AT&T has formed alliances with Cisco, Deloitte, Ericsson, GE, IBM, Intel, and Qualcomm to help build “smart” connected communities, a focus of its Internet of Things initiative.
The carrier says it is developing a smart cities framework with its partners to initially smarten up Atlanta, the Georgia Institute of Technology, Chicago and Dallas. Atlanta is looking to improve sustainability and public safety, Chicago to maximize energy efficiency and Dallas to enhance operations in its West End Historic District.
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Using sensors and analytics, the smarts cities framework will be designed to allow cities to remotely monitor the conditions of roads, bridges, buildings, parks and other venues for maintenance and safety. It will include mobile apps for citizens to prepare for traffic conditions, digital signage for public transportation and data for public safety, including gunfire detection.
AT&T says it is also developing a Smart City Network Operation Center to serve as a high-level digital dashboard of community conditions, such as power outages, water leaks and traffic issues.
AT&T says it is demonstrating several smart city and IoT offerings at its developer conference in Las Vegas this week.
Gartner believes IoT will support total services spending of $235 billion this year, a 22% increase from 2015. McKinsey Global Institute said the potential economic impact of IoT will be $4 trillion to $11 trillion a year by 2025.
AT&T rival Verizon recently launched an IoT developer platform.