AT&T’s “Internet of Things” initiatives in 2016 are set to include a focus on sensing and tracking, wearables, connected health and smarter cities.
Igal Elbaz, VP of ecosystem and innovation for AT&T Services, discussed AT&T Internet of Things outlook for 2016 in a Dec. 9 post to the carrier’s Innovation Space Blog.
AT&T’s IoT research and development is centered at the AT&T Internet of Things Foundry in Plano, Texas. For a detailed look inside that facility, check out this video tour produced by RCR Wireless News.
Back to the AT&T IoT initiatives as discussed by Elbaz.
Sensing and tracking has “untapped potential. For example, imagine sensors that can track if a food or medication shipment gets wet, or too hot or cold. Sensors can help detect changes ahead of time and prevent spoilage, saving the shipment.”
Then there’s wearables, a consumer-facing subset of IoT that has a hard time gaining big time mindshare and marketshare despite hyped products like the Apple Watch.
Elbaz wrote wearables could help answer the routine question, “Where’s my stuff? We’ll see improvements in making your wearable help find things for you and they will become a greater part of the things you always have with you. Wearables on a person will emerge with more autonomy.”
Smart cities, another AT&T IoT focus, are an exemplary marriage of what’s possible when consumer and industrial IoT technologies are married; smart infrastructure, for instance, can ease commute pains for individuals, while creating macro cost savings for a government.
From Elbaz’s blog post: “Next year, and beyond, we’ll be working hard on technology that contributes to the development of smarter cities. Our Foundry teams will be integrating smart/IoT technology – think connected LED lampposts, smart trash bins, traffic lights and mobile applications – into a seamless city system that will help create a smarter environment – and you won’t even have to think about it.”
To learn more about AT&T Iot smart city projects, RCR Wireless News caught up with Mike Zeto, Mike Zeto, GM of Smart Cities for AT&T’s IoT Solutions unit, to learn more about the carrier’s work in bringing smart, connected technology to the physical world.
