Displaying items by tag: Moscow

The UN’s International Telecommunications Union (ITU) has published the results of its ‘United for Smart Sustainable Cities’ initiative (U4SSC) which highlights Moscow’s efforts in digitally transforming the city, according to the Moscow Department of IT.

ITU experts named Moscow a pioneer in smart technology, which could serve as a blueprint for other cities around the world.

In 2019, Moscow worked on a study with ITU on such a large scale by undertaking an analysis of three spheres: economy, environment, society and culture, the study examined the impact of the city’s networks on each.

A list of 91 key indicators based on international standards were used for measurement. Of the 91 key indicators, Moscow ticked the boxes for 76, totaling 84%. Collected data demonstrated that the state, the citizens and private sectors actively engaged with information and communication technology (ICT) to accelerate economic growth and create innovation.

Economy

Moscow city is covered by a large public Wi-Fi network consisting of 18800 access points and almost 100% 3G and 4G coverage

Cybersecurity and the protection of citizen’s data is a high priority for the government of Moscow. Aside from standard data protection practices, it is undertaking studies of blockchain implementation, AI and multifactor authentication to stay ahead of security threats.

Citizens have access to over 300 e-services online though the Gosuslugi platform enabling them to access essential public services without leaving home.

The level of ICT monitoring of roads and public transport is 100%. All of Moscow’s transport stops are equipped with screens of up-to-date traffic information.

Environment

The most ambitious project in this field was the housing renovation program. Over the next 15 years, 1 million citizens will be accommodated in new apartments across Moscow. The goal of the project – is the demolition and replacement of old apartment buildings with modern ones.

Many legislations have been passed on energy efficiency, fire safety, and building materials to achieve the goal. The buildings will be equipped with modern ICT infrastructure for 5G implementation and the introduction of intelligent building technologies and meters.

Society and culture 

Moscow Electronic School (MES) is the largest e-learning project in the world. Thanks to the platform 100% of students have access to ICT resources, totaling around 970 thousand people.

A total of 77.6% of citizens (9.7 million out of 12.5 million) have electronic medical records and can sign up for a doctor's appointment online.

Data collected from the city’s various monitoring systems including sensors, meters, cameras and the “Active Citizen” and “Our City” initiatives, which collect valuable feedback from citizens, provided critical insights into the most problematic areas of city life. This has informed measures taken by the city to remedy the most pressing concerns.

More than 50 countries across the world have begun to implement key indicators of efficiency to reach their own smart city goals. Among them are Singapore, Dubai, Montevideo, Valencia, Huangshan and many others, each of which is a part of large scale experiments implementing new technologies to improve urban living. Participants of the U4SSC program exchange valuable information and experience with one another to promote the latest innovations in smart cities.

The “United for Smart Sustainable Cities” (U4SSC) is a UN initiative, supported by 16 UN agencies and programs and aimed at achieving Sustainable Development Goal 11: Make cities inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable. U4SSC serves as the global platform to advocate for public policy and to encourage the use of ICTs to facilitate and ease the transition to smart sustainable cities.

ICT.Moscow, a digital platform devoted to tech-based solutions, together with the city’s Department of Information Technologies (DIT), has granted free access to a unified knowledge base on 5G.

This unique project will enable users to keep track of the deployment of 5G mobile communication technology in Moscow. In the future, it will be possible to use the platform to stay abreast of the work being conducted in Moscow’s 5G testing laboratories.

The site offers open access to domestic and international cases of solutions based on the application of 5G.

This one of a kind project will be useful not only for Russian companies, but also for international companies wanting to understand how the technology works, keep up to date on related information or test their products in Moscow’s pilot zones and laboratories.  Companies from all over the world with ideas for solutions they would like to implement in its 5G pilot zones can communicate their concepts to the city’s planner by completing a special form on the website.

“One of the city’s primary tasks is to help businesses better understand the opportunities presented by 5G and to encourage the development of new digital products. For this, DIT and ICT.Moscow have launched a special project devoted to 5G – a knowledge base on the development of the latest generation in communication technology. The platform offers individuals and businesses the opportunity to submit ideas of new solutions for testing. As of today, the site already features more than 60 Russian and international case studies,” said Eduard Lysenko, Minister of the Government of Moscow and head of the city’s DIT.

In addition to describing 5G testing and usage practices, the site contains a map showing all the 5G pilot zones in Moscow, both those that are currently operational and those presently preparing to launch. Users can obtain information on the operators who are testing equipment, alongside a list of successful case studies and other useful information.

The news section pulls together information on events, presentations and studies relating to 5G. The site also has a separate section featuring views from Russian experts on the future development of the technology, its impact on business and economic benefits.

The Moscow Department of IT and Russian mobile operator Beeline have announced the launch of a fifth-generation (5G) mobile communication pilot zone in the grounds of the Luzhniki sports complex. It is the third 5G zone in Moscow.

According to Beeline, the technological solution employed will simplify its task of launching 5G in densely built-up urban districts where there are severe restrictions on available space.

Beeline aims to start selling the first commercial smartphones and routers for fifth- generation mobile networks by the end of the current year.

“At the present time, the Beeline network in Moscow is already 91% 5G-ready - in other words, ready for deployment of the fifth-generation networks, and 100% of the Beeline network supports NBIoT. We are planning additional launches of pilot zones in the Russian regions, including further testing of new devices, user scenarios and “smart” city technologies in the newly launched 5G zones,” stated the operator.

