AT&T remains one of the key movers and shakers in the Internet of Things space, and at IoT Evolution Expo this week it again sponsored the Fast Pitch event, provided a keynote speaker, and was talking about a couple of new tools it offers to make IoT application development easier.
Fast Pitch is a Shark Tank-style event at which a field of applicants is given just a few minutes to describe their IoT ideas or products to a panel of judges, who then select the winning presentation. Nikki Cuban, director of product marketing for M2M at AT&T, today presented Fast Pitch winner Bill Powers – who pitched a solution related to the oil and gas vertical – with a check for $10,000.
There will also be an AT&T Fast Pitch People’s Choice winner. The company captured the pitches on video, and they’ll be available for viewing – and to vote on – starting tomorrow. Interested parties can view and vote online through Aug. 27. The winner of the People’s Choice competition will receive $5,000. Click here to vote.
Image via Shutterstock Michael Troiano, vice president of Industrial IoT Solutions at AT&T Business Solutions, in his IoT Evolution Expo keynote last night invited the audience to the Fast Pitch event that followed. He also talked and ran a video about how AT&T is building IoT solutions in every industry. That includes everything from intelligently connecting everyday items like coffee makers to offering connectivity and other offerings in the areas of connected car, cargo monitoring, and health care.
“Everything in the video is real,” he said.
AT&T added 1 million connected vehicles to its network in the second quarter, he said.
IoT’s prospects for the future are bright, he said, adding that 61 percent of businesses are already planning for the Internet of Things – with higher-level people at those organizations now being part of the discussion. Meanwhile, 69 percent of developers surveyed are planning to deploy IoT solutions globally, he said.
While most people think cellular connectivity when they think IoT, Troiano pointed out that IoT solutions may rely on any combination of cellular, satellite, and wireline.
The U.S. alarm industry was an early IoT customer of AT&T’s, he said. Today the company has three large alarm companies that are managing well over 1 million assets each, he said. Smarter cities is another area on which AT&T is focused, he said, mentioning how the move to LED lighting opens an array of new opportunities to leverage light post-based sensors and related gear for other applications. AT&T also offers solutions to help companies track assets while they are being transported. It’s even helping conserve precious resources such as water .
Also at IoT Evolution Expo this week, Mobeen Khan, AT&T’s AVP of Industrial IoT, sat down with us to talk about the company’s recently unveiled Flow Designer and M2X solutions. These offerings, which exist at the platform level, aim to make IoT application creation easier for developers.
Flow Designer helps developers to build flows – or, if-then scenarios, while M2X makes data collection (which can be a challenge in IoT given there is no standard OS) easier and more secure.
“The platform is becoming much much more important,” said Khan. “This idea of taking the friction out of building applications is resonating really well with our customers.”
Edited by
Maurice Nagle
