68-69 / 111
VIVACOMworks closelywiththeBulgarianmunicipalities
to offer them solutions that respond to their exact needs
and that will improve the lives of their residents and
guests. Based on the trust and the good cooperation
between VIVACOM and Burgas Municipality, achieved
in the time when the company provides communication
connectivity to the city’s bicycle rental systems,
intelligent video surveillance and integrated transport,
in 2018 was launched a development of a pilot solution
for
smart parking in the city.
The innovative system started working on 30 parking
spaces in the paid ‘blue zone’ in the central part of
Burgas. For the test phase was selected one of the
most neuralgic areas in the city where the overloading
needless traffic for search of free parking and long lines
of waiting cars are common occurrence. The aim of the
Municipality is to gather information on the zone’s traffic
load, then to analyze it and to take specific measures to
deal with the problem.
The system works via built-in sensor in each parking
space, which through the telecom’s LoRaWAN network
detects in real time whether there is a car parked on it.
Sensors are hermetically sealed boxes with a battery
which life-time is over 7 years. This provides easy
maintenance and a long-term exploitation.
In addition, two information boards, which show
real-time dynamic information about the number of
free parking spaces, are installed on both entry / exit
directions. Thus drivers understand whether to enter
the area at all or to go to another – that saves their time
and carbon emissions release from their vehicles into
the atmosphere, and last but not least, reduces stress
for all traffic participants.
Thanks to specialized management software helping
the ‘OP Transport’ operator and the citizens, the smart
parking system combines the information from each
sensor, reporting the free and occupied parking spaces
in real time. The system can issue an alert when parking
time is exceeded. It also has a special functionality in the
mobile application, which provides greater convenience
when making payments for hourly parking.
The system has one more advantage – the information
gathered can be provided to any interested authorized
institution as well as to companies wishing to develop
new mobile and web applications with information
about the city.
Dimitar Nikolov,
Mayor of Burgas Municipality:
‘The pilot project is a good start. Next year comes the upgrading and expansion of the
system by scope and functionalities.
The intelligent parking is only one of the aspects to which the efforts of the Municipality
team are directed. Combining city data into a common urban platform that provides
residents and guests with services, information and a place for civic engagement and
feedback from the administration is our next challenge."
Nikola Ghechev,
Director of Corporate Sales, VIVACOM:
‘The allocation of VIVA SMART into a separate platform establishes VIVACOM
as an innovative technology leader on the market. Behind this initiative is our
understanding that connectivity, freedom and independence are fundamental
values of modern society. We work to make this society grow and people live
better through communications and technology.’
They meet international standards for power supply,
cooling, telecom connectivity and redundancy for each of
these systems. Through them, the company offers cloud
services and colocation of IT equipment.
Cloud services are generally divided into three areas –
software, platforms and infrastructure, with Infrastructure
as a Service (IaaS) being the fastest growing year-on-year,
and the largest – Software as a Service (SaaS). VIVACOM
offers
‘infrastructure as a service’.With it the user hires
computing resources: RAM, disk space and computing
power. The main advantage for businesses is that it helps
them to be more efficient, save costs, as well as to use a
specialized IT resource. Instead of investing in expensive
hardware that has a short lifecycle, to provide an isolated
room with appropriate conditions such as uninterruptible
power supply, specific temperature and humidity, fire
safety and limited access, and then paying high hidden
costs each month, such as electricity, they can just hire
IaaS. VIVACOM offers an infrastructure hiring model
where customers use the amount of server space they
need at the moment and that can be easily increased or
decreased as needed.
The collocation service, on the other hand, enables
corporate clients to have their personal IT equipment in
the telecom’s data centres. Thus, they benefit from the
fully-certified and high-standard collocation halls and do
not invest in their own premises. At the same time, they
have 24/7 access to their machines and can rely on expert
technical and IT support when needed. As a company with
a strong focus on the needs of its customers, in 2018,
VIVACOM launched a special solution for the collocation
of IT equipment for small and medium-sized businesses.
They can hire a telecommunication cabinet with smaller
volume – 1U/2U or even ¼ or ½ with an individual lock,
thus saving financial and human resources to support IT
systems and equipment.
The third element of VIVA SMART is Smart Education. In
recent years, the company has invested in a number of
initiatives aimed at developing Bulgarian education. In
2018, it launched its largest campaign for digitization of
the educational system in Bulgaria – ‘Education 4.0’. It is
realized jointly with ‘24 Hours’ newspaper, Ministry of
Education and Science, Sofia Municipality, Sofia Regional
Inspectorate of Education and Digital National Alliance.
The aim of the initiative is to change attitudes and to
create a framework for digitization of Bulgarian education.
It focuses on three main areas: teacher education, digital
content creation and digitization of classrooms and school
environment.
Along with this, the company offers the Bulgarian
schools a technological solution for digitization called
Smart School.So far, the telecom has equipped digital
classrooms in more than 220 schools and in more
than 90 kindergartens across the country, also over
6,000 teachers have been trained with the help of our
partners. Under the Ministry of Education and Science
project, the company has built Wi-Fi networks in over
100 schools.
4.3.2.
Smart Parking in Burgas Municipality
ANNUALREPORT
2018
INTEGRATED
4.
PERFORMANCE
4.2.
Inspiring
68
69