Wapice and Axis create a blueprint for smart city data-driven leadership through Nordic collaboration
Data-driven urban management is being transformed as Wapice's IoT-TICKET partners with Axis camera technologies. The joint solution leverages cognitive functions and AI to enhance predictability and decision-making. This Nordic collaboration delivers secure, scalable solutions for creating smarter and safer cities.
Wapice is a leading SaaS provider based in Finland offering a range of services to industrial firms the world over. Its IoT-TICKET platform is designed to bring together data from multiple IoT sources into bespoke applications, boosting customers’ digitalization efforts and fully integrating cutting-edge technologies and connected systems into a cohesive whole using low-code and no-code tools.
There are obvious parallels between IoT-TICKET and Axis technology – something that Jari Kuusisto, Product Manager, IoT for Smart Cities at Wapice, says brought the two companies together naturally. “This all started when we began a major smart city project using IoT-TICKET,” he explains. “We knew the municipality in Finland had cameras, then realised they were all from the same brand, Axis.”
“We asked why,” continues Kuusisto, “and the client explained everything they loved about Axis cameras – the image quality, the robustness, the sustainability side of things – and how they wanted to scale up with the same brand. This spoke to me, and I realised that we should partner with Axis directly.” That was the beginning, and the partnership has since strengthened, with Wapice becoming an official Axis Technology Integration Partner in 2024.
The power of Axis hardware made it ideal for this application. We can use Axis camera sensors to offer pure data points to IoT-TICKET. We can also anonymize video data right on the camera, before it reaches human eyes.
Quality data, quality insights
IoT-TICKET is all about turning data into insights, which means cameras are, for some end users, an essential part of its advanced functionality. But not just any cameras will do. IoT-TICKET makes use of AI-based machine vision tools to gather data, turning this into insights about traffic, footfall, people movement and more.
“The flexibility of the solution was immediately attractive,” comments Jari Kuusisto. “Rather than using cameras with fixed, built-in image recognition tools, the quality and flexibility of Axis cameras allows us to develop bespoke, changeable, AI-driven apps. I’ve had very good feedback from our machine vision experts.”
Kristina Madolova, Axis Architect & Engineering Manager (Nordics), agrees with Kuusisto’s assessment. “Image quality is very important,” she explains, “because particularly with visual sensors, where the image is the raw data source of video analytics, high quality image processing is crucial. It directly impacts the accuracy and reliability of data analysis, decision-making and automation.
The ability of any platform is dependent on the standard of the data it gets from network cameras.”
Together IoT-TICKET and Axis can cover applications well beyond smart cities. With extensive background in security and industry, this combination enhances safety and improves efficiency also when monitoring critical infrastructure, energy production sites and in industrial domain.
Addressing smart city concerns
IoT-TICKET’s smart city functionality has been built not just as an exhibition of innovation or an aid to efficiency, but as a way to make citizens safer. So how does that goal match up with their privacy concerns? “The power of Axis hardware made it ideal for this application,” explains Jari Kuusisto. “We can use Axis camera sensors to offer pure data points to IoT-TICKET. We can also anonymize video data right on the camera, before it reaches human eyes.”
There are numerous other concerns facing any smart city platform. Privacy leads us to cybersecurity, a vital component of IoT applications. Wapice has this covered, demonstrating professional and audited cybersecurity processes in its DNV ISO 27001 certified system - and Kristina Madolova highlights the reason Axis is an ideal partner in this space. “Through our collaboration, we’ve learned that the organizations which use IoT-TICKET – everything from municipalities to large industrial sites – are concerned with the connected aspect of IoT platforms. They care deeply about cybersecurity, and also about complying with regulations like NIS 2 – Wapice has shown it puts security first, which matches up with the Axis philosophy.”
Tampere, Finland – An IoT platform ready to grow
Jari Kuusisto suggests that scalability is perhaps the most important consideration of all for growing smart cities, where small projects lead to big systems over time. “We’ve proven that Axis cameras and IoT-TICKET together is a scalable platform. In our smart city project in Tampere, Finland, for example, the IoT-TICKET implementation started with a few cameras used for traffic monitoring. It did not take long for other departments to become interested in using their already-installed security cameras for more uses, like urban maintenance. Nowadays Tampere’s system has over 100 Axis cameras connected.”
Outi Valkama, Programme Lead of Data-Driven City for Citizens in Tampere, says that its Axis-backed implementation of IoT-TICKET has already seen significant results. “Tampere’s smart city initiatives have already had a transformative impact on businesses and the daily lives of citizens,” she enthuses. “Data and technology together have helped us to create a smarter, more liveable city for our citizens without impacting their privacy.”
The Nordic combination of Axis technology and the IoT-TICKET platform has proven to be highly synergistic. Regulatory compliance can be complex, but the combination of IoT-TICKET and Axis sensors offers everything the EU demands – robust cybersecurity, sustainability, server architecture and more. The collaboration seamlessly crosses borders, with Wapice and Axis in the Nordics and clients which could be anywhere. Both companies are global players who know privacy and security rules top-to-bottom – including supporting European data centres or private cloud solutions if data needs to stay within defined borders.
Tampere’s smart city initiatives have already had a transformative impact on the city. Data and technology together have helped us to create a smarter, more liveable city for our citizens without impacting their privacy.
The future of smart cities – A collaborative blueprint
Michelle Snarberg, EMEA Business Development Manager for Digital Transformation at Axis, says that this is only the beginning of the Wapice and Axis partnership. “At the moment we’re looking to scale up our partnership from the Nordics to across Europe,” she suggests, “but there are business opportunities for digital transformation everywhere in the world, in a number of different sectors even beyond smart city applications – including critical infrastructure, which is a focus area for both Axis and Wapice.
“Technology is moving fast, by the minute almost. As long as there are new market requirements, we will be there. Wapice and Axis together have the cutting-edge technologies ready and we go hand-in-hand in partnership, so we can work together to offer the smartest solutions with the best quality to our end customers.”
"We are delighted with the results of our collaboration with Axis,” concludes Jari Kuusisto. “It has provided immediate value for our smart city projects, enabled a world-class citizen experience, and laid the groundwork for scalable and cost-efficient smart city solutions worldwide. We now have ongoing projects in various smart city initiatives globally. Through our joint efforts, we aim to continue driving innovation and sustainability in urban environments, making cities smarter, safer, and more resilient for future generations.”
Products & solutions
Smart cities
Our partner organizations
Get in touch
Want to know how you can benefit from Axis solutions? Get in touch and we will help you.
Contact us