100% SLA data availability on One City in 2025
+5% more data extracted after SLA improvement
6,000,000 data points processed daily
Cloud-native platforms built without managing infrastructure
AI embedded as a mandatory checkpoint in every new project
A2A Smart City turned urban data into actionable intelligence; 100% platform SLA and AI across every city service.
A2A Smart City turned urban data into actionable intelligence; 100% platform SLA and AI across every city service.
The challenge: managing urban complexity in real time
Managing a modern city means handling a constant flow of data from sensors, cameras, meters, traffic systems, and environmental monitors spread across an entire territory. For municipalities, districts, and large facility operators, the problem is not collecting data, it is turning it into decisions. A2A Smart City was built to close that gap between raw data and real intelligence.
The answer was cloud-native from the start. "All our software development runs on Google Cloud," says Cosimo Grottoli, Head of Smart City at A2A. "We don't manage infrastructure. We build platforms." One City, the smart metering platform, and the video surveillance systems were all born on Google Cloud, designed to scale, to integrate, and to serve without the overhead of traditional data centres.
"Google Cloud was a key enabler of our transformation" adds Vahe Ter Nikogosyan, Group CIO at A2A. "What mattered most for the team was the data platform; Google's native tech to process data, run machine learning and AI. And what we appreciate most is how fast Google is moving on AI, data use, and security."
Google Cloud was a key enabler of our transformation. What mattered most for the team was the data platform; Google's native tech to process data, run machine learning and AI. And what we appreciate most is how fast Google is moving on AI, data use, and security.
Vahe Ter Nikogosyan
Group CIO, A2A
What made this possible is A2A Smart City's position within the broader A2A Group: a TELCO operator and security provider with over 5,000 kilometres of fibre optic, 2,000+ LoRaWAN gateways, and more than 6 million data points processed every day. That infrastructure is the connective tissue linking sensors, meters, and cameras into a single platform capable of serving more than 150 public administrations across Italy.
The mission has always been straightforward: use technology to improve the quality of life for citizens and businesses, and build the cities of the future around sustainability.
Google Cloud as the backbone: One City, Smart Metering, and native security
One City is the platform through which A2A Smart City turns urban data into decisions. Built on Google Cloud, it aggregates data from IoT sensors, video analysis, third-party sources, and open data into a single interface organised around four verticals: environment, mobility, tourism, and public safety.
The platform runs entirely on Google Cloud infrastructure, and the results are visible in the numbers: SLA went from 99.7% in 2024 to 100% in 2025, with a 5% increase in data successfully extracted.
Cosimo Grottoli
Head of Smart City, A2A
Municipalities and district managers can monitor, correlate, and act on real-time information without switching between systems or waiting for batch updates.
The same logic governs the Smart Metering platform, which remotely reads water and heat meters across 1.5 million installations using LoRaWAN. "The platform runs entirely on Google Cloud infrastructure, and the results are visible in the numbers: SLA went from 99.7% in 2024 to 100% in 2025, with a 5% increase in data successfully extracted," says Grottoli. "We use BigQuery as our data lake. It is fast, resilient, and you only pay when you use it. Everything runs through it: statistics, dashboards, alerts, and more."
Security is not a layer added on top. It is built into the architecture from the start. A2A Smart City uses Cloud KMS, VPC segmentation, NAT, and firewall rules as standard components of every platform. For a project with Municipality of Milan, Cloud KMS proved particularly significant: by utilizing Google Cloud for key management, the development team benefited from a streamlined security process that made operations easier and reduced the risk of manual misconfigurations. On the video surveillance side, cameras are treated as metadata sensors. Images are processed at the edge and never stored as raw footage, ensuring privacy by design across every deployment.
From data to decision: AI and the future of intelligent cities
AI is no longer optional at A2A Smart City. Every new project, internal or customer-facing, must include an AI component, either built directly into the solution or provided by the technology partner. "We introduced an AI check," confirms Vahe Ter Nikogosyan. "Every new project contains AI solutions, or the suppliers use it. The goal is saving costs and time. It is a structural shift: not a technology experiment."
The most immediate expression of that shift is Gemini on BigQuery. Where analysts once had to query tables manually, anyone in the organisation can now ask a question in natural language and get an answer tied directly to the data. The barrier between data and decision has effectively disappeared for non-technical users. A change that Grottoli describes as "something the team had long wanted but could only now deliver."
Beyond individual tools, the ambition is to use AI to rethink processes entirely, not just automate existing ones. A2A Smart City sees itself as a co-creator with its municipal clients, building intelligent solutions together rather than deploying technology at them.
Every new project contains AI solutions, or the suppliers use it. It is a structural shift: not a technology experiment. We will keep watching what Google does next. And we can't wait to see what comes out.
Vahe Ter Nikogosyan
Group CIO, A2A
"We want to discuss smart city challenges with our clients and create solutions alongside them," says Ter Nikogosyan "AI is a business co-creator."
The direction of travel is clear: with Google moving fast on AI, data, and security, A2A Smart City sees its partnership with Google Cloud not as a vendor relationship, but as a strategic compass. "We will keep watching what Google does next," says Ter Nikogosyan "And we can't wait to see what comes out."
A2A Smart City is the technology subsidiary of A2A Group, building cloud-native platforms that help Italian municipalities and utilities manage infrastructure, energy, and urban services intelligently.
Industry: Utilities
Location: Italy
Products: BigQuery, Cloud Storage, Cloud Run, Cloud Run functions, Cloud Scheduler, Compute Engine, Google Cloud Knowledge Catalog, Google Cloud Monitoring, Cloud KMS, VPC / Firewall / NAT, Gemini platform (Gemini 2.5 and 3 both Pro and Flash)
