In advance of the annual Mobile World Congress (MWC) being held in Barcelona, two announcements about carriers helping other carriers with mobile apps caught our attention. AT&T has launched “Digital Life,” an IP-based remote monitoring and automation platform for Web-based home automation, energy and security services. Meanwhile, Sprint has created a “New Ventures” organization focused on open ecosystem platforms for the wholesale and global marketplace.
AT&T’s Digital Life platform is an a complete end-to-end solution designed to enable other providers’ offers of devices like wireless sensors and cameras that communicate with a control center inside the home, all managed through a Web-based user interface. Digital Life includes licensed software development kits, along with other services like hardware certification, application hosting, and technical support.
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The wholesale solution targets other carriers who want to tailor services for multiple segments — consumer, small business and healthcare — based on their specific needs. It has been designed for multi-country use and can be self-installed in the home or office. AT&T plans call for the platform to be available to international service providers later this year.
Commenting in a statement, Kevin Petersen, senior vice president for Digital Life at AT&T Mobility, said, “We’ve built a robust platform that equips international service providers with the foundation needed to build a digital life solution for their customers. With Digital Life, service providers will have the ability to arm their subscribers with technology to stay connected to what matters most to them in a simple, convenient, secure, and customizable way.”
In other pre-MWC news, Sprint also announced plans to expand its global reach with creation of a “New Ventures” organization. The new organization is chartered to drive open platform expansion into the international marketplace, including Mobile ID and Mobile Zone for international customers. Sprint’s Mobile ID is designed to enable personalization for the end user while Mobile Zone provides a messaging gateway for customers to access account information and discover new content.
