AECOM partners with Arrow Electronics to drive digital transformations
Global design and engineering firm AECOM has entered into a strategic alliance with Arrow Electronics, a leading distributor of electronics components and a provider of technology consulting services. The pair of Fortune 200 firms will work together to drive digital transformation and smart cities solutions on a global scale.
Founded in 1935 in NYC and currently headquartered in Colorado, Arrow Electronics is a global provider of products, services, and solutions to commercial and industrial users of electronic components and enterprise computing solutions. A supply channel partner with over 150,000 OEMs, Arrow maintains over 300 sales facilities and 45 distribution and value-added centers in over 80 countries. It had $26.6 billion in revenues last year.
LA-based AECOM is a leading design and engineering consultancy, with 87,000 employees and $18 billion in global revenues last year. Founded in 1990, the firm provides services in areas spanning from architecture to construction management and cybersecurity.
The pair of firms previously spent over a year collaborating on various smart cities initiatives in the US and examining global digital transformation projects. They apparently like what they’ve seen in each other, and have decided to combine their complementary competencies to help clients around the world build smart cities and, more generally, digitally transform – through AI, Big Data, Analytics, and the Internet of Things (IoT).
“This brings together best-in-class providers of technology infrastructure and physical asset infrastructure into one holistic offering to support the impending tsunami of global digital transformation initiatives,” said Aiden Mitchell, Arrow’s vice president and general manager of IoT global solutions.
A recent Bain & Company report projects the IoT market to grow to $520 billion by 2021. Meanwhile, digital transformation efforts are expected to revamp and drive productivity in nearly every industry, from oil & gas to the US military.
Smart city projects are also gaining traction, as cities around the world use electronic data collection and connected devices to better manage their resources. For example, Amsterdam has put in place monitored smart traffic management technology to help motorists determine the best routes, smart energy meters to incentivize reduced energy use, and flexible ‘smart’ street lighting, among other initiatives.
The strategic alliance of AECOM and Arrow aims to meet the growing demand for digital transformation and smart city projects. “This collaboration gives both companies the ability to vastly broaden services and solutions, as well as quickly scale within both AECOM’s and Arrow’s respective customer bases,” commented Kirk Rabius, AECOM’s vice president of Asset Advisory within Design and Consulting Services.
In other AECOM news, the firm was selected as part of a winning consortium to design the Gordie Howe International Bridge. The six-lane, 2.5 km long Detroit-Windsor bridge connection will be the longest cable-stayed bridge in North America.
