Top city destination rankings have become a fundamental issue for mayors across the world as they seek to attract tourists and businesses and generate additional revenue. And security is one of the key factors in such rankings.

In today’s digital world, guaranteeing high-quality urban services requires the analysis of vast quantities of data generated by thousands of connected devices.

As a global leader in both cyber and physical security, Thales is helping make cities smart while keeping them safe and secure. Thales provides solutions based on a comprehensive concept of urban security that covers threats including industrial and natural catastrophes, crime, social unrest, and terrorist attacks.

“Today, cities like Paris, Frankfurt, and Amsterdam are competing on the international level for tourists, businesses, and expatriates. They need seamless security that will allow business continuity as well as ensure the safety of their citizens,” says Lionel Salmon, Director Strategy and Marketing at Thales.

In addition, while containing costs, cities must meet new threats such as cyber attacks. “As cities become more and more connected through sensors, they become more vulnerable to attempts to neutralize cameras or communications, which could be followed by a physical attack,” says Salmon.

Thanks to the tailor-made tools it has developed and deployed in many cities, Thales is able to make the best use of available resources. Consolidating all information in a control center is key: by crossing different data from sensors with other data, from open sources for example, Thales provides a flexible, comprehensible response to urban security.

“We believe that if you integrate information from different sources, you’re more likely to correctly distinguish real alerts from false alarms,” says Salmon.

More predictive solutions

Thales’s solutions include smart video data analytics, smart supervision platforms, real-time information sharing, and harmonization among existing systems and agencies.

They give cities an optimized management of sensor networks, data and interventions, and help make citizens’ lives safer. They also allow for faster and better-targeted interventions, better detection of threats, and guaranteed continuity of service for the public and private sectors, both on a daily basis and in times of crisis.

Thales is taking urban security to the next step by providing scalable, cloud-based solutions, bringing the benefits of new technologies such as artificial intelligence, along with potentially new economical models for cities, such as “software as a service”. “These solutions are more predictive and play an active role in making decisions,” says Salmon.

As cities become safer, everyone wins: residents, visitors and businesses as well as the police and other emergency workers.  And Thales, as a long-term partner, will be there for them as their needs evolve.