Exclusive: Meet Cisco's New Local Smart City Leader

 Kent Nuss, the new leader of Cisco man in Kansas City, it will be a little '' like its predecessor.

Monday, the Kansas City Business Journal sat down with Nuss, who now runs the local presence of Cisco Systems Inc. in its project in Kansas City. Nuss said he worked with Isaiah Blackburn, the project manager, before, in the last two years, since the public-private partnership between the city and the $ 15000000 now based in San Francisco, the network technology (Nasdaq : CSCO) was coming. Last week, Cisco announced Blackburn has left to become director of strategy for Xaqt release a local company.

Nuss, a responsible transformation of selection position Cisco Account Overland Park, said he was in the company for 10 years working in sales. From south central Kansas and went to school at Kansas State University in Manhattan. He said he was in Kansas City for nearly 25 years.

Nuss said he was involved with the planning and organization of the "smart city" in Kansas City for about two years, and its current goal is always wide initiative to inflate the technical backbone of the city center. Incubator startups He's talking to the Smart City Advisory Council, a body appointed by Mayor Sly James to develop goals and best practices for the association, which also includes Sprint Corp. headquarters in Overland Park and Kansas City-based think Great Partners LLC.

Cisco is committed to getting the first operational phase in the spring, and now design network infrastructure together with Sprint. Nuss said that the main objective is to get the foundation laid by Sprint. The telecommunications company is building a Wi-Fi 2.2 miles along the route of the tram line from Kansas City, which will serve as the center of much of the interconnect technology.

Nuss has reiterated that the draft Kansas City, one of about 90 smart city projects worldwide, is very important for the efforts of the Internet things Cisco. "We have the power of the company behind it," Nuss said.As moved to Blackburn Xaqt, Nuss said the move does not mean that has cut its ties with Cisco. "It 's definitely a resource that is in my back pocket," said Nuss. "He is close to us."