Joins Smart Cities Organizations to Build Connected Cities

AT&T* today annouced that it is continuing to lead innovation for smart cities with Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) technology. We're teaming up with several organizations to connect communities everywhere.

Today, at Smart Cities Week, AT&T announced it joined the Smart Cities Council. We will take part in an effort to design and manage projects that help build smart cities around the world. Current Analysis ranks AT&T as the leading U.S. IIoT services provider¹. We'll bring more than a decade of IIoT experience and best practices to a national organization dedicated to smart cities.

'The Smart Cities Council seeks to advance the livability, workability and sustainability of the world's cities,' said Jesse Berst, chairman of the Smart Cities Council. Cities cannot achieve those ambitious goals without robust Internet of Things technologies like those pioneered by AT&T. We thank them and welcome them to our family of world-class, collaborative smart city suppliers.'

AT&T is now part of the Dallas Innovation Alliance which focuses on creating smart city environments in Dallas. The alliance intends to deploy smart cities solutions in The West End Historic District, a popular downtown destination. Potential technologies under consideration for the new environment include:

• Smart Lighting  An LED lighting system that uses an app to view and manage lights remotely; it lets maintenance crews easily locate and replace broken bulbs.
• Smart Parking  Parking garages can save energy with lights that only turn on when a car approaches.
• Smart Transportation  Traffic signals can organize traffic flow based on the number of vehicles and pedestrians; digital signage lets commuters know in near real time when the next bus or train will arrive.
• Public Safety  Gun fire detection technology lets law enforcement know where a shooting occurred, the number of rounds fired and the number of people involved. 
• Smart buildings  Buildings with motion sensor lights can dim or shut off when a room is empty; water meters can alert maintenance of leaking pipes; electric meters monitor energy use and alert when it reaches a specific threshold.

Historically, Dallas has been a pioneer in driving innovative, entrepreneurial solutions in the US, and we are excited to undertake a dedicated, comprehensive smart city strategy,' stated Trey Bowles, CEO of the Dallas Entrepreneur Center and Co-Founder of the Dallas Innovation Alliance. We are thrilled that AT&T has chosen to support these initiatives as a charter member of the Dallas Innovation Alliance, and know that the company's commitment to the consumer will help us execute a program that builds a critical mass of the most highly-engaged citizens in the country.'

We're helping people and businesses stay connected with IoT technology,' said Mike Zeto, general manager of Smart Cities, AT&T IoT Solutions. Cities everywhere are starting to address issues like high energy costs, aging infrastructures and driving innovation that engages citizens. We're developing technology that can save water, reduce energy consumption, and more. These tools can help cities preserve resources and better serve their community in a more sustainable way.'

AT&T is now a lead member of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Global City Teams Challenge (GCTC). As part of the 2016 GCTC, AT&T will direct a team that helps more cities adopt Smart City solutions. Ten cities will be selected to deploy technology for smart metering, lighting, traffic management, parking and public safety. Cities participating in the technology deployments will be provided access to IoT solutions including access to AT&T's M2X and Flow Designer services.

We're delighted to have AT&T participating in the challenge and leading a team.' said Sokwoo Rhee, associate director of Cyber-Physical Systems Program, NIST. I look forward to continuing our collaboration with AT&T in GCTC 2016.'

The company will also co-host a smart cities hackathon with NIST at the AT&T Developer Summit in January 2016 with participating cities.

The AT&T network has more than 23 million connected devices globally and manages data from 16.5 million smart meters in the U.S. For more information on AT&T's solutions for smart cities, visit http://www.att.com/m2m.

-- Source: AT&T Press Release