Thales and Neural Labs Expand Partnership on Smart City Solutions

Tech firm Thales has expanded its partnership with Neural Labs centered around AI-powered smart cities.

Thales, based in France, develops solutions for a range of industries, including digital identity and security. Neural Labs provides video analysis for smart cities and artificial intelligence (AI)-based intelligent transportation systems.

According to a Wednesday (March 13) news release, the partnership aims to enable secure, efficient and practical solutions for vehicle access control and logistical planning. The two companies began working together more than 20 years ago when Neural Labs chose Thales’ Sentinel platform for software protection, helping Neural Labs automate the creation and issuance of licenses.

“As a result, Neural Labs was able to reduce costs and focus more on its customers, as well as the value of its software against competitors,” the release said. “Since then, the company has moved into a new era of digital transformation and adopted Thales Sentinel Cloud Licensing to manage its SaaS [Software-as-a-Service] offering.”

The expanded partnership lets Neural Labs maximize SaaS capabilities to deploy and update software licenses from any location for its entire product portfolio and sales teams.

“We always knew that we needed to protect our software and futureproof our business. Thales has been there with us since the very beginning to help us to avoid software piracy and make the most of every market opportunity,” said Elias Valcarcel, CEO of Neural Labs.

The expanded partnership will “prepare our software so that 100% will be offered on the cloud,” he added, “helping us to scale with flexible and practical solutions.”

Meanwhile, PYMNTS recently examined the use of AI in planning things such as smart cities by looking at the combination of that technology with digital twins. These are virtual recreations of physical objects and systems that can be made more useful with AI algorithms that study and learn from information.

“AI plays a pivotal role in enhancing the utility of digital twins, transforming them from mere static virtual replicas into dynamic and interactive models that can simulate real-world scenarios comprehensively,” Vlad Panov, vice president of engineering at the consulting firm Publicis Sapient, said in an interview with PYMNTS.

“The integration of AI into the creation of digital twins allows businesses across various sectors, such as manufacturing, to leverage these models for training, prototyping or product testing purposes,” Panov said. “By enabling dynamic simulations, AI ensures that every possible scenario is captured and reviewed, significantly improving the accuracy and effectiveness of these simulations.”