AT&T is a power player in all areas of communications, and M2M and the Internet of Things are no exception. In fact, as discussed in the fourth quarter issue of TMC’s M2M Evolution magazine, AT&T sponsored the 2014 M2M and IoT Fast Pitch event earlier this year in Las Vegas. M2M Evolution recently checked in with AT&T about its thoughts about IoT/M2M in the past year and what it expects for this space in the year ahead.
What was the most important development in 2014 relative to the advancement of M2M/IoT?
Since opening for business one year ago, our team at the Machine-to-Machine AT&T Foundry in Plano, Texas, has proven it can turn problems into solutions – and solutions into physical prototypes – faster than ever before. Whether helping to boost Wi-Fi coverage at one of the most sophisticated stadiums in the world, or bringing intelligence and connectivity to the humble trash bin, our experts are pushing the limits of innovation. Innovating quickly is standard procedure for the AT&T Foundry team.
For example, our engineers and software developers mocked up and built a smart recycle bin in just five days, going from an idea and a plain plastic bin to a fully connected, beeping, tamper-resistant prototype that sends data to the cloud. The bin can wirelessly alert a dispatcher when it’s full and, just as important, when it’s not, saving unnecessary trips. Hardware and software innovation coupled with speed is what sets us apart. The sooner we can get new technology into our customers’ hands, the sooner they can provide those technologies to their customers.
What individuals are the key mover and shakers on the IoT frontier?
At AT&T, we have a number of experienced leaders who are helping to drive innovation for the Internet of Things.
Ralph de la Vega was appointed president and CEO of the newly created AT&T Mobile and Business Solutions organization in August 2014, underscoring the company’s focus on delivering integrated solutions to customers that are first and foremost mobile, and also highly secure, reliable, ultra-fast and effortless. He has overall responsibility for the company’s wireless and business services operations, which serve more than 116 million mobile customers in the U.S. and more than 3.5 million business customers in 100 countries globally, including all of the world’s Fortune 1000 companies.
In his previous role, he was president and CEO of AT&T Mobility, a position he held since 2007. Under his leadership, AT&T Mobility became one of the world’s leading smartphone and mobile Internet providers and expanded into new growth areas such as connected cars, and home security and automation.
Glenn Lurie, president and CEO of AT&T Mobility, most recently served as president, Emerging Enterprises and Partnership Organization. In that role, he had overall responsibility for the Emerging Devices Organization and AT&T Digital Life. The business unit was focused on connecting new devices and application to AT&T’s network – including connected cars, tablets, wellness devices, wearables, and machine-to-machine communications solutions and platforms.
Abhi Ingle is senior vice president for AT&T Advanced Solutions for AT&T Business. He has P&L responsibility across all enterprise mobility solutions, vertical industry solutions, and collaboration solutions for business and government segments. He was appointed to his current position in March 2014. Most recently Ingle was vice president of the Ecosystem and Innovation Group in the CTO organization where he was responsible for driving innovation across AT&T internally and externally. His activities included the global network of AT&T Foundries (innovation centers), the world’s largest crowd sourced employee innovation program, an Ecosystem and Outreach group that worked with VCs, startups and developers, as well as a design function. This team was responsible for dozens of products, services and network innovations across all AT&T business units and internal operations.
How did the digital home move forward in 2014?
While AT&T Digital Life is a top-notch security system, we have found that customers really get excited about the home automation possibilities we can provide. So instead of a shadowy figure in a doorway scaring you into buying security, we want to show you all that you can do when you can manage your home from your smartphone (and yes, that includes setting the alarm).
Our service allows customers to remotely control thermostats, lights, door locks, video cameras and much more through an incredibly easy-to-use app on their smartphones, tablets and PCs. Our customers love the flexibility Digital Life provides – they can build a system with exactly what they want. Our pricing and packages are all about providing the customer with choices to meet their lifestyle needs and ultimately provide them with an effortless customer experience.
Digital Life has an easy to use, customizable app that gives customers the ability to manage their home from virtually anywhere. Our goal is to continuously bring new devices and services to market so we can help our customers experience peace of mind—while at home and on the go.
One such device is the new Touchscreen Control, a mobile keypad for the home. Developed by ZTE, the Touchscreen Control is an excellent complement to the Digital Life service and, once available, can be purchased as an a la carte device by new and existing customers.
The Touchscreen Device will allow you to arm and disarm your home security system, manage devices and even view video from the cameras in your home from any room, all from a dedicated device. The Touchscreen Control, in conjunction with the regular keypad and the Digital Life application, will give our customers a full range of options to control their home.
What is the coolest thing that happened in 2014 related to health and wellness?
With the Internet of Things, there is an explosion of assets that are being connected, including hospital equipment, emergency response vehicles, telemedicine devices, home health monitoring sensors, life-critical implants, and more.
