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AT&T Drives Smart Cities with New Partners

By Ken Briodagh February 28, 2018

 

AT&T has made it clear that it is committed to Smart City development. Through collaborations with other industry leaders and our Internet of Things (IoT) expertise, the company has said it is working closely with city leadership to deliver solutions that address some of the key challenges facing their communities.

“When a city’s data is harnessed, analyzed and acted upon—securely in near real-time—it opens up a world of opportunities,” said Mike Zeto, GM, Smart Cities, AT&T. “With our strategic alliance members, we’re delivering solutions that will give city leaders meaningful insights into the communities they serve. This can mean improved quality of life for citizens.”

AT&T and CarForce Team Up on IoT Service for Car Dealerships
AT&T IoT Technology and Platforms, Combined with CarForce AI and Machine Learning Help Car Dealerships Worldwide Better Manage and Predict Car Maintenance

AT&T and CarForce are collaborating on a global solution that helps car dealerships, fleet managers, and repair shops better manage car maintenance and predict car issues before they happen. CarForce is choosing Denmark to launch an Internet of Things (IoT) solution in the first quarter of 2018.

CarForce provides a software solution that uses in-car diagnostics to provide dealerships and large fleet managers with a near-real time dashboard on the health of their customers’ vehicles. Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence (AI) are used to provide preventative and predictive vehicle maintenance. CarForce will launch its solution in Denmark through FTZ, a HELLA company that has a distribution network of roughly 1,500 vehicle service shops. CarForce’s connected garage experience will first be available to about 80 percent of the Danish independent dealer and garage market, which includes up to 2.4 million cars. CarForce plans to launch in the U.S., France, and Germany later this year.

“Software should be borderless. Using AT&T’s global connectivity and IoT platforms allows us to quickly build and scale CarForce into dealerships worldwide,” said Jessika Lora, founder and CEO, CarForce. “Plus, my team can focus on the software solution, not on logistics.”

With CarForce, dealerships can provide an automated car maintenance service to customers that helps reduce vehicle downtime and increase efficiencies in parts supply and repair networks. CarForce can also send customers automated alerts for regular maintenance like changing oil, notify them when a repair is needed, or even predict a tire blowout.

“Working with CarForce, we’re helping to improve the car ownership experience,” said Joe Mosele, VP of IoT Solutions at AT&T. “Car owners no longer have to guess what’s wrong with their cars. It is vehicle ownership for the modern customer.”

The AT&T Global SIM is plugged into the car’s diagnostic port and provides global connectivity to LTE and LTE-M networks. The AT&T IoT Platform collects the data and translates it for the CarForce software in the cloud. AT&T brings everything together edge-to-edge – from end points to connectivity to the cloud – wrapped in security.

AT&T and Cisco Collaboration
The AT&T Smart Cities Operations Center (SCOC) provides a near real-time view of ongoing activity in a city. SCOC securely collects and analyzes the enormous amount of data generated from multiple civic departments and points around the city into a centralized, customizable dashboard. This kind of visibility can lead city leaders to make faster, more informed decisions, strategically deploy resources, cut down crisis response times and save costs.

AT&T and Cisco reportedly are currently exploring opportunities to integrate the Cisco Kinetic for Cities platform into select AT&T Smart Cities solutions, including AT&T SCOC. Cisco Kinetic for Cities is a cloud-based platform that helps cities extract, compute, and move data from connected things to secure IoT applications to deliver better outcomes and services.

“Cities today are looking to unlock the value of the data being generated by connected machines, things and spaces,” said Anil Menon, global president, Smart+Connected Communities, Cisco. “Cisco Kinetic for Cities is purpose-built to harness the power of all that data to drive smart city initiatives forward. Together with AT&T we want to help bridge the disparities between connected devices, people, and processes to simplify operations, enable new revenue sources, and allow leaders to be more responsive to citizen needs.”

The open architecture of the Cisco Kinetic for Cities platform makes it easy to add solutions to address a wide range of city needs. The platform unlocks citywide data, enabling it to be used by previously siloed devices, applications, and services.

