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AT&T’s Smart City Perspective

Sept. 1, 2016
From Project to Promise When asked if smart cities are a reality today, my response is there are a lot of smart projects but not a lot of smart cities. […]

From Project to Promise

When asked if smart cities are a reality today, my response is there are a lot of smart projects but not a lot of smart cities. What I mean by this is that although there are cities that have begun to implement solutions to tackle a specific issue, such as public safety or traffic congestion, the majority do not have a comprehensive strategy in place to address the multiple needs of the city.

Recognizing that becoming a smart city is a complex endeavor, we created a framework that takes a holistic approach to helping cities move towards building a smarter city.*

Using Internet of Things (IoT) innovations, the AT&T smart cities framework includes 4 pillars: 1.) highly secure connectivity, 2.) technology platforms, 3.) strategic alliances, and 4.) vertically integrated solutions.**

The strategic alliances pillar takes into account that no one company does it all. To this end, we are collaborating with leading technology companies and industry organizations to support the framework. Together, we will use our existing and jointly developed technology solutions to help cities save money, conserve energy, increase efficiency, and improve the quality of life for their citizens.

We are bringing our framework to select spotlight cities and communities this year, including Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, and Miami-Dade County. Together with our alliance members and the cities themselves, we will work to identify an area within each city to deploy 3-5 pilot solutions, such as Smart Lighting, Smart Water, Infrastructure, Citizen Engagement, Transportation, and Public Safety. The hope is that by the end of the pilot, these cities will better understand the benefits of smart cities solutions, and will eventually decide to scale these solutions across the entire city.

AT&T is committed to using IoT solutions and strategic alliances to help connect more cities. And, while there aren’t true smart cities today, we’re getting closer every day — and it promises to be amazing.

Endnotes
*For more information, see "AT&T Launches Smart Cities Framework with New Strategic Alliances, Spotlight Cities, and Integrated Vertical Solutions" at http://about.att.com/story/launches_smart_cities_framework.html.

**For more information, please visit http://about.att.com/sites/internet-of-things and http://about.att.com/category/all_news.html.

About the Author

Mike Zeto

Mike Zeto is General Manager of AT&T Smart Cities. He has more than 20 years of experience in technology and emerging growth business leadership positions. For more information on our IoT solutions for Smart Cities, please visit www.att.com/iot. To learn more about our citizen and sustainability efforts, please visit our Connect to Good site at att.com/csr.