DUBAI: Building Industry Consulting Service International (BICSI), the global association leading the advancement of the information and communications technology (ICT) community, successfully concluded the 2018 BICSI MEA ACE Summit and Masterclass. The events were held on 16 October at the Fairmont Dubai in conjunction with BICSI’s participation in GITEX Technology Week
More than 200 delegates, including Architects, Consultants & Engineers (ACE) attended the Summit and Masterclass to learn from industry experts and share experiences, expertise and challenges in designing ICT infrastructure systems deployed in Smart Cities, data centres and other ICT-intensive projects.
Paul Weintraub, RCDD, ESS, RTPM, TECH, CAE, BICSI Vice President of Global Development and Support, said: “BICSI’s focus in most recent years has been one of global focus – with a local impact or a term called ‘Glocal’. As a global hub for BICSI, Dubai is growing rapidly in its design and deployment of advanced smart technologies. Intelligent buildings and cities require standards and best practices and a highly-qualified workforce and that is a great match for BICSI standards, education and credentials.”
The Summit featured presentations and a panel discussion from experts on a range of topics including “Turning Smart Cities into Safe Cities,” “Digital Disruption and Technology Trends,” “How Can MEP Build an Efficient Communication Infrastructure,” and “Future-Proofing ICT Infrastructure.”
“There is a lot of buzz around “Smart Cities” right now. Some cities have a vision to become smart by 2020 or 2025, others claim they are already there”, said presenter Tertius Wolfaardt, Business Development Manager at Axis Communications.
“One of the cornerstones is connected sensors, providing information to relevant stakeholders and systems. It could be smart phones or cars sharing location data, smoke and fire detectors initiating alarms, or a wide range of other sensors. Another cornerstone is connectivity where fixed or wireless networks allow for secure and reliable exchange of information. A third cornerstone is the handling of big data – both historical and real-time. Around the world, more and more cities are starting to use smart combinations of sensors, connectivity and big data to create a safer and more secure city,” explained Wolfaardt.
The Summit was preceded by a Masterclass on ‘Availability vs. Reliability and Choosing the Right Class of Data Centre’ conducted by Christopher S. Hobbs, RCDD, DCDC, RTPM, CT, BICSI Training Provider Services Manager. Delegates learned how to select data centre classes based on the ANSI/BICSI-002, Data Center Design and Implementation Best Practices standard. This enabled them to understand how risk is applied to the construction of data centres.
BICSI MEA’s 2nd annual ACE Summit was supported by Axis Communications as Headline Sponsor. Other event sponsors include AFL Hyperscale, Fluke Networks, AT&T Cabling Systems, Excel and Leviton. The Pre-Summit Masterclass was sponsored by Hilti. News Desk
