At the forum: Ong with Huawei Malaysia CEO Abraham Liu at the Malaysia-China Digital Economy Forum
KUALA LUMPUR: Property developer I-Bhd together with technology partner Huawei Technologies Co Ltd, will be launching the first ever smart home project of their tie-up, Converse @ i-City, next April in the company’s flagship i-City.
i-City director Monica Ong said the project would comprise 200 units of smart fully-furnished homes equipped with Internet of Things (IoT) technology as part of its readily available and standard utilities.
“The gross development value of Converse is yet to be announced as discussions are still in the pipeline, but the high-rise condominium will be located right above Double Tree by Hilton in i-City,” she told the press on the sidelines following the launch of the Malaysia-China Digital Economy Forum by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.
It was reported that the automated smart homes will be wired up to answer questions and retrieve information from the Internet for their owners.
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The homes will have auto control facilities that allows for owners to undertake tasks with a simple voice command
Ong also said the partnership with Huawei, a network and telecommunications equipment maker located in Shenzhen, China, covers more than just the Converse project as it involves the upgrading of i-City’s fibre infrastructure.
“Actually, our partnership with Huawei is for the entire development of i-City to further upgrade our fibre infrastructure, smart traffic as well as smart parking systems among others.
“We have the vision of i-City being an urban development that integrates and embeds the evolution of multiple information and communication technologies and IoT advancements.
“This is to provide better qualities of life for the people who reside and work there,” she said.
The i-City and Huawei partnership spans across the establishment of necessary ecosystem and the multi-towered and multi-faceted 72-acre ultrapolis that includes residential, commercial and leisure components. To this end, i-City was accorded MSC Malaysia Cybercentre status in 2008.
The partners will now be working with Huawei to address other elements of the eco-system such as the impact and integration of cloud computing and mobile broadband into property development and everyday living.
At the ground level, i-City has been providing home network connectivity as part of the basic infrastructure and it will be working with Huawei to ensure the most cost-effective solution.
Ong said digital economy has become one of the key contributors to the country’s economic growth with i-City supporting the effort to develop the industry to benefit the local economic landscape.