The launch of the first Moscow 5G pilot zone on Tverskaya Street’s section from the Kremlin to the Garden Ring was announced in August. Since then another pilot zone appeared at VDNH park.

On 7th June 2019, during the St Petersburg International Economic Forum, Sergey Sobyanin, the Mayor of Moscow, and Alexey Kornya, CEO of mobile network operator MTS, signed an agreement on cooperation for the purposes of developing communication services and information-telecommunication technologies in the city of Moscow. 

The agreement envisages pilot projects aimed at developing new digital technologies and communication services in Moscow, including in the fields of virtual and augmented reality, Internet of Things, Smart City, and 5G technologies. For these purposes the required information-telecommunication infrastructure will be created in the city.

The authorised agency responsible for implementing the agreement on behalf of Moscow is the city’s Department of Information Technology (DIT). 

“Moscow is setting itself the task of reducing operator expenditure on creating infrastructure for the commercial launch of 5G by removing administrative barriers,” said Eduard Lysenko, Head of DIT.

The agreement has been signed in light of the provisions of the state programme Digital Economy of the Russian Federation, which calls for the creation of pilot segments of the fifth generation mobile communication networks by the end of 2019 and the commercial launch of 5G by 2022. 

Deputy head of Moscow’s IT Department, Alexander Gorbatko, said at the Moscow Ubran Forum that a 5G demo center for testing promising technologies and city services will be set up in the city. The center will be accessible for both Russian and foreign companies.

Mobile TeleSystems (MTS), the leading telecommunications provider in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), and MGTS, one of the largest operators of local wire communications in Europe, recently presented a new strategy of technological development for 2017-2020 in the Moscow region, to prepare for 5G standard.

MTS and MGTS will strengthen joint cooperation in development of mobile and fixed internet access. MTS plans to increase the number of base stations connected to GPON from 25% to 40-45%. This decision will allow MTS to use the resources of mobile infrastructure on maximum and also will improve quality and stability of customer services.

MGTS intends to launch mass adoption of XG-PON (10GPON) in its network in 2017. This will allow MGTS to become a digital platform for mobile operators at transition to 5G. First 10GPON test zones will appear in 2017-2018 at the most loaded parts of the network. The 10GPON transition is planned to be completed by 2020.

The companies will continue to cooperate in testing of 5G standard. This year MTS will conduct testing of pilot zones of the "fifth generation" standard, which will be launched during the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

In April this year, MGTS will test interoperability of Nokia's 10GPON and 5G-technologies. MTS and Nokia have already successfully tested 5G technologies during which the speed of mobile data transmission reached 4.5 Gbps, which is by times higher than the upper speed limits of existing mobile and fixed internet access standards.

"Our cooperation in the network development in the Moscow region gives us plenty of advantages in improving speed and quality of infrastructure as well as in optimizing capital expenditures the final beneficiaries of which are our customers who receive high speed internet," said Igor Egorov, Director of Moscow region, MTS.

"In relation to 5G technology development, MGTS's fixed channels of 10GPON standard can become a basis for rapid construction of a new generation mobile network in the Moscow region", added Igor Egorov.

"We are standing on the cusp of global fundamental changes. The 5G standard will give momentum to evolve robo mobiles and gadgets supporting AR and VR as well as to the whole IoT market and М2M decisions," said Andrey Ershov, CEO, MGTS.

"New technologies will lead to multiple increases in traffic that will become a new challenge for telecommunications operators and will require raising network capacity many fold. Today we are working on the decision that will provide MGTS with an opportunity to retain a position of the technological leader for decades and to lay basis for the soonest adoption of innovative services in the Moscow region."

GPON and XG-PON technologies interoperability tests were launched on Huawei equipment in MGTS suitability testing center. The testing has positive results: both GPON and XG-PON standards coexist on the same distribution network. Maximum downstream speed achieved during testing was 8.5 Gbps.

Russia’s FSB security service announced in a statement on Friday, December 2, that it had received intelligence about “plans by foreign secret services to carry out large-scale cyber-attacks from December 5.” The plans, it said, were aimed at “destabilizing Russia’s financial system including the activities of a number of major banks.” FSB is reportedly working to neutralize the threat.

In November, Moscow-based security giant Kaspersky announced that a massive cyber-attack had penetrated at least five of Russia’s largest banks. Those attacks, according to Kaspersky, were carried out using devices located in 30 countries including the United States. One of the banks that were attacked, Sberbank, acknowledged that it had been attacked, but also said that none of its main operations has been affected.

But Russia is not just the victim of large-scale cyber-attacks – in fact; the country has been accused in the past for several major hacking operations in the U.S. In October, Washington formally accused Russia of attempting to “interfere” in the 2016 presidential election. What’s more, German Chancellor Angela Merkel recently said that cyber-attacks by Russia have become so common that they are now a “part of daily life”.

Russia now faces skepticism, such as MI5, the British intelligence agency, warning that Russia is becoming more aggressive and using cyber-attacks to promote its foreign policy abroad. At this stage, Russia’s FSB has not disclosed which countries’ secret services were involved in the recent cyber-attacks aimed at the country’s financial institutions, but has alleged that the attacks would use servers and “command centers” located in the Netherlands belonging to Ukrainian hosting company BlazingFast.

Anton Onopriychuk, director of the Kiev-based company, told AFP it provides "services for protection against cyber-attacks, not for attacks.” He continued, “As yet no one has contacted us about this, neither the FSB or clients,” adding that the company would investigate. The FSB said that "provocative publications" about a crisis in the Russian banking system were planned to appear on social media networks, blogs and mobile phone text messages.