Surrey, BC - Building a Metro Vancouver Digital Service Hub

In 2017, data was announced by The Economist as the world’s most valuable resource, signalling the rise of the digital transformation era. Businesses, institutions, and government organizations are collecting and relying on vast amounts of data from a variety of sources in order to make real-time, data-driven decisions to increase revenue, decrease costs, and improve customer experience. This has predominantly been made possible by the decreasing costs of digital technologies that contribute to the rise of the Internet of Things (IoT). In fact, Cisco has projected that the amount of data created by connected devices will reach 600ZB by 2020, which is more than triple from 2015 (1).
Aerial of Park Boulevard
Surrey’s broadband deployment is future-proofing our digital infrastructure for next generation industries, but that is just one of the reasons that make it a prime location for opportunities in the digital information, communication technology.
 
The amount of data collected by the IoT is only growing bigger as new and innovative technologies are being deployed. This data is streaming in at unprecedented volumes and, many times, requires real-time responses in order to make real-time decisions. One example is the City of Surrey’s showcase Traffic Management Centre, which collects data from over 400 traffic cameras and sensors to make real-time decisions that optimize traffic flow and reduce congestion. 
 
However, data generation is not just being done by businesses, institutions, and government organizations. Individuals are also creating and consuming data at increasingly breakneck speeds. 2018 statistics show that, every minute, 300 hours of video are being uploaded onto YouTube2, 510,000 comments are being posted on Facebook3, and 350,000 tweets are being tweeted on Twitter4.  
 
The demand for always on, uninterrupted connectivity is increasing and the city of the future needs to be a connected one. If a connected city is what you’re looking for, according to TELUS’ Business Director Doug Sage, “Surrey has the potential to be the one of the most connected cities in North America by 2020.” 
"Surrey has the potential to be the most connected cities in North America by 2020."

- Doug Sage, Business Director at TELUS

Surrey, Prepared for 5G

Surrey has already been laying the groundwork to thrive this new age of connectivity. By the end of 2018, fibre infrastructure will not only bring broadband speeds to 90% of businesses and homes in Surrey, but it will also connect the City to broadband networks eastward across Canada and southwards down the Cascadia Innovation Corridor, all the way to California. We are further complementing this deployment with additional cellular technology to ensure coverage in areas that traditionally have little to no coverage. When 5G, the next generation of mobile technology, comes along, we will be ready. That means that on your best day of connectivity, 5G will be able to provide you 5 times the speeds you get today. 
 

The Opportunities

Surrey’s broadband deployment is future-proofing our digital infrastructure for next generation industries, but that is just one of the reasons that make it a prime location for opportunities in digital information, communication technology. As one of Canada’s fastest growing cities, an Asia-Pacific gateway, and home to 38% of Metro Vancouver’s vacant industrial land inventory5, Surrey is a strategic location for a digital information, communication technology investment.  The opportunities include:
 
  • Data centres, colocation centres, and carrier hotels
  • Internet exchanges
  • Industry 4.0 industrial automation and robotics
Connect with us if you have an amazing opportunity you would like to see take root in Surrey.
 
And of course, this is only one of the many transformation opportunities that exist in Surrey, BC. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn, or subscribe to our insights to stay tuned for more market intelligence releases.
 
1 Cisco Global Cloud Index: Forecast and Methodology, 2016 - 2021 White Paper. https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/solutions/collateral/service-provider/global-cloud-index-gci/white-paper-c11-738085.html

2 Youtube Statistics from Statistic Brain. https://www.statisticbrain.com/youtube-statistics/ February 01, 2018.
3 The Top 20 Valuable Facebook Statistics - Updated February 2018. https://zephoria.com/top-15-valuable-facebook-statistics/
4 Number of Tweets Per Day. https://www.dsayce.com/social-media/tweets-day/ February 01, 2018
 
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