3 Smart City Updates From AT&T

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With its work on FirstNet and 5G, AT&T has distinguished itself as a major Smart Cities player. The telecom giant has no intentions of resting on its laurels, though. On Feb. 22, the company announced several new developments regarding its Smart City agenda.

CISCO PARTNERSHIP

Siloed data remains a huge challenge for Smart Cities across the country, and AT&T’s newest partnership seeks to address that. The company’s Smart City management platform, the Smart Cities Operations Center (SCOC), gives officials the ability to aggregate and analyze data, but a new partnership with Cisco will help leaders unlock even more value. Through this collaboration, AT&T’s solutions, including the SCOC, will be integrated with Cisco’s Kinetic for Cities platform.

“Cities today are looking to unlock the value of the data being generated by connected machines, things and spaces,” Cisco’s Global President of Smart+Connected Communities Anil Menon said in a press release. “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.”

PORTLAND PILOT

To address traffic and parking management issues, the city of Portland will pilot AT&T Smart Cities’ Digital Infrastructure and Structure monitoring solutions. These deployments will turn elements of Portland’s existing infrastructure into a sensor network, enabling the city to monitor civilian and structural behavior in real time.

“As we work to make Portland an even smarter and more connected city we’re excited to launch this new collaboration with AT&T,” Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler said in a press release. “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.”

BOLSTERING A STRATEGIC ALLIANCE

Partnerships are crucial for comprehensive urban transformation, and AT&T’s Smart Cities Strategic Alliance acknowledges this by bringing together a variety of companies and organizations. Now, this alliance includes the companies Synchronoss and Ubicquia. Synchronoss specializes in providing cloud, messaging and digital products to telecommunications companies while Ubicquia offers a plug-and-play network that can help provide broadband, small cell and smart city services.