AT&T, and many other operators and chip makers, is helping developers to start their Internet of Things (IoT) projects through the offering of IoT starter kits.
The U.S. telco had launched a new starter kit for IoT developers in 2016, which includes all the tools needed for IoT innovation, including connectivity, LTE hardware, application services, cloud and storage.
The telco said that this “plug and play” model means developers no longer need to purchase technology from multiple vendors to get a new IoT project started.
AT&T’s IoT starter kit includes a global SIM that works in over 200 countries and territories, an LTE modem that runs on the AT&T LTE network, access to AT&T Control Center, which is an IoT connectivity management platform as well as an expandable development board that works with a wide range of plug-in sensors.
The kit also comes with an API to monitor the network connection and data transfer, cloud storage to host, manage and share data across multiple groups and access AT&T Flow Designer which helps developers launch IoT apps in a short period of time.
AT&T has worked closely with Avnet and Cisco to produce the IoT starter kit. AT&T is offering variations of the IoT starter kit that work with other third-party IoT solutions. This includes versions made specifically for developers using IBM Watson IoT and the Microsoft Azure IoT Suite – which also integrate with the Cisco IoT service platform.
“Aimed at corporate markets, enterprise developers building new products, startups and other SMBs, out starter kits allow developers to build IoT projects around cellular connectivity from the start,” said Richard Finn, Lead Product Marketing Manager, IoT Solutions at AT&T, during a presentation at the Enterprise IoT Summit, which took place in Austin, Texas, earlier this year.
“Our customers want to get started in IoT even before talking to us. With the kit, these companies can now experiment and make IoT prototypes,” he said.
In February this year, AT&T and Avnet have unveiled the Avnet Global LTE IoT Starter Kit, which includes:
-AT&T IoT Platform Access – The starter kit is fully integrated with the AT&T IoT Platform (M2X and Flow) – a cloud-based, fully managed time-series data storage service for network and connected machine-to-machine (M2M) devices and the Industrial Internet of Things.
– Development Board – The starter kit includes a global SIM to enable operation in over 25 countries, and also feature a small development board build around Wistron NeWeb Corporation (WNC) M18QWG global LTE Cat-4 modem module.
This global kit is already available in select countries in Europe, Asia and the Americas.
“AT&T Flow is a cloud-based development and execution platform for rapidly building applications using network connected IoT devices. This platform enables true IoT instead of simply M2M,” Finn said.
