Dallas, July 14, 2016: AT&T and IBM said they were working together to help businesses accelerate their Internet of Things (IoT) initiatives.
The two companies will combine their unique strengths in cognitive computing and global connectivity to create open standards-based tools on the IBM Cloud to enable developers to more quickly build and implement a wide variety of IoT solutions.
Open standards-based tools allow developers to improve their skills and avoid the churn of learning new tools, which helps protect the investments businesses have made in IoT solution development.
IBM and AT&T are expanding their full commitment and investment in open-source based tools, such as Node-Red, and open standards like MQTT, all essential for creating IoT solutions, the companies said in a press release. In addition, developers can now add the power of IBM’s Watson cognitive computing and AT&T’s IoT Platforms like Flow Designer and M2X, and access to its global network. This combination of open standards and IBM’s and AT&T’s unique technologies will result in a new level of IoT possibilities and solutions for developers to leverage well into the future.
“We have heard the call from developers and businesses for more tools to make IoT a reality and together with AT&T, we are bringing together powerful platforms and services to drive collaborative innovation,” said Harriet Green, General Manager, IBM Watson IoT, Commerce & Education. “This collaboration enables individual developers to tap the power of cognitive computing and combine it with massive amounts of data streaming from billions of connected devices, sensors and systems to create solutions that can help transform businesses and society alike.”
AT&T is also working with IBM on a new starter kit to make it easier for developers to get going. Once completed, customers will be able to purchase the combined AT&T and IBM technologies in one toolkit for a complete set of IoT tools to start their IoT projects right away.
Developers can now use IBM’s open and security-rich Watson Internet of Things (IoT) Platform and Bluemix services together with AT&T IoT Platforms to gain deeper insights from data collected from connected devices. Multiple Watson APIs and other IBM services, including visual recognition, personality insights, tradeoff analytics and speech/translation, are available.
Developers can tap into enhanced capabilities and create innovative IoT apps, such as an asset tracker app that could show the location of an asset. When coupled with weather data from The Weather Company, businesses could predict delays in the supply chain or reroute deliveries due to bad weather.
“From farming to fleets, there are many companies that would benefit from real, actionable IoT data,” said Chris Penrose, senior vice president, AT&T IoT Solutions. “Combining technologies with IBM can advance the developer experience –so they can build comprehensive IoT solutions for businesses. Developers can quickly turn their innovative ideas into cutting-edge solutions.”
Image Credit: IBM