Cleantech
AT&T Brings Smart Cities Living Lab to Dallas

AT&T has expanded its Smart Cities program by partnering up with the Dallas Innovation Alliance (DIA) — a public-private partnership dedicated to the design and execution of a smart cities plan for the City of Dallas — to launch the DIA Smart Cities Living Lab. Dallas is one of eight cities participating in the AT&T Smart Cities spotlight cities initiative and seeks to implement the company’s smart cities framework to develop and apply a holistic strategy to address some of its most significant challenges.

Dallas is the fourth most populous metropolitan area in the U.S., as well as the fourth largest employment center in the country. These factors helped create an environment challenged to maintain the lifestyle and opportunities that originally drew residents to the city.

The City of Dallas and the DIA share a strategic vision to use the Living Lab pilot as a way to measure and evaluate the social and environmental impact of smart cities solutions. The first phase of the Living Lab is currently under way, setting Dallas on the path of becoming a more connected, sustainable city.

"We applaud the Dallas Innovation Alliance for their commitment to advance transformative change in Dallas through the use of smart cities technology," said Mike Zeto, general manager, AT&T Smart Cities. "Smart cities solutions have the potential to address many problems in a city, including infrastructure, safety and environmental. Having a holistic strategy is key. You must also assemble the right technology solutions and solution providers to address the current and future needs of the city. We're lending our time, resources and support to help Dallas and the DIA bring their smart cities vision to life."

“Today, technology impacts every aspect of our lives. Being a smart city is not just about offering the latest products. It is about solving peoples’ problems through innovation and strategic planning,” said Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings. “The Dallas Innovation Alliance has provided a great platform to bring together entities across the city, partner with citizens and drive efforts to create a smart city environment for the benefit of Dallasites.”

Increased use of information and communications technology, such as the AT&T Smart Cities solutions, have the potential to reduce global carbon dioxide emissions by 20 percent by 2030, according to the Global e-Sustainability Initiative’s SMARTer2030 report. With the data provided by these solutions, local governments, businesses and citizens can optimize how they use resources such as energy and water. Technological tools can also be used to help improve traffic congestion or detect leaks, decreasing water waste and allowing cities to address infrastructure issues before they become large-scale problems.

Through the partnership, AT&T is providing Dallas with secure, reliable connectivity for all the solutions featured in the Living Lab. The solutions include:

• Intelligent LED Lighting: Through a separate collaboration with Current, powered by GE, Dallas is reducing carbon emissions and increasing energy-efficiency. Many of the street lights within the Living Lab have now been converted to LED. The new LED street lights are also on intelligent controls for remote adjustments and outage tracking.
• Interactive Digital WayPoint: To foster citizen engagement and access to city services, the Living Lab now houses an interactive digital WayPoint kiosk provided by CIVIQ Smartscapes. CIVIQ’s secured virtual private network, designed to help residents and visitors find their way around the city — for events, shopping and points of interest. Citizens can also access up-to-date information on public transit options, schedules and routes, enabling them to explore the city more efficiently. The WayPoint kiosk also offers free USB charging ports and access to the City of Dallas non-emergency services.
• Environmental Sensors: An environmental sensor solution has been deployed by Ericsson within the Living Lab footprint. The solution measures four different types of pollutants as well as temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure and particulates (allergen levels). Additionally, Ericsson will provide the DIA the ability to monitor environmental data via a web application that is powered by the Ericsson ApploT Platform. Environmental monitoring requires analyzing high volumes of time-coded data that is generated by numerous sources. It is important to have a highly secure platform that can ingest the data, apply common logic and then make this data available to the City, the developer community and all local stakeholders.

“We could not be more thrilled to launch the first phase of the DIA Smart Cities Living Lab in Dallas’ historic West End,” said Jennifer Sanders, Executive Director, Dallas Innovation Alliance. “This effort is the culmination of the hard work and dedication of our partners across the City of Dallas, civic, academic, corporate partners and the community. We are particularly grateful for the support and leadership of AT&T in making this vision a reality for Dallas. This is just the beginning; we look forward to deploying additional solutions in the DIA Smart Cities Living Lab this year and rapidly expanding to other parts of the city.”

Phase 2 of the Living Lab is expected to launch later this year. During the second phase, the DIA and AT&T expect to evaluate additional deployments of other smart cities solutions, as well as make enhancements to current services.