Commercial, Demand Management, Energy Efficiency, Industrial  -  February 28, 2017

Current, AT&T team up on IoT for smart cities

AT&T Inc. and GE's digital energy management "startup" Current have announced a partnership in which the two companies will work to connect cities in the U.S. and Mexico to the "Internet of Things," commonly called IoT. 

The goal, according to the companies' joint Feb. 27 news release, is to "accelerate the digital era of urban development." Leveraging decades of experience in communications and infrastructure, AT&T and Current said they plan to "unlock a realm of possibilities" to improve the way cities operate, communicate and meet the needs of citizens.

Since launching its Smart Cities organization in 2015, AT&T has been using its resources and IoT expertise to create impactful solutions for cities. With the smart cities framework as the foundation, AT&T said it has been helping cities develop and implement a holistic smart cities strategy to address their current and future needs for the past year. 

The agreement with Current, according to the news release, significantly extends AT&T's smart city services, plus opens new revenue opportunities for the company. By introducing GE's Predix-powered IoT platform, AT&T can use outdoor LED lighting in a city to create a digital infrastructure that helps address issues like traffic flow and parking optimization, gunshot detection on city streets, air quality monitoring and weather emergency alerts.

"Intelligent lighting plays a huge role in a smart city," Chris Penrose, president of Internet of Things Solutions at AT&T said in a statement. "Our collaboration with Current will enable us to use a city's existing lighting infrastructure to more securely connect sensor-enabled networks. This will put them on the path to becoming a smarter, more sustainable city."

The two companies have collaborated before: Current recently announced a deal with the city of San Diego to upgrade thousands of the city's outdoor light fixtures to sensor-enabled LED technology, and AT&T will act as the data carrier and provide highly secure connectivity for the San Diego deployment, which is expected to save the city approximately $2.4 million in annual energy costs. In addition, the deal builds on AT&T's membership in GE's Digital Alliance program, where it serves as a connectivity-as-a-service collaborator for GE's Predix platform.

In late 2016, Greentech Media reported that Current was undergoing a corporate restructuring. 

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