AT&T Offers Partners IoT Tools, Invests in LTE Cat-M1

MICROSOFT WPC — Putting the spotlight on IoT, AT&T on Tuesday announced integration between its IoT platforms and Microsoft’s Azure cloud, analytics and virtualization tools. Separately, the company said that it is making investments in Cat-M1 technologies and plans to trial the technology in San Francisco later this year.

The communications giant also will formally introduce at Shape: AT&T Tech Expo later this week an IoT starter kit for developers that it worked on with Microsoft.

During a session on digital transformation at Microsoft’s Worldwide Partner Conference in Toronto, Mobeen Khan, associate vice president, industrial IoT solutions with AT&T Business Solutions, said that the integration between AT&T’s IoT platforms and Microsoft’s Azure and analytics assets, will simplify solutions development and time to market for developers, ISVs and system integrators (SIs).

AT&T works with a number of verticals in the IoT space — asset management, transportation, vehicle solutions and retail, to name a few. The telco’s goal for digital transformation is to help these companies with tools, platforms and integrated solutions so they can build the applications they need.{ad}

The investments that AT&T is making in LTE Cat-M1 are IoT-specific and, ultimately, these investments are geared toward improving battery life in IoT devices, such as wearables and utility devices, for example, as well as with in-building penetration for improved IoT performance.

According to AT&T, Cat-M1 can operate on the existing network footprint and co-exist with mobile broadband services in the same spectrum.

The jointly developed IoT starter kit is designed to make it easy for IoT developers, ISVs, SIs, to find all the tools they need – including connectivity with devices and Azure – in one place.