Many minor annoyances come with modern city living, such as havingto wait for a delivery at home or being unable to find, let alone pay for, aparking spot. These hassles may soon be a thing of the past, owing to new cooperation between Orange and SmartKey. 

Orange will be one of the first telecom operators to supply internetof things (IoT) solutions to smart cities using SmartKey's blockchaintechnology, kicking off the widespread adoption of the blockchain of things in a real-world series of use cases. 

SmartKey is a global communication standard that connects devicesover short distances, similar to Bluetooth. It is now possible to registerdevices with an Orange SIM card in the blockchain network, as well as generate and distribute NFTs created by SmartKey that provide access to keys in the publicly accessible SmartKey blockchain network. 

Orange's Live Objects platform, which is powered by SmartKey, is nowa leading integrator of the blockchain IoT (BIoT) model for future cities, aswell as a leading urban platform that supports and manages intelligent infrastructure such as lighting, remote utility meter readings, and safe device control based on blockchain decentralized applications (apps). 

The partnership between SmartKey and Orange will begin in Poland,where SmartKey is based. After that, the relationship will be pushed outglobally, with over 2,000 cities joining the platform. 

In over 80 Polish locations, Orange Polska is the major telecommunicationsoperator and a leader in IoT solutions. It also sells over 2 million SIM cardsfor machine-to-machine (M2M) and Internet-of-Things (IoT) technologies. 

The partnership's initial use case will be the expansion of thesuccessful SmartKey "rescue without barriers" trial in Olsztyn,Poland, where emergency responders utilize SmartKey to gain rapid entry to every neighborhood and building in the area, dramatically lowering response times and saving lives. This will be deployed in every Polish city where Orange provides smart city services. 

Short-term car, bike, and scooter rentals, as well as vehicleservices like paying for parking, finding a free parking space, and charging anelectric car, can all be integrated. 

On Orange's Live Objects platform, more use cases are being activelydeveloped. Sensors for light, sound, passive infrared motion, temperature,pressure, and humidity, as well as 3-axis digital accelerometers, GPS modules, tilt switches, magnetic door switches, and screw connectors, are all examples of these. 

According to Szymon Fiedorowicz, CEO and co-founder of SmartKey,this alliance "will expedite our aim to be the connective tissue of thefuture smart cities and pave the path to supplying adaptable and secure IoT solutions." 

Furthermore, it can vastly improve urban living. While smart gadgetsand the internet of things are not new concepts, their adoption has beenhampered by cross-brand incompatibility: Devices from the same manufacturer can communicate with one another, while devices from different manufacturers cannot. The promise of smart devices will be realized when a universal communication standard for devices is combined with secure individual keys for access.