Dallas-based AT&T and Microsoft have teamed up to help enterprises securely connect machines and equipment to the cloud almost anywhere in the world. Working together, they’ve developed an AT&T-powered “guardian device” that streamlines IoT deployment at scale.
“AT&T and Microsoft share the belief that technology should serve people,” Mo Katibeh, executive vice president and chief product and platform officer, AT&T Business, said in a statement. The new device is the latest example of how the two companies are working together to make IoT easier.
Last year, the companies announced an extensive, multiyear alliance to collaborate on emerging technologies that AT&T says will deliver new innovations and offerings—think Cloud, AI, 5G, and edge computing—for its customers and their communities.
The new guardian device combines the secured architecture of Azure Sphere, Microsoft’s IoT security solution, with AT&T’s core network. An AT&T SIM allows connections in 200 countries across 500 carriers, according to a news release.
[Image: Microsoft]
The guardian device, which activates right out of the box, is a solution for connecting machines and equipment to the cloud and bypasses the need for public Internet, AT&T said.
That’s a boon for a variety of businesses, such as restaurants, coffee shops, elevators, hospitals, manufacturing plants, and more. By retrofitting their existing equipment into “smart” devices, their customers can connect devices to their own cloud environment rather than WIFI and a third-party network connection not under their control, according to AT&T.
It also allows for device connection in remote areas without Wi-Fi access and devices that are mobile with no need to disconnect and recredential to multiple Wi-Fi networks.
That convergence of “secure cloud computing and network technology helps businesses unlock new customer value and continuously simplify every aspect of our personal and professional lives,” Corey Sanders, corporate vice president, Microsoft Solutions said in the news release.
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