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There was certainly no shortage of news coming out of this year's Mobile World Congress and its sister event, the 4YFN Conference. There were, however, two announcements from American telco giant AT&T that are worth putting into the spotlight again now that the dust from the two events has settled.
We've also discussed the announcements on our latest podcast with Sunder Somasundaram and Mobeen Khan, who head up IoT solutions and strategy at AT&T, so make sure to have a listen (below) as well to learn more.
AT&T and Avnet
For starters, AT&T has teamed up with Avnet to offer the telco's Internet of Things (IoT) managed services as a part of Avnet’s growing IoT solutions stack.
The agreement between the two companies, which enables Avnet to integrate AT&T’s cloud application development, is meant to support engineers and designers in the development and production of future IoT devices with global cellular connection.
Avnet and AT&T also announced plans for the 'Avnet Global LTE IoT Starter Kit'.
This latest IoT starter kit, scheduled for release in the second quarter of 2017, offers a complete development environment for sensor-to-cloud applications and services.
It will include access to the AT&T IoT Platform (M2X and Flow) - a cloud-based data storage service for network and connected machine-to-machine devices and the Industrial Internet of Things.
The starter kit will also be outfitted with a global SIM to enable operation in over 25 countries, and will feature a small (79.5 mm x 30 mm) but full certified development board that will include an ambient light sensor, temperature sensor and 3-axis accelerometer - but also crucially all the required network and government certifications.
Furthermore, a rich set of system peripherals, controllable through the user’s application code, are easily accessible through a 60-pin expansion connector or a 2x6 peripheral module, enabling customisation.
The Avnet Global LTE IoT Starter Kit will be available for order in select countries in Europe, Asia and the Americas in Q2 2017, priced at $139.
AT&T and Intel
In other, related news, AT&T has also announced that it has partnered with Intel for the latter's LTE IoT Quick Deployment (LIQD) program, an Intel program for IoT device manufacturers to enable faster and cheaper deployment of cellular-based intelligent sensors.
Intel LIQD enables device OEMs like Sonim Technologies to develop a new category of pre-certified, deployment-ready LTE solutions for commercial and industrial IoT use cases. Where AT&T comes in as as the first carrier in the Intel LIQD program – providing data services and IoT platform services such as the aforementioned M2X that can be pre-integrated into devices to accelerate solution development.
With the complexities of today’s IoT networks and standards, building a cellular-based wireless device can often demand considerable development and testing time as well as capital investment. With Intel LIQD, IoT business owners will be able to deploy connected devices faster, for a fraction of the cost.
You can listen to our latest podcast, which includes an interview with AT&T executives Sunder Somasundaram and Mobeen Khan on the above, right here:
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