????就在超級颶風“桑迪”肆虐美國東海岸地區(qū)的前幾天，在佛羅里達州奧蘭多市的迪斯尼夢幻王國以北大約22公里的地方，網(wǎng)絡(luò)巨頭思科系統(tǒng)公司（Cisco Systems）召開了為期兩天的會議，他們不加掩飾地稱之為該公司第一屆年度“影響論壇”。該公司首席執(zhí)行官（CEO）約翰?錢伯斯站在臺上，面對著參加會議的眾多開發(fā)商及政客。身為共和黨人的錢伯斯一向直言不諱，他在結(jié)束歡迎詞時對政府投資大加贊揚。他說：“政府可以帶來勇氣?！庇職?，更確切地說，就是相信互聯(lián)網(wǎng)，把所有市政服務(wù)都連接到互聯(lián)網(wǎng)上。

????事實上，思科希望各大城市的市政府都成為它最大的客戶。該公司過去因不斷提升互聯(lián)網(wǎng)的連接速度而讓投資者獲得了豐厚的回報，現(xiàn)在則開始慢慢進入新的服務(wù)領(lǐng)域，提供設(shè)備、進行總體規(guī)劃，或者向各市政府提供咨詢等服務(wù)。思科計劃每年舉辦一屆“影響論壇”，意味著未來該公司領(lǐng)導(dǎo)層將與城市規(guī)劃者低調(diào)合作，利用數(shù)字化技術(shù)來醫(yī)治諸多城市弊病。

????到目前為止，思科已經(jīng)和紐約市及其他兩家公司合作，把約250個公共付費電話亭改造成以屏幕為基礎(chǔ)的信息亭。而且，它還和加拿大里賈納大學（University of Regina）通力合作，在電子政務(wù)領(lǐng)域捐助設(shè)立一個教授職位。而且，最為明顯的是，該公司正在和奧蘭多的企業(yè)集團——塔維斯托克集團（Tavistock Group）合作，在現(xiàn)有的一家退伍軍人管理局所屬醫(yī)院周圍創(chuàng)建一個綜合用地的“醫(yī)療城”。在這個醫(yī)療城里，電力公司以及幾乎其他所有公用事業(yè)公司都將連接到以互聯(lián)網(wǎng)為中心的網(wǎng)絡(luò)中，從而使居民及員工能夠進行各種遠程訪問和監(jiān)控。

????思科已進入向各大城市和開發(fā)商提供咨詢的服務(wù)領(lǐng)域，而IBM在其“智慧城市”（Smarter Cities）品牌下積極推銷這種咨詢服務(wù)已有好幾年了。

????“思科目前確實在把目標瞄準基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施公司——建筑設(shè)計、建造、工程、市政等公司，”該公司負責加拿大行業(yè)及企業(yè)轉(zhuǎn)型的副總裁里克?惠布里茨說。（思科的職位名稱有點牧師般的感覺。）思科希望各大城市相信，所有城市服務(wù)系統(tǒng)在互聯(lián)網(wǎng)平臺上都將會更好地運作。 “各大城市的許多基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施都已接近使用期限，因為不管怎樣，這些基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施正在逐漸過時，而現(xiàn)在有機會用嵌入智能的材料來加以替代。”思科津津樂道的一個例子是，它曾經(jīng)幫助德國某地區(qū)在一個單一的IP（網(wǎng)絡(luò)協(xié)議）網(wǎng)絡(luò)上管理所有道路。

????在美國，思科希望對建造及設(shè)施公司數(shù)年來對互聯(lián)網(wǎng)作出的零散承諾大作文章?；莶祭锎恼f，建筑物業(yè)主在各自的房地產(chǎn)中“填塞了”許多耗費大量電力的小設(shè)備。因此，把這些設(shè)備彼此相互連接就成了一項節(jié)約成本的措施。他說：“這個行業(yè)正在意識到，自己在所有建筑物里建造了大量的（備用電源）?！崩纾伎频哪繕耸窍蚍康禺a(chǎn)業(yè)主展示，如何讓暖氣表、冷氣表及電表基本上可以利用網(wǎng)絡(luò)協(xié)議實現(xiàn)相互連通。

????惠布里茨說：“我們把重點放在了房地產(chǎn)行業(yè)上，因為這個行業(yè)還沒有充分吸收科技?！钡闆r正在迅速發(fā)生變化?！霸谖磥韼啄陜?nèi)，多倫多市中心處于施工階段的高層建筑中有90％將具有IP連通功能。”

????思科希望超越單幢建筑，進入世界各地的整個城市系統(tǒng)。該公司培養(yǎng)了一個叫做“智能互聯(lián)社區(qū)”的業(yè)務(wù)部門，相繼在韓國、西班牙及奧蘭多部署了示范項目。

????Roughly 22 miles north of the Magic Kingdom in Orlando, Fla., just a few days before Superstorm Sandy ripped up the East Coast, networking giant Cisco Systems convened a two-day meeting unabashedly called its first annual "Impact Forum." Among developers and politicos stood CEO John Chambers, an outspoken Republican who nonetheless wound up his welcome with a salute to government investment. "Government can bring courage," he said; courage, that is, to put faith in the Internet for all municipal services.

????In fact, Cisco (CSCO) wants city governments to be among its biggest customers. The company that investors have rewarded for enabling increasingly faster Internet connections has edged into equipping, master planning, and otherwise advising city governments. Cisco plans to hold an "Impact Forum" every year, implying a future where the company's leaders hunker down with city planners to digitally heal urban ills.

????So far, Cisco has teamed up with New York City and two other companies to turn some 250 pay phones into screen-based information kiosks, and it joined forces with Canada's University of Regina to endow a professorship in e-governance. And, most visibly, it is working with a conglomerate called the Tavistock Group in Orlando to create a mixed-use "Medical City" around an existing VA Hospital. In this city, the electric utility and nearly everything else will hook into Internet-centered networks that will allow residents and workers all kinds of remote access and monitoring.

????Cisco has moved into the kind of consulting to cities and developers that IBM (IBM) has been selling aggressively under its "Smarter Cities" brand for several years.

????"Cisco is really targeting infrastructure companies -- architecture, construction, engineering, municipalities," says Rick Huijbregts, the company's VP for industry and business transformation in Canada. (Corporate titles in Cisco take a priestly air.) Cisco wants cities to believe that all urban systems will work better as bits. "A lot of infrastructure in cities is nearing the end of its life and since it's obsolescing anyway, there's an opportunity to replace it with smart-embedded material." As an example, Cisco likes to boast about how it helped a region in Germany manage all of its roads on a single IP network.

????In America, Cisco wants to pounce on piecemeal Internet commitments that construction and facilities firms have been making for several years. Building owners have crammed their properties with gizmos that eat a lot of electricity, Huijbregts says, which would make connecting these devices to each other a cost-saving measure. "The industry is realizing that it's built so much [backup power] into everything," he says. For example, Cisco aims to show property owners how to make heating, cooling, and electric meters essentially talk to each other with Internet protocols.

????"We've focused on real estate because that's an industry that hasn't [absorbed] tech all that fully," Huijbregts says. But things are changing, fast. "In a few years, nine of ten high-rises under construction in downtown Toronto will be IP-enabled."

????Cisco wants to go beyond individual buildings and move into whole urban systems across the world. It's nurtured a business group called Smart + Connected Communities with showcase rollouts in South Korea, Spain, and Orlando.