Smart Cities Pilot in Portland, Oregon
As part of the AT&T smart cities spotlight cities initiative, the city of Portland will soon be piloting 2 new solutions: AT&T Smart Cities Digital Infrastructure and AT&T Smart Cities Structure Monitoring.

AT&T Digital Infrastructure with Current, powered by GE’s CityIQ will be used to transform some existing lighting infrastructure into a sensor-enabled data network. The sensors will help Portland address issues like traffic flow and parking. Intel IoT technologies power each sensor’s computer vision analytics. Portland will deploy about 200 Digital Infrastructure sensors throughout its Central Eastside area.

The city will also deploy AT&T Structure Monitoring. Working with IBM IoT Cloud, IBM Services and Moniteye, the city will deploy devices on infrastructure in Portland with LTE-enabled sensors to remotely monitor structural behavior. The sensors, which measure things like temperature, tilt and cracks, feature alert triggers to capture significant events.

“As we work to make Portland an even smarter and more connected city we’re excited to launch this new collaboration with AT&T,” said Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler. “This is significant in helping us build our city's infrastructure and create new opportunities for local residents. With the integration of AT&T’s Smart City solutions, we will be better positioned to improve traffic and increase public safety.”

AT&T to Connect Caterpillar Products Globally
Caterpillar is using AT&T Internet of Things (IoT) services to connect and manage heavy machines and engines around the globe. The newly announced multi-year, global deal connects Caterpillar products to the AT&T 4G LTE network.

The AT&T network combined with an AT&T Global SIM card and IoT management services helps Caterpillar, its dealers and customers better track, manage and deploy asset connectivity in more than 155 countries worldwide.

Caterpillar is a pioneer in the use of industrial IoT on a variety of products and applications. Caterpillar has one of the largest number of connected assets in the markets they serve, including construction, mining and energy, and transportation.

The AT&T network and IoT solutions will help to power Cat Connect, Caterpillar’s IoT technology and services toolkit. The solution is expected to boost efficiency, improve safety and save time and money for Caterpillar, its dealers and customers with the power to gather near real-time information about their equipment’s performance on the jobsite.

 “We’re helping Caterpillar extend its connectivity coverage and improve its reach into some of the most challenging areas of the world,” said Chris Penrose, president, Internet of Things Solutions, AT&T. “Providing our customers simplified solutions in a complex, global environment offers stability to their connected services.”

Provisioning devices worldwide for IoT is a complicated task. AT&T’s Global SIM combined with AT&T’s Control Center and AT&T Subscription Management allows Caterpillar to manage devices remotely and securely, adapt to changing environments and automate data usage to control costs and boost efficiency.

AT&T Launches Fleet Management for Enterprise and Government
AT&T is expanding its Internet of Things (IoT) Fleet Management solutions portfolio as a full-service provider. The company has integrated Geotab’s fleet tracking platform with its IoT platforms to launch a comprehensive solution: AT&T Fleet Management for Enterprise and AT&T Fleet Management for Government.

“Geotab’s award-winning telematics solution with our IoT platforms and nationwide data network is a winning combination for fleets of all sizes. We use it for our own fleet of company vehicles,” said Penrose. “Now we can help businesses and government customers look holistically at vehicles, assets and mobile workers from a single analytics-based platform.”

“We’re leveraging the AT&T network and its data analytics capabilities and embedding Geotab’s rigorous organizational data security measures into each solution,” said Neil Cawse, CEO, Geotab. “Our work together will help make any fleet safer, more productive, efficient and highly secure.”

New Strategic Alliance Members
To transform our cities, we need the help of the entire smart cities ecosystem. This includes the public and private sector, and the developer community. The AT&T Smart Cities Strategic Alliance was designed to do just that. It’s made up of industry organizations and tech companies, including Cisco, IBM and Intel, and now Synchronoss and Ubicquia are the newest members of the alliance.

Synchronoss offers cloud, messaging and digital products to Technology Media Telecommunications companies and helps smart cities save money, reduce consumption, earn new revenue and stimulate new jobs. Ubicquia offers municipalities, utilities, broadband service providers and lighting manufacturers a cost-effective and expandable platform for deploying simply connected, simply smart broadband, small cell and smart city services.

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