Internet of Things open-access network heading to Milton Keynes

Milton Keynes will become one of the first cities in the UK to create open access to an Internet of Things (IoT) network.

The city has partnered with BT, base station builder Neul and the Future Cities project. Supported by the Open University, the program intends to demonstrate the ability of large scale machine-to-machine (M2M) infrastructure.

Milton Keynes council hopes that introducing the IoT network will attract curious tech firms to the city, creating an ecosystem of IoT development start-ups along the way. The rest of the UK is due to catch up by 2015.

"We want to encourage anybody who has a good idea to come forward," said Milton Keynes Council director of strategy, Geoff Snelson.

"We are a very entrepreneurial council, and would rather be leading than following."

BT and Neul will install a network of weightless standard base stations, which will provide coverage over the entire city. The council already has idea for how to use the new technology, including sensors for public bins to tell collectors when they're full to save fuel.

The city's 20,000 car parking spaces will be linked up to the network, too, to provide information on how many spaces are available at any one time.

"We see this exciting project as a means of establishing an open innovation environment to support the creation of M2M and IoT applications across a whole city," said Alan Ward, head of corporate ICT practice at BT.

"The project will showcase BT's capability in managing network services for these applications, pivotal in making this initiative a success."