Emerson InterMetro, a manufacturer of storage systems for the health care industry and other markets, developed AccessPoint Rx MD, an integrated workstation that enables health care professionals to better manage medication delivery to their patients. The mobile workstation, AccessPoint RX MD, consists of a DC battery power system, an embedded laptop or computer, accessories such as a barcode scanner, touch screen, a secured medication management storage system, and the ability to host and demonstrate the variety of software programs used by clinicians. The system helps create a safer overall patient care environment by reliably integrating the many pieces of medicinal delivery into one mobile device.
To insure 24/7 uptime and reliability, AccessPoint RX MD comes with a remote monitoring and system management package that enables the workstation’s operational status and state to be checked at any time. What’s more, the workstation’s management capabilities provide alerts in advance of or during a downtime event, allowing for more responsive service and greater uptime. Remote management communications capabilities were provided by AT&T.
What exciting innovations are you seeing in wearable tech?
The SafeNecklace was the grand prize winner in the 2014 Developer Summit hackathon’s new Wearables category. In 24 hours, the team was able to create a fully-functional application that processed micro geo-location data to solve a real-world problem: losing track of children on field trips.
The SafeNecklace team did not have the luxury of focusing only on application development. It also had to integrate wearable necklaces that contained a specialized, small, Bluetooth beacon for teachers and students that would broadcast immediate, critical, location data into the M2M application platform.
The application could render the identified child profile data quickly onto a teacher’s smartphone as an alert that the child has moved away from the overall group.
There are several other different types of wearables that are impacting the Internet of Things:
- Fitness tracking devices that monitor your activity – steps, distance, sleep, calories burned, etc. Devices that are worn on your wrist or clipped to your pants fall into this category. This data is very helpful to the user and has the potential to be linked to health care providers or viewed in conjunction with other fitness apps via the AT&T mHealth Platform.
- Devices that can send vital information, such as weight, blood pressure, heart rate, and glucose readings back to health care professionals. This is really the next stage of remote patient monitoring – enabling the monitoring devices to be worn.
- Emergency response and location tracking devices – These devices can provide families peace of mind for loved ones, whether they are seniors, children, or anyone with a chronic condition. AT&T EverThere is a great example of this. It’s a mobile personal emergency response device that is worn around the neck and is monitored by a call center, 24 x7. EverThere also provides GPS location to the call center, and the user can speak with the call center team through the device.
- Embedded devices – There is talk about taking wearables to another level by implanting sensors inside a patient’s body. These devices could collect information about what is going on inside the body and give health care professionals more insight into the patient’s overall health.
What are you doing on the smart city front?
AT&T and IBM are working together, tapping into the Internet of Things, and using the information that is collected from phones, vehicles, sensors that are in water networks or power feeds. City planners now have the ability to plan, monitor, and take action on events that are happening around their city and orchestrate it all through the Intelligent Operations Center – which truly gives officials, event planners, and educational institutions – a living breathing interactive view of their city. It’s called Mobilizing your City.
Imagine a city in the future where everyone and everything in the city is connected. City leaders, event planners, and emergency response personnel can all coordinate together. Citizens opinions will be heard more clearly and their actions will speak louder because government can analyze those actions to make better decisions for their cities. This can help make cities safer, citizens happier, and government more efficient. So the future is today, and we are doing it right now.
Tell us about the Industrial Internet and how AT&T and its partners worked to advance it in 2014.
In March 2014, AT&T, Cisco, GE, IBM and Intel announced the formation of the Industrial Internet Consortium, an open membership group focused on breaking down the barriers of technology silos to support better access to big data with improved integration of the physical and digital worlds. The consortium aims to help organizations more easily connect and optimize assets, operations and data to drive agility and to unlock business value across all industrial sectors.
An ecosystem of companies, researchers and public agencies is emerging to help drive adoption of Industrial Internet applications, a foundational element for accelerating the Internet of Things. The IIC is a newly formed not-for-profit group with an open membership that will take the lead in establishing interoperability across various industrial environments for a more connected world. Since its inception, the IIC has 86 member companies spanning five continents.
What are your expectations for M2M and the Internet of Things in the year ahead?
Many industries around the world are discovering the advantages of M2M connectivity by land, air, and sea. For example, it’s becoming the norm for utilities to embed wireless connectivity into their smart meters to monitor the electricity grid and isolate issues. Companies that depend on aircraft to move high-value cargo now have the ability to gain insight into the location and condition of their assets while in transit. Shipping companies use M2M capabilities to track trucks, containers, and temperature-sensitive cargo such as perishable foods or pharmaceuticals. As we continue to push toward a more connected planet, the possibilities seem endless and companies in a variety of industries worldwide are poised for an exciting future.
