpha to execute this ambitious project and what it can mean for Erie's growth as a center of innovation."
Quantela CEO Sridhar Gadhi said, "We are extremely honored to partner with the City of Erie, Innovation District and Digital Alpha to deploy our expertise of having implemented many smart city projects worldwide. We see this project as a steppingstone toward the transformation of Erie as a tech hub to help companies develop innovations in urban services and industrial IoT solutions that could be deployed across other projects in the USA and globally." The initiative comes as the result of a strategic relationship reached between the City and lead partner Quantela, a global smart urban infrastructure company that is in partnership with Digital Alpha.
Commenting on the project announcement, Digital Alpha Managing Partner Rick Shrotri said, "We are extremely pleased to work with Quantela, the City of Erie and the Innovation District to make this breakthrough equity investment based on the Consumption Model. This will be among the first projects in the US to use risk capital to finance the digital transformation of urban infrastructure projects in a true partnership, as Digital Alpha enables an outcome-based financing structure for municipalities. Following the successful execution of this project, we expect to make further investments with Quantela from a $100M commitment of equity financing from Digital Alpha's Limited Partners for Smart City projects across the US and globally."
As a partner of Cisco's Smart+Connected Communities, Quantela has deployed over 40 smart-city projects worldwide and will work locally with the Innovation District and Velocity Network (VNET) to provide broadband Wi-Fi access across the target areas in the Opportunity Zones. Quantela will deploy Cisco Kinetic for Cities IoT Platform along with Quantela's flagship Atlantis intelligence Atlantis platform to deliver actionable insights to the City that would help reduce costs for the delivery of urban services and improve revenue. "With Quantela's Atlantis Intelligence platform and Cisco Kinetic for Cities combined with Digital Alpha's equity investment, we can deliver the necessary information to drive data-driven decisions to improve public safety, energy efficiency and quality of life for Erie's residents," said Cisco's Managing Director, Arvind Satyam.
"With so many connected devices and incredible amounts of data being generated, security becomes a particular concern," Karl Sanchack, CEO of Erie Innovation District said. "As a Secure Smart City, our design keeps security top-of-mind to protect against IoT (Internet of Things) threats and to safeguard the city's operations, public safety and citizens' privacy. The smart city and accelerator projects are a critical step in building Erie's recognition on a national and international stage as the destination city of choice for data science, safety and cyber security," Sanchack further added.
About Quantela Inc.
Quantela is a leading player in providing the digital platform 'Atlantis' for automating and optimizing urban infrastructure operations. Headquartered in the USA, with a presence in Europe and Asia, Quantela is addressing the global smart cities and communities' market. Quantela, in partnership with Digital Alpha Advisors, is disrupting the model of financing smart city projects that help Cities digitize their urban infrastructure operations thereby discovering new revenue streams as well as reduce their cost of delivery of City services. http://www.quantela.com
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